SASKATOON – Anyone who has tried to start a business knows that the first entrepreneurial steps can be onerous. If the product is not well known, or has little research to back it up, the obstacles become even greater.
To ease the transition from idea to successful business in Western Canada’s nutraceutical, functional food and natural health products industries, the National Research Council of Canada has pooled existing resources. It added $750,000 a year over five years in new funding and opened the doors of its cutting edge laboratories to entrepreneurs.
Read Also
Malting barley exporters target Mexican market
Canada’s barley sector is setting its sights on the Mexican market to help mop up some of the lost demand from China
The new BioAccess Commercialization Centre, housed at the NRC’s Plant Biotechnology Institute on the University of Saskatchewan campus, is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses gain advice and financial assistance to ensure they survive their critical first five years, said Carol Skelton, Western Economic Diversification minister, who spoke at the opening ceremony.
“Less than two decades ago, the nutraceutical industry was so new that it was nameless. Today, the market for nutraceuticals and functional foods is estimated at $150 billion and growing,” she said, noting that Saskatoon is now home to 40 agriculturally oriented biotech companies and 30 nutraceutical and functional food companies.
Pierre Coulombe, NRC president, said the centre comes at exactly the right time.
“The demographics of aging populations, the economics of rising health-care costs and the science of food technologies all point in one direction. They point to a rapidly expanding market for the nutraceutical, functional food and natural health products industry.
In Canada alone, the market is valued at $1.5 billion,” he said.
As budding entrepreneurs know only too well, some of the hurdles faced are a lack of access to business intelligence and early stage capital.
“We have seen too many promising ventures halted by these barriers,” Coulombe said. “We cannot allow this trend to continue. This industry has told us what they need and what we can do to help them overcome these barriers to success.”
Services NRC will provide include research expertise, business development support programs, expert business knowledge, resources and advice.
