Ottawa announced a new project supported by the Protein Industries Supercluster to help Canadian organic growers and processors by developing a new use for by-products from the pulse processing industry.
“This project supported by the Protein Industries Supercluster is a great example of how superclusters are bringing about new connections and opening avenues for collaboration between small and medium-sized enterprises, larger companies, and academia,” says Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry. “The project takes an SME-developed technology to the next level by putting it to the test in fields across western Canada. By helping Canadian processors find new uses for by-products that were once considered waste, we’re diversifying the agricultural sector and creating more jobs for Canadians.”
Through this project, products that were once considered waste will be turned into fertilizer to deliver nutrients to plants. This collaborative project will take Lucent BioSciences’ proprietary technology for “micronutrient fertilizers” to the manufacturing stage with partners AGT Food and Ingredients and 4D Labs, a research facility at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C..
Canada’s Innovation Superclusters Initiative, which brings together small, medium-sized and large companies, academic institutions, and not-for-profit organizations to serve as anchors of innovation, growth and job creation across the country.
Project partners Lucent and AGT met at a supercluster-supported agriculture event a year ago in Regina, Sask. — an example of how superclusters are creating new opportunities for collaboration. Lucent, an SME, pitched at the event, where Murad Al-Katib, CEO of AGT Food, was a judge. Mr. Al-Katib is one of the founders of the Canadian plant protein industry and, as current chair of the Agri-Food Economic Strategy Table, is part of an unprecedented collaboration between industry and government focused on turning Canadian economic strengths into global advantages.
“Canada is home to innovative entrepreneurs who are creating clean solutions to protect the environment and grow the economy,” says Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change. “This supercluster project has the potential to not only make farming more eco-friendly but also improve the quality of food that farmers grow. My congratulations to Lucent BioSciences, AGT Foods and Simon Fraser University.”
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