SNCIRE: Skeena-Nass Center for Innovation in Resource Economics

News

Knowledge Building for a Bio-Products Economy

In September of 2011 SNCIRE filed a project application with the federal government's Community Development Program. The proposed project is called "Knowledge Building for a Bio-Products Economy".

SNCIRE is continually seeking ways to diversify and strengthen our resource economy. One trend that is emerging globally in forestry is the creation of "bio-products" such as forest biomass conversion into energy and chemicals, non-timber forest products, bio-pharmaceuticals, etc. With multiple innovative uses of our region's natural resources, we could ensure long-term sustainability for the region.

The project would address several knowledge gaps and barriers to sustainable development:

- Market intelligence on the bio-product potential of the region's resources;
- Technical properties of the region's wood in relation to promising bio-products; and
- Estimates of the cost of extracting and delivering wood fibre to proposed processing facilities.

The project has the support of the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine, the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), FP Innovations, and Forestry Innovation Investment (FII). The National Research Council - Industrial Research Assistance Program may also become a partner.

Regional economic development stakeholders would also be involved, initially through participation in a steering committee that would monitor and guide the project to ensure it produces results they can use, and then - as information becomes available from the UNBC and FP Innovations research - by using the information and tools to attract investors and new operators.

We will keep you up to date regarding this funding application and proposed project as news becomes available.

Website Showcases Region to Investors

A new website showcasing the Skeena-Nass region to the world has just been launched:

www.investnorthwestbc.ca

The polished and professional site is intended to be a promotional and informative source for potential investors (and others), and delivers with features like dynamic map information about projects & investment opportunities, detailed community profiles, infrastructure information, great pictures, and much more. Even more features are planned, like translation into other languages (one investment opportunity brochure is already available in Chinese), and ability to "zoom in" to a community level to learn about smaller projects and investment opportunities.

A collaborative effort between numerous northwest communities, economic development organizations, and funders (see the full list at the bottom of the website's home page), the website has great potential to attract new investment to our region.

SNCIRE congratulates everyone involved in the website's development!

For more information about the website, contact any of the participants involved in its development.

New Website Connects Wood Buyers and Sellers

On September 28, 2011, a new provincial website designed to connect wood buyers and sellers launched. The free website is intended to enable small tenure holders and local sawmillers to more easily connect with each other, creating more business opportunities. The website is called WoodSourceBC, and it is an initiative of the BC Community Forest Association. Links:

WoodSourceBC.com

BC Community Forest Association

SNCIRE Sept 2011 Newsletter

The Skeena-Nass Center for Innovation in Resource Economics (SNCIRE) September 2011 newsletter is now available. Read about happenings in the northwestern region of British Columbia, Canada, and the many initiatives SNCIRE and stakeholders from around the region are involved in.

Read newsletter

New Salmon Food Producer Opening Soon in Terrace

A new company that will be manufacturing food products from salmon will be opening soon in Terrace [October 1, 2011]. The company has an initial inventory of 200,000 pounds of sustainably-harvested salmon that it will be processing into salmon jerky, and hot and cold smoked food products. They have entered into a partnership with Patagonia Inc., a privately owned US-based outdoor clothing and gear supplier. Due to high interest, they may eventually open a local store front, but for now will be concentrating on filling orders for Patagonia.

Equipment has arrived and been installed. Presently the company is busy working on obtaining approvals from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and obtaining nutritional information from laboratory analysis that is required for package labeling.

Initially there will be up to 10 persons working full time, year-round at the Thornhill plant.

At the present time the company is extremely busy with preparations for operations, so their name and contact information is not being published so that they can concentrate on the work at hand.

Naturally this is an exciting business development for the entire Northwest region, and we will let you know more information as it becomes available.

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