Sarnia, Ontario

Moving forward S arnia is a city in Southwestern Ontario, located where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River at the Canadian/U.S. border. Today, Sarnia and its neighboring municipalities are home to 36 petrochemical and refinery facilities, employing some 4,500 people. In addition, the waterfront city of 72,000 is continuing to diversify its big oil industrial base to include the bioindustrial sector. Its labor force is also heavily oriented toward engineering, manufacturing, and fabrication - skills that are taught at nearby Lambton College, a national leader in applied research and the commercialization of chemical and instrumentation process technologies. Sarnia is also home to two major business parks, dedicated to these emerging industries, including the Western Sarnia-Lambton Research Park, which was established in 2003 as a joint initiative with the County of Lambton, the City of Sarnia, and the University of Western Ontario (now Western University). It is Canada's largest clean-tech incubator for the commercialization of large-scale industrial technologies, from lab to market. The Park is also the location of Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC), a nationally focused, not-for- profit organization that acts as a hub for commercialization of sustainable chemistry and bio-based innovation. BIC, along with the Sarnia Lambton Economic Partnership (SLEP) have been catalysts in developing the Biobased Cluster in Sarnia, which is now becoming globally recognized as the leading cluster in bio-based chemicals and clean technology. Mark Dillon, Sarnia’s Corporate Manager