THE LAST WORD
By Gord Surgeoner, Ph.D.
ILLINOIS & ONTARIO Benefit from Bio-products Collaboration
Gord Surgeoner, Ph.D. President Ontario Agri-Food Technologies
The global economy is evolving; making investments and strategic research partnerships to support innovative technologies essential. Seven years ago at BIO 2006 in Chicago, the Province of Ontario and the State of Illinois signed a comprehensive Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Cooperation focused on bio-products. This MOU was designed to enhance economic relations between the two jurisdictions, encourage industrial innovation and foster research and collaborations around emerging technologies. Seven years later, both Ontario and Illinois continue to collaborate on the development of bio-product networks and meet to exchange information and technology to advance research and commercialization, all of which help to create highpaying, high-tech jobs. These collaborations are both business and academic, and both offer strength to this relationship. As well as the respective governments, organizations like Ontario Agri-Food Technologies and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity continue to forge this relationship. Our agriculture research collaborations have been focused between the University of Guelph and the University of Illinois. Miscanthus is an important biomass crop that can be used in biomaterial pellets and feedstock for biochemicals. The University of Illinois willingly shared their knowledge on this new crop. The agronomy of the crop, life cycle analysis of crop production, development of customers for the product and economics of production have been key areas of collaboration. Today, New Energy Farms Ltd. of Leamington, ON is a global supplier of plant material for the production of biomass from miscanthus. Similarly, the Ontario BioAuto Council and Woodbridge Foam (the largest foam producer in the world for the auto sector) based here in Ontario, have commercialized soy-based polyols produced in Illinois for automotive foam seating and headliners. The Ontario BioAuto Council has also met with State officials, lead-
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ing companies and research organizations in Illinois to explore how Ontario and Illinois can further promote the bio-economy in the Great Lakes Region. Today, our two jurisdictions average $6 billion of commerce annually; with $88 million in food and agriculture and more than $5 billion in manufacturing. We also have very strong medical research centres anchored by the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto and the Illinois Medical District Commission in Chicago. Our two jurisdictions have seen great value in this cooperation, and to that end are reaffirming our collaborations on innovation. This is seen as an affirmation of the strength of the linkage, recognizing we have both benefited. Further, Ontario and Illinois will be attending the World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Montréal, June 16 to 19, 2013, and this is seen as a great venue to enhance this agreement.
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