August 10, 2018

Last month we reported on a number of items, including:

• Industry consultations that were held in June
• The upcoming thought leaders’ rollout session in early October
• Progress on our search for a CEO for Protein Industries Canada
• Status of items on our contribution agreement discussions

There has been progress in the past month on these and other items as highlighted below:

Industry Consultations Completed
As noted in our last update, the first industry consultations were held in mid-June in Saskatoon, Edmonton and Winnipeg. The output of these consultations has now been reviewed and we are happy to report on a number of key highlights from these sessions.

• The opportunity created by Protein Industries Canada is big, important and needed, given the potential for Protein Industries Canada to increase and enhance value-added production from Western Canadian crops. Expectations are high that all of us (governments, academia and industry) working through the programs Protein Industries Canada will have a real opportunity to significantly advance agriculture and agri-food processing on the Prairies, as well as enhance the brand and the perception of Canada as a source of clean, safe, healthy food.

• The challenge most frequently mentioned in achieving this potential is insufficient collaboration with each other, both within our provinces and across the Prairies. Moving from individualistic thinking toward a more collective approach with a common purpose to compete in world markets is the remedy. Mechanisms are needed to increase trust amongst the various participants, overcome our wide geographic dispersion, get the right leadership into place and increase efforts to engage future leaders, in terms of youth and indigenous people.

• Other challenges cited include: engaging SMEs as the engines of growth; recognizing that adding value is even more difficult than exporting commodities; overcoming our tendency to think short term; fear of failure; and a tendency not to take sufficient risk or “waiting for someone else to do it for us.”

• In the minds of many of those who attended the sessions, success would be measured by achieving short-term wins to create momentum; increase the rate of new technology commercialization; enhancing the ecosystem to support startups through to scale up; increasing the presence of firm headquarters in the region; and becoming internationally recognized as a world centre for plant proteins and related co-products.

Thought Leaders’ Summit
The program for this event is evolving nicely with some corporate sponsorships now committed. Watch for updates on our website for the summit agenda and registration information. Plan to attend if you can. We are seeing a growing interest in Western Canada to host more global conferences on plant proteins.

CEO search
Protein Industries Canada has been making good progress on our CEO search. As of Aug 10th, our search consultants report that we have applications from a total of 71 potential candidates. The search committee of the Protein Industries Canada board met Aug 7th and reviewed the long list of potential candidates. We are happy to report that we have some very capable applicants who have expressed a keen interest in the CEO role. The search committee of the board will present its short list of candidates to be interviewed to the Protein Industries Canada Board when it meets in Calgary on Aug 23rd.

Contribution Agreement
Protein Industries Canada has now filed all required documents with ISED to complete the Federal Treasury Board submission to receive approximately $150M in funding. ISED is currently preparing the Federal Treasury Board funding request for Protein Industries Canada which will likely be reviewed by Treasury Board Canada in September. Once that process is complete and a formal contribution agreement has been negotiated, funds will start to flow to Protein Industries Canada and the organization can establish operations and programs.

Protein Industries Canada Venture Fund
The groups involved in forming the Protein Industries Canada venture fund continue to meet weekly and discussions are underway with various Limited Partner investors related to their due diligence requirements to invest in the Protein Industries Canada venture fund. A search for a CEO for the venture fund is now complete and a short list of candidates will be interviewed to select a leader for the fund in the next few weeks. We are also increasingly receiving interest from US-based venture capital funds that have a strategic interest in plant protein businesses and who are interested in co-investing with the Protein Industries Canada venture fund.

Discussions with other Federal Agencies
Discussions are underway with various federal agencies as to how we collaborate to increase innovation resources as well as improve the policy and regulatory environment for advancing the Canadian plant proteins industry. These agencies included Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Western Economic Diversification Canada and the National Research Council Canada, all of whom have the potential to provide significant assistance in aid of Protein Industries Canada vision and mission.

Upcoming Protein Industries Canada Board and Committee Meetings
The Protein Industries Canada board will be meeting in Calgary on Aug 23rd. Included on the board’s agenda will be:

• Matters related to current efforts to conclude our contribution agreement to obtain federal funds
• Review potential projects for initiation once funds are available
• Thought Leaders’ Summit in Winnipeg on Oct 3rd and 4th
• CEO search
• Protein Industries Canada venture fund update
• Funding opportunities with strategic partners
• Overview of Protein Industries Canada’s 5-year program outlook, budget and organization
• Protein Industries Canada’s operating model, including relationships with regional partner organizations
• International outreach opportunities

Committee activity will be strong during August. The Protein Industries Canada Governance Committee will meet twice in August to select a CEO. The Projects Committee meets Aug 10th in Saskatoon to begin identifying processes and priorities for getting projects ready for funding once federal funds are in place and Protein Industries Canada operations have been fully established.

Following the Calgary board meeting, a few Protein Industries Canada directors will travel to Lethbridge to tour a number of food processing operations and meet with local industry. Our thanks to Trevor Lewington, CEO at Economic Development Lethbridge for his assistance in pulling this together.

Please contact Rhonda or I if you have further questions. Thank you to everyone for your continued support!

Administrative Office
Rhonda Ekstrom: protein@sasktel.net
Frank Hart: Frank.Hart@greystone.ca

Protein Industries Canada office hours are 7:30 to 11:30 am Monday through Thursday.

#150K – 2 Research Drive
Innovation Place
Regina, Saskatchewan, S4S 7H9
Tel: (306) 949-0049

Visit proteinindustriescanada.ca for more information about Protein Industries Canada.

Frank Hart
Interim Chair,
Protein Industries Canada Board of Directors