North Bay, Ontario (Canada) charting out a Biomass Cluster

Last month renewable industry stakeholders from all over the descended upon the city of North Bay, Ontario to take part in the two day conference: Harness Biomass – from the forest to the market place. The event that hosted over 400 delegates was yet another milestone achieved by the The Biomass Innovation Centre ( created by the Nipissing University in partnership with the local industry ) in the pursuit of establish a leading Biomass cluster in the North Bay region.

Building on the rich forest industry in the Northern part of Ontario (referred to as the Biomass Belt by the cluster’s stakeholders), the objective is to create a world-leading centre of R&D, commercialization and entrepreneurship in the are of production of biomass fuel.

Cluster stake holders have previously visited and hosted other Biomass centers around the world, including Austria, Finland and Sweden.

Biomass as a fuel alternative is certainly nothing new, and several jurisdictions has announced and launched Biomass cluster initiatives, but the North Bay emerging cluster may be enjoying some tailwind ahead thanks to the Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) Biomass Energy Program in particular.

We look forward to see how the cluster stakeholder will further stake out their cluster development strategy moving forward.