Naturex Enter Collaboration to Optimise Canadian Forest Biomass for Active Ingredients
03 Nov 2015 --- FPInnovations, the world leader for the research and development of solutions promoting the forestry sector competitiveness, and Naturex, the global leader in specialty plant-based natural ingredients, have announced their strategic partnership to develop active molecules derived from Canadian forest biomass for food industry and cosmetics applications.
Through its extensive knowledge of the forestry industry and related sectors, FPInnovations will both ensure access to Canadian forest biomass and contribute additional expertise in extractable wood derivatives. Naturex's ability to identify and extract natural active ingredients will be deployed to demonstrate the potential of this biomass as a source of specialty plant-based natural ingredients for food processing and cosmetic applications.
The Canadian forests represent an extremely rich and abundant source of biomass. Combining FPInnovations' and Naturex's expertise opens the way for disruptive innovation seeking to address two major objectives:
• Enabling the forestry industry to fully exploit the diversity of its biomass to create new industry applications and accelerate uses beyond traditional markets, while at the same time supporting a sustainable economy;
• Accessing new natural and certified sustainable bioresources for the production of ingredients to create innovative solutions and drive new consumer practices ahead of market trends.
In addition, the use of forest biomass plays an important part in the fight against climate change. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to use and recover each of the wood components, and recover the extractables to increase the economic value of forest biomass. This represents an important part of building a biobased economy and reducing environmental impacts. As such, this initiative is fully in line with the agenda of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December 2015.
"Identifying new products able to be created from existing resources and infrastructure is critical to the future of the forestry sector,” declared Pierre Lapointe, Chairman and CEO of FPInnovations. "This international collaboration is a testimony of our vision for creating a world where sustainable forest products contribute to all aspects of daily life, including non-traditional markets such as industrial applications for natural ingredients."
Antoine Bily, Naturex's chief research and development officer added: "Trees of the Canadian forest represent an enormous reserve of innovative active molecules, both in terms of volume and biodiversity. This collaboration with FPInnovations is an excellent example of open innovation which will accelerate development lead time for these molecules and their transformation into differentiating natural ingredients for the greater benefit of our customers and consumers alike. We are also proud to contribute to the preservation of the Canadian forest by promoting sustainable economic development which is a cornerstone of our Bright2020 strategy."
