Lesson 4: FPInnovations

On April 1, 2007, a merger of Canada's three primary forest sector research institutes (Feric, Forintek and Paprican) and the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (part of the Canadian Forest Service) came together to create FPInnovations, which is the largest private, not-for-profit forest sector research institute in the world. This merger allowed these various research institutions to pool resources and create new partnerships with academic agencies and other research agencies. This meant that complex issues could be better addressed from genetics and tree improvement right through to the performance of the products in the market place.

Below is FPInnovations' mission points, taken from their website:

• Nurturing our people and scientific excellence within a diverse workplace
  

• Developing solutions to enhance competitiveness and sustainability
  

• Creating and seizing opportunities beyond traditional markets
  

• Accelerating innovation and enabling partnerships among industry, government and academia
  

FPInnovations is focused on four key areas: forest operations, pulp and paper, wood products and bio-sourced products.  They have an extensive membership base of forest industry companies, government agencies, and equipment manufacturers in Alberta and Canada.