British Columbia (B.C.) is committed to supporting its forestry sector by helping to maintain, create and diversify markets for B.C. forest products. This ensures the forest sector continues to be a key contributor to the B.C. economy while applying world-class innovation and technologies. As part of this commitment, an increased focus has been placed on the adoption of high-value production in the form of mass timber. Using large, solid wood panels, columns or beams, mass timber is engineered to be load-bearing like concrete and steel but significantly lighter in weight. Thick, compressed layers of wood create structural element... continue reading

British Columbia (B.C.) is committed to supporting sustainability across industries and a big part of that starts with clean, renewable energy. In British Columbia, hydro, and other clean energy sources are readily available and 98% of our power already comes from renewable sources. Despite the abundance of renewable electric energy sources, 96% of transportation energy in the province is provided by fossil fuels. As a result, the use of transportation fuels accounts for almost 41% of B.C.’s total greenhouse gas emissions annually. To combat this, British Columbia is actively supporting the transition to clean energy vehic... continue reading

British Columbia’s South Coast is a vibrant metropolitan region and one of Canada’s most multicultural areas. It offers access to West Coast lifestyle activities as well as all the amenities of dynamic urban hubs. The region's thriving economy is filled with opportunity and the workforce to make innovation happen. This region of British Columbia (B.C.) includes Vancouver and the surrounding Metro Vancouver area, the Fraser Valley, Squamish, Whistler and the Sunshine Coast. It is one of the most ethnically diverse regions in Canada. It has more than 2.8 million people including many traditional First Nations commu... continue reading

When people think of British Columbia (B.C.), the coastal forests that are peacefully nestled next to rivers and mountains may come to mind. It is no wonder that our province is a world leader in wood products, biofuels and advanced wood products and technologies. B.C. lives in harmony with nature, it has more forest land certified environmentally sustainable than any comparable jurisdiction in the world. The City of Prince George is the largest northern city in the province. Forestry is one of its cornerstone industries which specializes in packaged building solutions, remanufactured lumber and engineered wood products. These a... continue reading

Agritech is the art and science of producing more with less. Its goal: to yield more nutritious, affordable and abundant food with less space, water, soil, energy, fertilizer, chemicals and waste. Here in B.C., developments using vertical growing, drones, sensor technology, robotics, genomics, health and therapeutics and environmental controls are transforming the agriculture and seafood sectors.    British Columbia is transforming the global food system The B.C. agritech sector is growing, with over 150 agritech companies producing world-class innovations that offer solutions domestically and internationally. Britis... continue reading

Water is an important resource in British Columbia (B.C.). The province has over 27,000 kilometres of coastline (more than all the United States), more than 20,000 lakes and approximately 300 rivers. With 98% of B.C.’s energy coming from hydro and other clean energy sources, many economic sectors rely on the beauty, bounty, and cleanliness of these bodies of water. British Columbia recognizes the value of protecting such a diverse and vital resource, so water purification technology has also flourished here and become a valuable export.Acuva Technologies, based in Burnaby, British Columbia, is the world leader in the design... continue reading

Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, businesses in British Columbia continue to grow and thrive. The BC Export Awards program recognizes the innovative and unique contributions of registered export companies in British Columbia. Awards are given in the categories of Emerging Exporter, Manufactured Products, Professional Services, Advancing Technology & Innovation and Exporter of the Year. This year, nominees and award winners exemplify some of the best B.C. has to offer and are as follows: Emerging ExporterBig Mountain Foods is currently exporting nine plant-based products into the USA, including veggie patties and saus... continue reading

Food safety, traceability and sustainability practices are the cornerstones of British Columbia’s (B.C.) seafood sector and have earned the province an international reputation for safe, sustainable and high-quality seafood products. British Columbia has recognized the value of its abundant natural seafood resources for a long time, with organizations including the BC Seafood Alliance, which has been advocating for a profitable and sustainable seafood industry since 1999. Most recently, ThisFish Inc. has emerged on the scene to provide a user-friendly, data-driven solution to reduce costs and improve efficien... continue reading

In the 1980s, Carl Sagan, a celebrated astronomer and astrophysicist, invited television viewers aboard his Spaceship of the Imagination, where he piloted them across the universe and to galaxies far away. Cosmos: A Personal Journey, his award-winning series, fascinated television viewers with powerful and realistic visualizations and vivid and emotional tales of human trials and adventures. Sagan was a great storyteller, but he also seemed to understand how he could use analog television to enhance the way people learned and made complex science and physics engaging and relatable. We could argue that this thirteen-part televisio... continue reading

The world held its breath collectively and saw a small spark of hope when Pfizer and BioNTech announced their vaccine was ready to be distributed amid a second wave of COVID-19. What most people are unaware of is that a B.C. company had a critical role in creating this spark of hope. Acuitas, a Vancouver-based company, developed the technology that allows the vaccine’s messenger RNA (mRNA) to work. The mRNA tells the body to create a protein that exists on the surface of the COVID-19 virus, which teaches our immune system that it is foreign and should be fought against. However, mRNA cannot enter cells without assistance, ... continue reading