Lucent Bio is among the first four B.C. businesses to receive funding through the newly launched B.C. Center for Agritech Innovation (BCCAI). Our project was unveiled at the Pacific Agriculture Show in Abbotsford on Thursday, January 26th.
Lucent Bio accelerates sustainable agriculture by delivering crop nutrition that improves yield and soil health while sequestering carbon. Lucent is looking to develop a new fertilizer called Soileos copper as an essential plant micronutrient. Copper-deficient soils cause significant yield loss, and the company's $267,000 project will assess copper application on various crops cultivated in a controlled environment. Lucent is partnering with SFU on this project.
"SFU is grateful for the generous support from the federal and provincial governments to advance the vital work of the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation and our partners," said Dugan O͛Neil, vice-president research and international, Simon Fraser University. "We are pleased to be working with academic, industry and community partners across the sector to improve food security locally and globally, create jobs and position B.C. as a world leader in the agritech Ministry of Agriculture and Food Pacific Economic Development Canada space."
͞"The B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation is filling a gap in industry-academia-government
collaboration with programs that effectively support scale-up activities. Industrial scale-up of
new technologies costs time and money and bears a high risk. By leveraging the know-how of
academia to bring innovation to the agritech sector in B.C., projects like ours can make a lasting
impact on a global scale." - Michael Riedjik, CEO, Lucent Bio.The thriving BC Agritech sector is home to over 150 companies developing and producing leading agriculture technology.
Through the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation, it is projected that by 2025, B.C. could
see as many as 30 new industry projects developed, as many as 200 new jobs and 750
people trained with the skills they need to succeed in the agritech sector.The B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation is funded by the Province of British Columbia and
Pacific Economic Development Canada (PacifiCan).
PacifiCan is providing $10 million over five years and the Province is investing $6.5 million
over three years.
The four projects represent a total investment of $540,000, including $122,500 in support from
the B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation. These projects aim to help companies generate commercially viable products that meet the agricultural sector's needs while reducing the impacts on the environment and climate.
- Aeroroot Systems (Surrey);
- Agrotek Industries (Burnaby); and
- Bakerview EcoDairy (Abbotsford).