The Prince Edward Island bioscience cluster unveiled a new fermentation and downstream processing equipment suite at the BioFoodTech facilities in Charlottetown on Friday, which should help smaller companies to scale.

The new facilities are part of an effort on the Island to improve the facilities available to young, small life sciences companies and help them to grow. Biotech companies – including young startups – need access to facilities like wet labs and specialist equipment. Large companies can build their own but young companies need communal facilities.

The new manufacturing equipment, which includes fermenters, centrifuge, a filtration unit and spray dryer, is much needed as PEI and Atlantic Canadian companies continue to expand operations, said Rory Francis, Executive Director of the PEI BioAlliance.

“We’re at the stage now where we are moving beyond R&D and have more manufacturing requirements within our region’s bioscience companies,” said Francis. Now, he added, the cluster can “provide access to the technology needed to scale-up manufacturing and help commercialize their products.”

These investments will allow regional and international companies in the intermediate phase of scaling up their production to engage the resources needed to optimize their manufacturing processes and prepare for commercial scale manufacturing, said the statement.

Last month, the governments of Canada and P.E.I. announced nearly $1 million in funding for the new equipment to address a gap in the manufacturing infrastructure in the region. The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency provided a grant of $500,000 for the facilities, while the PEI government provided a $100,000 grant through Innovation PEI and a loan of $337,822.

“This type of infrastructure investment further cements our province’s growing reputation as a leader in biotechnology,” Economic Development and Tourism Minister Heath MacDonald said. “By helping to grow the bioscience cluster on Prince Edward Island we are spurring innovation and creating jobs and prosperity for Islanders.”

The bio-cluster in P.E.I. now comprises 53 companies, up from 46 a year ago. The BioAlliance companies generated about $218 million of revenue in 2015, up from $95 million in 2010. The public- and private-sector members of the BioAlliance employed 1400 people as of the end of 2015, up from about 900 in 2010.