Positioning Canada for global leadership and diversified trade through the bioeconomy
Canada is in a pivotal period in our economic history. Global shifts in trade, energy, and geopolitics—alongside rising concerns around productivity and economic competitiveness—demand bold action and strategic investment. Canada is poised to weather this global economic shift and well positioned with our unique assets to become a preferred global partner.
Our world-class natural resources, strong research institutions, a talented workforce, and a growing innovation ecosystem in clean technologies and low-carbon manufacturing, provide a platform for resilience and growth.
The bioeconomy—estimated at $4 -5 trillion USD ($6.9 trillion CDN) globally, with growth potential to $30 trillion USD ($42 trillion CDN) by 2050 —is one of the most promising paths forward. It offers Canada an opportunity to leverage our abundant natural resources, including agricultural and forestry feedstocks and residues and convert them into high-value, low-carbon products like biofuels, bioplastics, renewable chemicals, and sustainable materials. Canada is well-positioned to capture an estimated $200 billion in new economic opportunity from this emerging sector.
To fully realize this opportunity, Canada must take strategic steps to reduce regulatory complexity, modernize interprovincial trade rules, and create conditions for businesses to invest, grow, and scale. It’s time to build the infrastructure and policy supports that will allow our natural resources, intellectual property, and clean technologies to reach global markets—while strengthening domestic supply chains and creating high-quality jobs in urban and rural communities.
Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) recommends the following priority actions for the new government:
Revise the national bioeconomy strategy with measurable goals aimed at cross-departmental and cross-ministry coordination coupled with a clear roadmap for industry and public sector collaboration.
Establish a ‘front door’ to attract and accelerate major investments, particularly in large-scale biorefineries and biomanufacturing facilities that will anchor new value chains leveraging Canadian biomass feedstocks and stranded assets.
Streamline and modernize regulations, ensuring encouragement and support of bio-based innovation, and provide targeted incentives for commercialization and scale-up.
Remove internal trade barriers that fragment Canada’s market and limit collaboration on nationally significant projects.
Support early-stage technology validation and market development by investing capital in low-carbon, clean and green technologies that will demonstrate emissions reduction, value-chain development and help meet domestic and global market need.
Canada needs to foster greater alignment between federal departments and regional development agencies to ensure a cohesive approach to economic development in the bioeconomy space. Future policies need to empower industry-led organizations with the expertise, networks and connections to drive innovation, raise capital, and build meaningful partnerships across sectors.
Canada’s bioeconomy represents HUGE opportunities in economic prosperity, sector resilience, sustainability and global competitiveness. Reducing our dependence on imported goods, displacing carbon-intensive materials, and creating new products with Canadian-made intellectual property, we can strengthen our position on the world stage and insulate our economy from global shocks.
Organizations like BIC are already playing a critical role in supporting companies through technology and market validation, investment readiness, and scale-up efforts. With strategic public-private collaboration, we can further strengthen Canada’s biobased products and their value chains, connect innovators with manufacturers, and ensure that more Canadian solutions reach commercialization, exports, and impact.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build an economy that is multi-generational, productive, innovative, and sustainable. We must act now to ensure that Canada leads in the industries of tomorrow, rather than playing catch-up in a world that is rapidly transitioning to a net-zero future.
Let’s harness this amazing opportunity. Together, we can make the bioeconomy a central pillar of Canada’s economic future—one that creates prosperity, continues to remain not only resilient and generates high value jobs, reduces emissions, and reinforces our national strength and independence. BIC stands ready to collaborate with government, industry, and communities across the country to make this vision a reality.