Ontario finalizing agreement to tap into $45-million Agri-Food Innovation Fund

The MaRS (Medical and Related Sciences) Discovery District in Toronto, Guelph’s Bioenterprise Corp and alternative renewable fuels are among the Ontario projects slated to share an estimated $4.7 million in funding under a new $44.7-million science and innovation (S&I) program designed to strengthen Canada’s research and commercialization of bio-products and bio-processes.

Managed by Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC), the five-year program represents a key S&I component of the national Agricultural Policy Framework (APF) — a comprehensive $600-million action plan to strengthen Canada’s agricultural sector as it pertains to the environment, food safety, renewal, risk management and S&I in the so-called bio-economy. The APF includes an additional $65.6 million for Food Safety and Quality Science and $63 million for Environment Science Activities.

The goal of the S&I program is to bring together scientists, innovators, farmers, rural community leaders, processors, marketers and retailers to develop applications for agricultural commodities such as bio-fuels, (e.g. ethanol, biodiesel), bio-materials (e.g. plastics, fibreboard), green chemicals, pharmaceuticals, functional foods and nutraceuticals.

HELPING TO CREATE NEW VALUE CHAINS

“These aren’t research projects, per se,” says Dr. Brian Freeze, the fund’s coordinator. “Rather, what we are doing is funding the creation of new value chains by linking the science and technology to the people who might deliver it. The idea is to bring them around a discussion table early on, so that whatever science results come out, are linked right away into a market.”

The S&I fund will give preference to national projects, and regional pilot projects that have the potential to evolve into national projects, with an aim to creating new agri-food industries in rural communities. Prior-ity areas for funding will be decided by a Science and Innovation Roundtable to be established next year and made up of representatives from the public and private sectors.

Ontario is the only province to negotiate a separate agreement for how its calculated share of federal money is used under the program. Rather than having its federal allocation pooled into one large national pot, Ontario will see its $4.7 million share directed to specific projects in its province — specifically the MaRS Discovery District, Bioenterprise Corp and renewable fuels.

“Ontario is the only province that has a list of projects that they would like their portion of the (federal) money to go to,” says Freeze. “So once the agreement has been signed and announced, there would be a cheque written for those.”

Qualifying companies and organizations can apply for funding once their respective provincial governments have signed agreements with the federal government to implement the APF. The only two provinces that haven’t signed on yet — Ontario and Saskatchewan — are expected to finalize agreements by early next year.

FIRST NATIONAL PROJECT RECEIVES FUNDING

In addition to the pilot projects, AAFC’s S&I fund also includes $16.7 million over five years for 10-15 national projects, with each receiving up to $2 million annually. Eligible applicants include cooperatives, commodity groups, agri-businesses and post-secondary institutions.

The first national project had already been approved. The Canadian Agricultural Research Council is receiving $320,000 over three years to develop a national database of scientists and scientific expertise in Canada related to the agri-food sector. The new database will be linked to the Council’s existing database of agri-food projects — the Inventory of Canadian Agri-Food Research (ICAR).

Of the remaining funds, $4.5 million will be used for strategic planning and $2 million for benchmarking studies to examine the current levels of S&I investment in Canada.

“We need to track where we are now in terms of what science is being done and where the gaps might be,” explains Freeze. “Do we have enough science resources in the areas that might, for example, create the new bio-based economy. Do we have enough people looking at alternative industrial crops, or breeding them or developing; the engineering and scientific capacity around developing those initiatives? How do those gaps and opportunities relate to other departments and what resources they have, like National Research Council (NRC) and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).”

Those two departments, he adds, are conducting similar inventory analyses of their work in bio-products and bio-processes. NRC, NRCan, AAFC and Health Canada have also struck a working group to look at opportunities for increased cooperation in these fields.

According to the APF, the benchmarking studies were to begin July with results available by December “to devise and implement an action plan that will realign public sector investment in agriculture and agri-food research and science innovation.” The government now hopes to have the studies underway by early next year.

The APF also calls on AAFC to develop a national S&I strategy for the agri-food sector, which could include: a science/policy/market/innovation summit; pilot projects with industry and academic and research institutions; web sites; research coordination; and life cycle cost analysis on bio-products. The strategy is expected by the Spring with implementation to follow by June 2005.

Other priorities over the coming months include:

* Assess human resource and related infrastructure needs of enterprises, institutions and governments necessary to develop S&I in agriculture and agri-food sector.

* Consult with business, government and academic institutions to develop approaches on the management of IP to better serve the agri-food sector.

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