TESTIMONIAL
Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) provides critical strategic investment, advice and services to business developers of clean, green and sustainable technologies. One of these investments is Forward Water Technologies.
C. Howie Honeyman,
Chief Executive Officer of Forward Water Technologies discusses how BIC has significantly supported his company.
Forward Water Technologies (FWT) is commercializing a new water treatment process for the efficient and effective treatment of highly contaminated industrial waste water. In doing so, FWT not only reduces the cost of water treatment, but also preserves a resource that is continually coming under scrutiny on a global scale.
In developing and commercializing a clean technology of this type, several challenges are evident – namely access to investment funds and the ability to demonstrate the process at a near-commercial scale.
BIC has been fundamentally responsible for removing these barriers for FWT, enabling the company to unlock $1,000,000 of non-dilutive funding from Alberta Innovates and Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) for its commercial-scale project in Alberta. BIC also aided by directly providing investment and funds to help relocate FWT's technical operations and engineering pilot plant to the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park.
Furthermore, once FWT began work at the new site in the Research Park, BIC was able to provide additional technical resources and provide guidance on the whole host of services and trades in the Sarnia-Lambton region.
BIC introduced FWT to resources at Lambton College, which has led to funded projects between the college and FWT, with more projects under review. This relationship provides additional resources to FWT and enhances the college’s ability to train its students.
FWT strongly believes that without this type of early support for sustainable chemistry and materials-based technologies, it would prove essentially impossible to advance to the early commercial stage. BIC is an enabling development partner, aiding Canadian clean tech community to rapidly evolve in this landscape.
About Bioindustrial Innovation Canada
Creating jobs and economic sustainability for Canada is the vision driven by Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC).
With support from the Government of Canada and the Province of Ontario, BIC, a not-for-profit business accelerator for sustainable chemistry, has created a successful foundation to support an emerging hybrid chemistry cluster in Sarnia-Lambton, Ontario. BIC recognizes that the expansion and development of the bioeconomy in Sarnia-Lambton can grow alongside the petrochemical industry.
BIC further focuses on critical strategic capital investment in SMEs with compelling business plans where innovation in science and engineering can bring about major advances in sustainable chemistry. Sustainable chemistry is playing an important role in the development of solutions to the impacts of climate change, peak oil, energy security, the need for safe water, and the use of scarce natural resources. The increasing global demand for green and safer products offers the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs for Canadians.
BIC’s proven approach for clean, green and sustainable chemistry-based companies offers an ideal platform for the investment necessary to advance hybrid chemistry value chains, providing not only regional economic development and job benefits, but also access to global markets.
To date, BIC has invested more than $13 million in 27 SME companies, created more than 3600 high quality jobs, and further leveraged $270 million in private sector funding during its investment rounds.
