Business View Magazine | March 2018

107 Oil purchased the company,establishing Sarnia as a refining center.The petrochemical industryexpand- ed rapidlyafter 1942when Polymer,a federal crown corporation,established a synthetic rubber factory in Sarnia. This factorywas built by local tradespeople in order to supplythe allies inWorldWar II with synthetic rubber (fromoil) when the supplyof natural rubber had been cut off.The supplywas considered a con- tributing factor to the success of thewar effort. The plant was built in an amazingly short period of time and operated veryprofitablyproviding a return to the Canadian taxpayers. This achievement was celebrated by the Canadian government bydepicting the Polymer Corporation on the Canadian $10 bill. Today,Sarnia and neighboringmunicipalities are home to 36 petrochemical and refinery facilities,em- ploying some 4,500 people. But things are changing in this waterfront cityof 72,000.Once knownmainly for its petrochemical industry,Sarnia is nowdeep in the process of diversifying its big oil industrial base to include big bio. For the hybrid chemical system,future growthwill come frombio-based industry. But the region is also committed tomaintaining the petroleum industryas theyworkhard to decrease its greenhouse gas emissions and lookat ways to partner with the bio-based industry. “We’re actuallyseen as a leader in NorthAmerica in the bio-industryprocess,”saysAlan Shaw,Sarnia’s Director of Planning and Building.“We’ve seen people come in fromas far as Europe and Califor- nia to set up plants and operations here in Sarnia.” There are several reasons why this is happening.“We have several municipally-owned assets including a SARNIA, ONTARIO As a not-for-profit organization, Bioindustrial Innovation Canada (BIC) has a mandate to help Ontario and Canada become globally recognized leaders in the field of sustainable technologies. Since its inception in 2008, BIC has developed a successful foundation by working nationally and internationally with multiple and diverse stake- holders in both industry and government. These collaborations help the development and commercialization of bio-based and sustain- able chemistry-based products – including the development of Canada’s first manufacturing hybrid chemistry cluster in the heart of Canada’s largest petrochemical cluster and the Southwest- ern Ontario agricultural community. To position the Sarnia-Lambton region as a world-scale hybrid chemistry cluster, BIC collab- orates closely with partners such as the Sarnia Lambton Economic Partnership (SLEP), Lambton College Applied Research Centres and The West- ern Sarnia-Lambton Research Park. Through these efforts BIC is accelerating the growth of the Sarnia-Lambton hybrid chemistry cluster, a natural community to link the existing petroleum industry with the future bioeconomy and show how the two sectors can evolve and grow. BIC has played an important role in attracting anchor companies to Sarnia which form key as- sets in the cluster’s chemistry value chain. Such as: · Origin Materials · Comet Biorefining · BioAmber · Cellulosic Sugar Producers Co-operative Securing the location of these companies is expected to attract significant follow-on invest- ment in the region. BIC continues to build out sustainable value chains as well as creating high- ly qualified jobs and economic value in Canada. Learn more at www.bincanada.ca The Sarnia-Lambton Hybrid Chemistry Cluster Supported through a collaborative ecosystem