Investments in Forest Industry Transformation Program

The objective of the IFIT program is to support transformations that will make the forest industry more economically viable and environmentally sustainable. The objective will be achieved by investing in innovative technologies that lead to a more diverse, higher-value product mix including bioenergy and renewable power, as well as biomaterials, biochemical and next generation building products.

The Program will fund innovative projects that are using transformative technologies at the pilot and commercial scales that direct wood fibre and by-products from wood processing into higher value usages which 1) increase the total revenues available from a log, 2) diversify product lines for the forest industry, stabilizing economic performance, and 3) produce renewable energy and other products that are beneficial to the environment. By providing funding to Canadian forest firms for capital investments in bioenergy and bioproduct industrial processes to advance these technologies towards full, commercial-scale implementation, this Program will broaden and build upon previous investments in forest sector transformation.

This transfer payment program does not have any repayable contributions.

Expected outcomes of the program include:

• Canada’s forest sector is more commercially and environmentally sustainable with improved return on capital employed and environmental impacts;
• New forest bioproducts (including next generation building products) and processes are commercially available through increased number of new bio-products/next generation building products and processes produced;
• Canada’s forest sector has increased capacity to develop and supply commercial bio-products (including next generation building products) and processes through increased number of new or modified facilities producing bio-products (and/or next generation building products); and,
• Forest sector companies collaborate on bioproduct-related projects and processes with other sectors (e.g. energy and chemical) through increased number of non-traditional partnerships established.