Canada is a world-leader in the biotechnology industry and wider green economy.
The country’s national Biotech Week, launched in 2003, has grown into the Global Biotech Week.
In a Linkedin post earlier this year, Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, Navdeep Bains, said the country “has led the way in the global biotech industry for so many years with advances in areas like genomics, stem cell and regenerative medicine, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes, with the discovery of insulin.”
And to ensure Canada can continue to compete, in what he calls a global innovation race, Bains said “it is one of [his] government’s priorities to ensure the biotech industry continues to enjoy a high-profile and international success.”
Canada’s standing in the industry was in evidence this year as Montréa hosted the 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology. Andrew Casey, President and CEO, BIOTECanada, wrote for Innovators Magazine at the time on the buoyancy of the industry.
And now a new $2.3 million fund from BioTalent Canada, backed by the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy, will support the next generation of biotech pioneers land a placement with small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The money will provide wage subsidies that can create around 200 positions over the next two years.
Rob Henderson, President and CEO of BioTalent Canada said the initiative has already benefitted the “agri-biotech, bio-industrial and bio-energy sub-sectors, and “other sectors launching green initiatives”.
He added: “These enhanced wage subsidies are critical injections of capital for these small and medium-sized enterprises to secure the talent they need.”
