By Paul Morden, from www.theobserver.ca The Observer
Word about Sarnia is spreading in the bio-chemical world.
A busload of delegates from this week’s Montreal Bio World Conference on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing travelled on to Sarnia Thursday for a tour of local industries and the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
Attracting emerging industries using renewable feedstocks, such as corn and wood chips, to set up shop alongside Chemical Valley’s traditional petrochemical companies has been a focus of economic development efforts in Sarnia-Lambton for several years.
“When we decided we might invite some people up to Sarnia after the big bio conference in Montreal, we thought it would be great to get 10,” said Murray McLaughlin, executive director with the Bioindustrial Innovation Centre in Sarnia.
“And here we are today with a busload of 45.”
Most were attending the conference from The Netherlands, France, the U.K. and Brazil, and they travelled on to Sarnia “on their own dime,” McLaughlin added.
It’s a sign more people in the bio-industry sector are beginning to hear about what Sarnia’s doing, he said.
“This is a community in transition that has got its act together,” Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said after speaking to the group following lunch at the research park.
“We’ve got the agriculture sector here, big time, and we’ve got the chemical sector, and they fit together.”
McLaughlin said the group visiting Thursday was a cross-section of industry representatives and officials working in economic development who came to learn from Sarnia-Lambton and its work to create what it calls a biohybrid chemistry cluster.
“They keep hearing about Sarnia and how well we’re doing,” he said.
“It’s a compliment, in a lot of ways.”
The visitors included Hans van Leeuwen, director of a Bioprocess Pilot Facility in The Netherlands that works with bio-based industries in ways similar to the research park.
“What I’m hoping to take away is that we will set up some kind of a connection between what’s done in this centre and what we are doing,” he said.
Frans Jan Hellenthal is a business developer with the Port of Rotterdam where there is a large chemical industry cluster of 45 companies.
“We are also looking at including more bio-chemicals in that cluster,” he said.
“We can learn from each other.”
As well as the research park, the group visited Lambton College, the Lanxess Bioindustrial Park where BioAmber is setting up shop with a new plant, the TransAlta Energy Park and Suncor’s ethanol plant.
“What we wanted to show them was just a good cross-section of how the whole community works and intermingles,” McLaughlin said.
That included demonstrating how new bio-industries can link up with the existing petroleum-based industries.
“It’s putting the two together and not trying to build one over the other,” McLaughlin said.
“That’s really what Sarnia has, everybody saying, ‘Yes, this is important for our future so let’s do it.'”
McLaughlin said BioAmber is a company that attracts international attention and it’s decision to locate in Sarnia is leading others to take a look.
“We’re not going to have everybody decide to build here, but at least if they’re looking it’s a good start,” he said.
The group was scheduled to end the day with a country barbecue at Parkland Farms on Confederation Line.
McLaughlin said the visit was also an opportunity to trade information with the international visitors. The tour through the research park and its bio-industry pilot plants often paused as visitors asked questions and traded business cards and contact information with local representatives.
“At the end of the day, we end up with 30 new ambassadors for Sarnia,” McLaughlin.
Posted in: Headlines