1. National Research Council Canada
Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
Transforming Canada’s bio-based resources into
sustainable, economic value
Paul Neima
18 January 2016
Charlottetown, PE
2. National Research Council Canada
• Canada’s Research and
Technology Organization (RTO)
• $895M annual R&D investment
• 3,550 employees
• Serve thousands of industrial and
government clients annually
3. NRC – Canada’s RTO
Our Mission
• To understand client’s research and technology
development (R&TD) requirements
• To solve problems and provide solutions that achieve client’s
R&TD objectives
• To drive business results
Our success is measured by the success of our clients
4. 4
NRC Business Areas: R&TD
Human Health
Therapeutics
Automotive and Surface
Transportation
Aerospace
Energy, Mining and
Environment
Aquatic and Crop
Resource Development
Security
ICTConstruction
Medical Devices
Ocean, Coastal
and River Engineering
5. Aquatic and Crop Resource Development (ACRD)
To make Canada a world leader in the sustainable
transformation of bio-based resources into economic value
Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
7. Montreal, QC
• 200+ dedicated, scientific resources
• Innovative tools and expertise to work with
partners and clients in bio-based industries
• Areas of focus
• Marine products and agriculture
• Food and consumer packaged goods
• Natural health products and functional
ingredients
• Chemical manufacturing
• Bio-based specialty chemicals
Quick Facts
Saskatoon, SK
8. Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
• Helps Canadian companies transform bio-resources into safe and sustainable
high value products
• Develops bio-resource based products for food and consumer packaged goods
and other sectors
• Provides strategic research services to help companies capture value from
manufacturing and processing waste streams
• Offers testing, process development, scale-up and consulting services to
accelerate your time to market
• Provides access to specialized facilities for plant growth, algal culture, natural
product extraction, fermentation, and bioprocessing
9. Ottawa, ON
Biological Platform Capabilities - algal biotechnologies,
plant growth technologies, genomics, hormone profiling,
transgenics, microbial profiling, and zebrafish
technologies
Nutritional Biotechnologies - functional ingredient
development, bioactive discovery, peptide and protein
chemistry, feed and feed additives, metabolic health
technologies, fatty acid & lipid chemistry, and bio-assays
Bioprocessing Technologies which include natural
products and analytical chemistry, fermentation and
microbial production, biocatalysts, nano-polysaccharide
technologies, bioprocessing, fractionation and separation
technologies
Agricultural Biotechnologies include crop development,
sustainable agricultural practices, seed technology
development, and genetic modification
Research and Technology offerings
Montreal, QC
Saskatoon, SK
10. Areas of Focus
Algal Carbon
Conversion
Developing algal biomass solutions that
divert CO2 emissions
Bio-based Specialty
Chemicals
Producing alternatives to traditional
chemical feedstocks
Canadian Wheat
Improvement
Improving Canadian wheat’s yield,
sustainability, and profitability
Functional
Ingredients and
NHPs
Validating efficacy and commercializing
high-quality FIs and NHPs
11. • Provide Canadian industry with a cost-competitive, value-
generating solution to divert CO2 emissions into algal
biomass, which can then be processed into biofuels and
other marketable products.
• Demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of
producing microalgal biomass using industrial waste
streams in a Canadian environment (CO2, heat, energy,
nutrients, water)
• Develop a biorefinery approach to optimize potential
revenue streams through value-added products derived
from microalgal biomass
• Do this through the construction and operation of a pre-
commercial pilot plant and supporting research projects
Algal Carbon Conversion
12. Bio-based Specialty Chemicals
• Overcome technology challenges to producing and commercializing bio-based
chemicals
• Reduce cost barriers at all stages of bio-based chemical production and
implementation
• Diversify market applications and demonstrate performance (fungibility,
scalability & sustainability)
• Provide incremental and innovative improvements to technologies used to
produce bio-based specialty chemicals (fine, intermediate and niche) ,
especially white biotechnologies (fermentation, enzyme conversion and
processing)
13. Canadian Wheat Improvement
• Improve the yield, sustainability, and profitability of Canadian wheat for the
benefit of our farmers and our economy
• Increase the yield of Canadian wheat varieties by reducing losses from
drought, heat, cold and diseases
• Develop productive and resilient varieties of high-quality wheat to maintain
competitive global position
• Collaborate among Canadian Wheat Alliance partners: Agriculture and Agri-
Foods Canada, National Research Council, University of Saskatchewan and
Government of Saskatchewan
• Work with national/international private sector industry
14. NHP program summary
• Work with small, medium and large scale companies to develop
functional ingredients and natural health products including those
utilizing Canadian biomass
• Leverage NRC strengths in analytical chemistry, biological testing and
bioprocessing for natural health products’ development
• Drive Canadian FI & NHP differentiation through science-proven product
safety, quality & efficacy
• Increase the safety and efficacy of FI and NHPs in Canada
Functional Ingredients and NHPs
15. Who are our clients?
• Client base in incredibly diverse – many sectors – many
value chains
16. How Do We Work with Clients?
There are many ways to work with NRC:
• ‘One-off’ contracts for technical, testing and consulting services
• Joint technology development projects between a firm and NRC
• Large-scale collaborative R&TD projects with multiple partners
(companies, universities, other organizations)
• Licensing deals
• IRAP application for technology assistance (funding)
Our Researchers work with Client Relationship Leaders to develop
customized solutions that address clients’ specific requirements
17. For More Information Contact
Paul Neima
Portfolio Business Advisor
paul.neima@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
