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2019 federal budget supports forestry innovation, new products and markets
March 20, 2019 By FPInnovations
FPInnovations’ President and CEO Stéphane Renou, today welcomed Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s commitment to continue investing in the competitiveness of the Canadian forest industry by allocating $251.3 million over three years beginning in 2020-21 to encourage the forest sector to continue growing and develop new technologies. In his budget, Minister Morneau announced that the funds will extend existing innovation, markets, and product diversification programs. More specifically, Minister Morneau announced $91.8 million for the Forest Innovation Program covering the same time frame.
“FPInnovations, its members, and partners are committed to accelerating the development and deployment of innovation in the forest sector. Today’s announcement renews the Trudeau government’s commitment to forestry innovation — new products, new markets, and new bio-economy jobs,” said Renou.
FPInnovations is working on several R&D projects to transform the forest industry including:
- Increase the use of sustainable wood in structure sand in building construction materials by $900 million by 2023
- Develop fibre-based bioplastics solutions that will represent 5 per cent of the bioplastic used in North America by 2022 for a market value of $700 million
- Develop wood fibre-based biofuel solutions that will provide alternative solutions in a $2.5 billion Canadian energy market
- Enhance market penetration of North American wood fibre-sourced packaging to achieve a market value of $600 million by 2025
- Integrate big data and high-tech into Canadian forest operations to create a safer and more productive environment along the value chain. By 2025, it will add value and generate savings of close to $1 billion per year.
- Improve the efficiency of the manufacturing process. This will increase fibre recovery by 30 per cent and reduce co-products production by 20 per cent by 2023.
- Introduce new biomaterials and biocomposites made from wood fibre for use in everyday products
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