Media Advisory - Joint Canada North Carolina Partnership Breakfast
Location – Jolliet Room, Fairmont Hotel, Montreal, CA
Date & Time of event - Wednesday, 22 July 2009; 7:30-10:00 a.m.
Advisory distributed – 21 July 2009
Embargo - none


100 biofuels leaders meet to partner on NC-Canada biofuels solutions


Biofuels leaders from across Canada and North Carolina are meeting on how to partner to solve technology challenges around cellulosic and advanced biofuels.  North Carolina and Canada have similar types of cellulosic biomass, and therefore face similar technical hurdles in converting these feedstocks into second-generation biofuels.  Working together enables both regions to more quickly arrive at technology solutions to producing large quantities of advanced biofuels.  The meeting, at a breakfast in downtown Montreal, brings together industry leaders and other key stakeholders from across Canada and North Carolina.  One hundred people from dozens of biofuels and agricultural companies, development agencies, and economic and policy organizations will discuss how to most effectively share resources to solve the complicated questions surrounding the cellulosic biofuels value chain. Among those questions, are not just those of feedstock availability and production, but also those that smart partners must address in coming years:
 

• Environment
• Policy
• Sustainable and renewable responsibilities
• Regulations
• Trade and market opportunities

Media resources for this story:

• The event agenda follows the contact information below.
• Speakers will be available for interviews in both English and French.
• B-Roll can be obtained across the road at the World Congress of Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing 2009.
• A high resolution photograph of Steven Burke, President & CEO of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina can be found here.
• A web-based interview with Steven Burke, President & CEO of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, and Terry-Lynn Quadri, VP of Strategy & Business Development for Ag-West Bio can be found here.   Quotes from the interview can be used for print purposes and linked to on the web.

Media contact for North Carolina group:


Norman Smit
Communications & Education Director
Biofuels Center of North Carolina
Cell 919-339-3509
nsmit@biofuelscenter.org
www.biofuelscenter.org


Media contact for Canada group:


Jackie Robin
Communications Director
Ag-West Bio, Inc.
Direct – 306-668-2656
jackie.robin@agwest.sk.ca
www.agwest.sk.ca

 


The program agenda for the partnering breakfast is:


07:45
Welcoming Remarks by Moderator W. Steven Burke, President & CEO, Biofuels Center of North Carolina
Helene D’Iorio, Partner, Intellectual Property, Montreal, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Philip Schwab, Ph.D. Vice President of Industry Relations, BIOTECanada
Michel Lachance, Industrial Bioproducts Director, Centre Québécois de valorisation des biotechnologies (CQVB)


08:00
BioEnergy Innovations in Western Canada
Moderator:   W. Steven Burke, President & CEO, Biofuels Center of North Carolina

• “Saskatchewan Thermal BioProcessing and Syngas Utilization” -- Darren Anweiler, BioProcessing Team Leader, BioProcessing Unit, Saskatchewan Research Council
• “Valuable Co-Products of Biofuel Production" -- Dr. Martin Reaney, The Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture Chair of Lipid Quality and Utilization, University of Saskatchewan
• “Bioengineering for Biofuels and Co-Products via Cellulose Fermentation” -- Dr. David Levin, Associate Professor, University of Manitoba
• “BioEnergy Innovations in Alberta, Canada: Resources and Opportunities” -- Patrick Guidera,  Director, Forest Division, Forest Economics Branch, Forest Business and Bio-economy Initiatives Section, Department of Sustainable Resource Development, Government of Alberta

08:30
BioEnergy Innovations in Eastern Canada

• “The Emergence of Green Technology in Support of Intense Resource Management in Atlantic Canada” -- John Argall, Executive Director, BioAtlantech, New Brunswick
• “A Bio-regional Approach to BioEnergy Development in Northeastern North America” -- Thor Olesen, Executive Director, Atlantica BioEnergy Task Force

08:50
BioEnergy Innovations in the Southeastern United States

• “The North Carolina Biotechnology Center” -- Working with Partners to Build an Industry in North Carolina” -- Dr. Kenneth Tindall, Senior Vice President, Science and Business Development, North Carolina Biotechnology Center  (5 min.)
• “North Carolina’s Biofuels Endeavor:  Societal, Sustained, and Strategy”-- W. Steven Burke, President and CEO, Biofuels Center of North Carolina  (10 min.)
• “The Florida Energy Consortium” --  Erik Sander, Associate Director,  Industrial Collaboration and Commercialization, The Florida Energy Systems Consortium (10 min.)

09:15
Roundtable Discussion:  Matching Opportunities and Resources.   Moderator W. Steven Burke, President and CEO, Biofuels Center of North Carolina

Click here to download the unedited audio recording of this event in its entirety (Note: , or go to the "Podcasts" page to hear or download individually edited presentations.