Developing the Protein Industries Canada technology program

The Protein Industries Canada technology program has developed much like a film photograph over the past couple of years. A new element is exposed with each new project and staff member, some areas coming into better focus as others necessarily fade into the background.

“Our thinking about what’s important for the sector has changed a lot,” Protein Industries Canada’s Chief Technology Officer Chris Anderson said. “This opportunity to bring organizations together to collaborate and have strong ideas for accelerating innovation … was a driver of the program right from the start, but really seeing how that works in operation has really reinforced the model.”

It goes without saying that a lot of work went into making the program what it is today, but Anderson added that plenty of other factors also contributed. He said the visions of some key individuals for developing the Protein Industries Canada concept, and the past and present Boards of Directors, have been instrumental in not only setting out a great strategic vision and highlighting the opportunity for the sector, but also in developing the program. The team’s staff, too, have played a significant role in these developments. Despite being located across Western Canada, the staff have a cohesiveness and common set of values that well-compliment their expertise. Their day-to-day interactions with members and stakeholders, Anderson said, has helped Protein Industries Canada build a program that they hope will accelerate growth.

Together, they use their skills to help members move their ideas through from proposals to signed agreements. While this can be a straight-forward process, it quite often involves balancing multiple wants; the team, however, does their best to ensure that everyone gets what they need. Part of how they do this, Anderson explained, is by becoming champions for their projects, rather than just managing them.

“They really understand what each member of that consortium is doing, what the project is really trying to accomplish,” he said. “By getting that deeper understanding, I think we’re getting better projects developed, and I think we’re seeing better levels of collaboration.

“The number of hours that are committed by the team—by our finance team … by each of the program managers—there’s just a lot of hours that go into understanding the project and helping make it a better project and hopefully more successful in the review process.”

This level of commitment has led to 14 exciting projects approved already, with 11 of them announced. Based on the trends he’s seen so far, Anderson doesn’t expect interest in the program to wane.

“There are still so many opportunities in our sector,” he said. “Seeing those projects where you really can link organizations that are bringing different strengths together, are able to truly collaborate, I’d really like to see those kinds of things come together.”

These projects, he explained, will help build on commodity-based projects, strengthening Canada’s position as a global leader.

“The opportunity for Canada’s agrifood sector to really help drive economic growth, for healthier, more sustainable food, to be contributing to good health outcomes here in Canada and around the world—it’s almost a bit of a perfect storm of opportunity,” Anderson said. “But for us to take advantage of it, we need to take action now.”