Protein Industries Canada will meet with the sector ahead of its submission asking for $200 million in new funding
Protein Industries Canada is preparing a proposal for its share of a new tranche of federal government funding.
In April, Ottawa announced a $750 million investment into Canada’s Global Innovation Clusters as part the 2022 budget.
There are five clusters vying for that money, including Protein Industries Canada (PIC).
“We have confirmation from the Government of Canada that all five innovation clusters will be recapitalized,” said PIC chief executive officer Bill Greuel.
“The question is, how will that $750 million be divided.”
This is the second tranche of government money. The first $950 million was dispersed in 2018.
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PIC’s share of that first tranche was $153 million. It later received an additional $20 million in 2020.
A stipulation of the program is that the clusters must attract at least an equal amount of private investment.
In PIC’s case it attracted 1.72 times as much private investment for a total of $485 million. That is the best ratio of any of the clusters, which should hold PIC in good stead for the current round of funding.
“I do expect that will be a major criterion the Government of Canada uses to allocate future funds,” said Greuel.
PIC is applying for $200 million in funding, which is the maximum for any one cluster.
The organization has already allocated all the $485 million from the existing fund and will have dispersed it all by the end of the current fiscal year.
That money has paid for 45 projects with more than 400 partners. Projects span from genomic research for creating higher protein canola to the development of finished food products.
An independent economic evaluation of the investments show they will contribute $10 billion to Canada’s gross domestic product and create 5,000 jobs.
There will be a lull in project approvals between now and when the new funding arrives on April 1, 2023.
Member companies and institutions will not be allowed to submit applications until that time but they are encouraged to dialogue with PIC and scope out project concepts because the intention is to fund a group of projects as soon as the new money is available.
In the meantime, PIC is hosting workshops with Canada’s plant-based food, feed and ingredients sector.
The goal is to generate feedback on some of the challenges facing the sector related to innovation, accessing skilled workers, building a more competitive business environment and other issues.
That feedback will be incorporated into a funding proposal Greuel must submit to the government by Sept. 29.
The government is expected make its final funding decision before the end of the calendar year. That funding agreement will last through March 2028.
