Industry News News
FPInnovations launches FPInnovations Associates

This new program offers a cost-effective alternative to partnering with FPInnovations. This unique and comprehensive service aims to support the sector’s competitiveness by providing businesses with direct access to one-stop, specialized help, and a customized web platform.

“Small and medium enterprises in the wood products sector are an important economic driver for Canada’s forest industry,” says Pierre Lapointe, president and chief executive officer at FPInnovations. “These businesses account for the vast majority of private job creation in the sector, but they often face challenges in gaining access to the support they need.”

FPInnovations carefully studied the needs of SMEs and created FPInnovations Associates to open up a world for SMEs looking to benefit from a wide range of expertise and resources tailored to their needs.

With focused access to FPInnovations’ Secondary Wood Products Manufacturing Program, FPInnovations Associates is specifically designed to meet the distinct needs of SMEs, including technical support, training, market intelligence, networking, access to free workshops and webinars, online reports and publications, funding information, performance comparison tools, and specialized help with operation-related issues. By joining FPInnovations Associates, participating companies gain fast, affordable access to valuable resources that will help enhance business performance.

Quick Facts

• An annual subscription fee of $500 per company offers direct access to Industry Advisors, networking events, training, performance benchmarking, strategic intelligence, technical articles, funding information, industry links, webinars and workshops, newsletter and online reports and publications.
• FPInnovations Associates (associates.fpinnovations.ca) is open to all businesses in the Secondary Wood Products Manufacturing sector with less than 500 employees.
• The program includes access to FPInnovations’ Secondary Wood Products Manufacturing Program research and development.
• The wood products sector includes close to 9,000 companies. Products include kitchen cabinets, doors and windows, furniture, millwork, flooring engineered wood and others.
• More than 90% of companies in the sector are SMEs – 80% of these SMEs have fewer than 10 employees.
• In 2012, small and medium-sized companies in the sector accounted, respectively, for 77.7% and 9.8% of private job creation (Source: Statistics Canada Labour Force Survey, 2012).