The Canadian Embassy, in collaboration with BIOCIRC and BIOPLAT, holds a meeting on bioeconomy between Canadian and Spanish companies

The Canadian Embassy in Spain was yesterday the scene of a business meeting in which Canadian and Spanish entities linked to the bioeconomy participated. The event was organized by the Canadian Embassy with the support of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, the Spanish Technology and Innovation Platform in Biocircularity – BIOPLAT and the Spanish Biocircularity Association – BIOCIRC. The initiative sought to promote transatlantic cooperation in the field of biocircularity, with the meeting of leaders of the sector to share knowledge, experiences and strengthen relations between both countries.

Derek Nighbor, president and CEO of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC), opened the meeting with a presentation in which he highlighted Canada’s solid experience in sustainable forest management and the importance of the dynamic bioeconomy sector for the entire forest value chain in Canada.

Margarita de Gregorio, CEO of BIOCIRC and general secretary of BIOPLAT, contextualized the situation of the biocircularity sector in Spain and delved into all the areas it encompasses (bioenergy, biofuels, biogases and bioproducts). De Gregorio stressed that one of the challenges for the further development of biocircularity in Spain is to unite all the biocircularity subsectors, one of the reasons why the BIOPLAT spin-off, BIOCIRC, was born in 2024, which works to promote a political, regulatory and social framework that allows this challenge to be overcome. Among the initiatives explained by the manager, attendees found Biocircular Mapp of particular interest, the largest visual database of entities in the field of biocircularity in Spain, in which BIOPLAT and BIOCIRC are working to make all public-private agents visible. that make up the sector at a national level.

Ana López, coordinator of the Centre for Innovation in Circular Economy (CIEC) of the Madrid City Council and Madrid Agency for Investment Attraction, explained the functions of this organisation and its desire to support initiatives in the capital aimed at the circular economy.

The participating companies were able to connect with potential like-minded strategic partners, creating an environment conducive to collaboration. Among the meetings in which representatives of BIOCIRC and BIOPLAT took part, the meeting with Derek Nighbor was especially relevant. He expressed his interest in learning about the possibilities of the bioeconomy sector in Spain, the strategies for the deployment of SAF in our country and his desire to collaborate with entities in the biocircularity sector in Spain.