Over the last twenty years the number of Canadian biotechnology companies has grown by 77.2%. These companies are distributed across the country with products and services in every region.

To address this insurgence of innovation, organizations like BioTalent Canada, a national non-profit, industry-led organization that supports companies in the Canadian bio-economy with their human resource and skill development issues, have developed a number of helpful tools to allow your company to thrive.

These include:

• The Career Focus Program, which is currently accepting applications, provides wage subsidies of up to $10,634 to cultivate talent within companies.
• The PetriDish online job bank, a free service to both employers and job seekers in the biotech industry.
• The BioTalent HR Tool Kit, which helps small-to-medium enterprises develop HR policies specific to their unique recruitment and retention best practices.

Though the economic downturn has caused some businesses to slow, it has provided opportunity for companies in subsectors of the bioeconomy, such as bioenergy, biofuels and industrial biotech, to experience renewed growth as market demands increase.

Let’s take advantage of this unique situation and the tools being provided to us to grow our region’s stake in the bio-based economy.

- allison [dot] fishertechalliance [dot] ca (Allison Fisher)
  Manager, Educational Outreach, TechAlliance