Atlantic Canada Bioindustries

Your Partners in Success

The Atlantic Canada Bio Industries Alliance is an umbrella organization representing bio industry associations in the four Atlantic provinces: New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.

Canada's Atlantic region: the home of successful life sciences businesses.
We know what it takes. We have what you need.

OUR REGION

Our thriving bio and life sciences sector is a rapidly expanding economic powerhouse, encompassing approximately 300 businesses, employing over 5,000 individuals, and generating an impressive $1 billion in annual revenue.

Our regional expertise spans human and animal health clinical trials, fermentation-based biomanufacturing (CDMO and CMO infrastructure and services), and biopharma skills and training. Our market targets address unmet needs in human, animal, and fish health, offering a wide array of products including pharmaceutical APIs, bio-pharmaceuticals, natural products, medical devices, and diagnostics. Furthermore, the Atlantic Sector excels in the specialized field of Blue Bio resource development.

This dynamic innovation ecosystem fuels the creation of cutting-edge startups, attracts ground-breaking technologies, draws in skilled professionals, and secures global capital investments. Experience the vibrant growth and immense potential of Atlantic Canada's bioscience and life sciences sector.

Talent

Home to a skilled workforce.

Capital

Access to public and private capital.

Infrastructure

Research facilities, scale up and more.

Agility

Decisions at the speed of business.

Talent

We support the labour pool for the bio and life sciences sector through the attraction and retention of skilled workers. Meanwhile, the region is home to 45 world-class public universities and colleges in the region that produce students with the experience and skills to enter the workforce at full speed.

Atlantic Canada is home to the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL), a national organization which delivers on the economic and sectoral demand for individuals who are work-ready to enter, thrive and meet the needs of the fast-growing Canadian biomanufacturing industry.

Case Study: The Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL)

TALENT

Currently, there is a disconnect between theoretical knowledge and training, and the skills to meet industry needs and support growth. This challenge, coupled with the rapid growth of Canada’s bioscience sector, creates the need for a larger labour pool, and one that is highly-skilled and qualified.

The Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences (CASTL) provides world-class technical skills development and training in life sciences specializing in biopharmaceutical manufacturing. It is a unique partnership between academia, industry, and government to address the future skills needs of the fast-growing bioscience sector. CASTL delivers specialized training to post-secondary students and industry employees through e-learning courses, in-class and virtual theory training and hands on training.

A national initiative of the PEI BioAlliance, with headquarters and the first biomanufacturing training facility open in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, CASTL is expanding its national network with training facilities planned for Quebec and British Columbia.

CASTL is the exclusive provider of the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research, and Training (NIBRT) licensed training programs in Canada. CASTL is supported by National Lead Partner adMare Academy.

Capital

We are home to dedicated public and private sector organizations that provide access to the right kind of capital at the right stage of your development. Inncubator and accelerator programs ensure rapid product development and commercialization.

Case Study: The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)

CAPITAL

ACOA works to create opportunities for economic growth in the region by helping businesses become more competitive, innovative and productive, by working with diverse communities to develop and diversify local economies, and by championing the strengths of Atlantic Canada.

ACOA has invested heavily in the bio and life sciences sector, creating economic opportunity across the region including:

$25M for the design and construction of the BioAccelerator
$5M in BIOVECTRA to help the company meet global market demand
$2.3M contribution to the PEI BioAlliance to establish the CASTL biopharmaceutical manufacturing training facility
$250,000 repayable contribution for the purchase of manufacturing equipment to help Chinova achieve new production levels

Infrastructure & Supportive Networks

Canada’s Atlantic region shares a long history of working together for the benefit of the entire industry, united by common economic and social ties.

We have a continuum of high quality infrastructure, featuring world-class research facilities, incubator programs, pilot plants and commercial scale up facilities, designed to meet international regulatory standards.

Paired with a comprehensive and supportive network, we provide support to early stage startups, helping them move efficiently through research and development to commercialization, resulting in accelerated success. Additionally - our region is also competitively positioned to assist well-established companies to take the next step, supporting strategic initiatives such as clinical trial coordination, or in designing, financing and manufacturing facilities.

INFRASTRUCTURE & SUPPORTIVE NETWORKS

Case Study: BioAccelerator

The BioAccelerator represents an investment in strategic infrastructure that will enable the next decade of growth and development of the Atlantic Canada bioscience cluster. The 75,000 sq. ft biomanufacturing centre of expertise will be home to early-stage companies and small and medium sized enterprises from across Canada and international locations, while providing access to the expertise of the National Research Council of Canada.

Unique in Canada and a national asset, the BioAccelerator will support research and product development, skills and training, and scale-up for biosciences companies while providing facilities to researchers, entrepreneurs and bioscience-based companies.

This infrastructure will continue attracting talent and investment to the Atlantic region, building more capacity and expanding its already impressive economic impact.

Agility

Canada’s Atlantic region is agile and competitive. In a region where no one’s a stranger and decision-makers are approachable and closely connected with stakeholders, things move quickly. We are able to mitigate local and global challenges efficiently by providing connections to the right resources. It's a region that's small enough to be nimble but diverse enough to provide the demographics, infrastructure and know-how you need to succeed.

Rather than see each other as competitors, the companies in our bio, health and life sciences sectors are eager to collaborate, and the associations in each of our provinces are well-connected. They help companies of all sizes navigate networking, infrastructure, capital or regulatory challenges associated with setting up operations in Atlantic Canada, and are skilled at creating partnerships between the private sector, provincial health systems, and access to talent.

With a hands-on and relationship-focused approach, Atlantic Canada has a track record of successful partnerships, guiding companies through research, to the commercialization of technology.

Case Study: Atlantic Clinical Trials Network (ACTN)

AGILITY

In how many regions of the world would an inquiry from industry result in the collaboration of four governments and six health-delivery authorities?

In 2022, at BIO International, two heads of government and two health ministers from Canada’s Atlantic region travelled to San Diego to announce this partnership. This is a prime example of what Atlantic collaboration looks like.

The network leverages regional collaboration, provincial leadership, entrepreneurial capacity, and cutting-edge research to revolutionize access to care for patients, all while streamlining the development of new medicines, therapies, devices and interventions.

ACTN is driven by agility and the ability to get the right partners to the table at the right time, creating a single point of entry for researchers, partners and patients.