CANBIO holds 3-5 workshops and conferences each year, from coast to coast. We specialize in focused events targeted to develop business, and promote policy improvements!
We make time and space for business-to-business meetings at our events, but particularly at our annual conferences, which draw people from around the world, and are quickly becoming the go-to event of the year for anyone in industry. Highlights from our last two annual conferences are below:
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CANBIO 2nd Annual Conference
Ottawa, October 2008
The conference stayed true to its title, “Bioenergy in Action.” Two hundred delegates from across the country joined industry representatives from Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Canada and the US at the Westin Hotel in downtown Ottawa. CANBIO gave a solid overview of the industry in 2008, then speakers presented the latest on supply chains, biomass fuel development, and second-generation bioenergy technologies. On the second day, a special session on Community-Sized Bioenergy Solutions kicked off the morning followed by a panel discussion on Canada’s provincial and federal bioenergy policies.
A tradeshow featuring over 25 exhibitors from five countries, including John Deere, Ponsse, MetsoPower and Buhler, showcased the latest technologies and equipment. Tradeshow representatives were given a chance to present their business in a special afternoon session titled “Business-to-Business Technology Solutions,” that ran side-by-side with the main event. This year’s new B2B session, where interested delegates signed up for tête-à-tête’s with trade show companies, were a major hit with 57 meetings taking place. The twenty-minute meetings were held in a separate, casual environment over coffee and ran parallel to the main event. “The meetings were a great chance to sit down and just talk business with interested people,” said Björn Vikinge, of Vikinge Forest & Bioenergy AB. Over 60 delegates joined the popular study tour, which took place on the final day of the event. The group got up-close and personal with Abitibi-Bowater’s co-generation plant in Hull, Quebec, equipment at Camionnage Normand Sans-Cartier, a biomass harvesting and processing operation in Gatineau and Plasco’s state of the art waste-to-energy demonstration plant.
CANBIO 1st Annual Conference
Toronto, September 2007
The Holiday-Inn-on-King in downtown Toronto played host to our first annual conference, a collaboration with International Energy Agency Task 40-Biotrade, which drew over 150 people. Participants came from 10 countries and 7 provinces to hear the latest on biomass volumes, costs including ocean transport, and development opportunities. We held special sessions on Ontario and Quebec, policy progress in Canada and Europe, and biofuels infrastructure. The Toronto event featured a trade show sponsored by the Wood Energy Network in Finland, and included: Metso Power, MHG Systems Oy, John Deere, Kesla Oy, Terra Patris, MegaKone, Pentin Paja Oy and Metla. As for business-to-business? Well, 300,000 tonnes of biomass traded hands at the event. We concluded the conference with a one-day tour of the world’s largest pyrolysis oil plant at Guelph, Ontario, and Ontario Power Generation’s co-firing operation at the Nanticoke power station.