The Prince Edward Island BioAlliance is seeking innovation-driven companies to lease space in its new BioAccelerator facility, which is slated to be completed in 2025 and will offer biomanufacturing facilities and office space.
In a statement, the BioAlliance said potential tenants could include early-stage companies, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises. It will also be home to a fermentation lab belonging to the National Research Council of Canada, as well as the headquarters of the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences.
Spearheaded by industry group the PEI BioAlliance, the $50 million BioAccelerator will include 75,000 square feet of space for biomanufacturing research and manufacturing scaleup activities. The facility will be an expansion of the existing BioCommons Research Park in Charlottetown.
"The BioAccelerator will be a biomanufacturing centre of expertise and a national asset, and support bioscience-based research and development in Atlantic Canada," said the BioAlliance in a statement.
Funding for the project is coming jointly from the provincial and federal governments and is part of a broader push to scale up bioeconomy infrastructure in P.E.I. to keep pace with the fast-growing sector. The P.E.I. bioeconomy has enjoyed a strong few years, with companies in the sector — one of the top three largest industries in the province — now raking in more than $600 million annually.