Calgary, Alberta, Canada
February 20, 2018
Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer are pleased to be part of the Protein Industries Canada (PIC) supercluster that has been selected by the federal government to receive funding under the federal Innovation Superclusters Initiative (ISI).
Protein Industries Canada is an industry-led alliance of private sector companies, academic institutions and other stakeholders across Western Canada aimed at fully developing the potential of plant-based proteins from crops such as canola, pulses, grains, hemp and flax.
The Innovation Superclusters Initiative will accelerate the growth and development of business-led innovation superclusters in Canada, translating the strengths of Canada's innovation ecosystems into new commercial and global opportunities for growth and competitiveness. Through an investment of up to $950 million over five years, which will be matched dollar for dollar by the private sector, the federal government will offer contributions to the five selected superclusters.
"Research conducted through the Protein Industries Canada supercluster will produce solid economic benefits for farmers and value-added processors across Western Canada," says David Dzisiak, commercial leader, grains and oils, at Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer Canada. "We are pleased to be part of this effort to bring a value chain-wide focus of Canadian private and public resources to enhance the production of high-yielding Canadian plant protein crops and promote a data-driven approach to farming."
As part of this initiative, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont Pioneer Canada will significantly accelerate development of high-quality protein canola seed and secondary processing technologies to produce high-value protein co-products, and enhance their precision agriculture platform, Encirca® services, to provide data-driven insights to farmers through investment in platform and software development for Canadian crops such as canola, wheat and corn.