The Canadian province of Nova Scotia has made a CAD 1.2 million (approx. $864,000) investment into expanding precision fermentation capacity at biotechnology scale-up facility, the Verschuren Centre.

The investment will support improvements to the centre’s specialised precision fermentation technology, unique in Canada. It will also enable the site – located at the the Sydport Industrial Park in Cape Breton Regional Municipality – to support an additional ten companies annually, and create approximately 100 new highly skilled jobs through the expanded capacity and a new training programme.

Equipped with a 10,000-litre precision fermentation line, the Verschuren Centre’s bioprocessing scale-up hub is often referred to as ‘10X’. The shared-use facility works with companies in the industrial biotechnology and agri-tech sectors to help scale up their technologies, with a goal of accelerating the transition to a green and circular economy.

The centre will receive CAD 600,000 (approx. $63,692) through the province’s Community Economic Development Fund, and another CAD 600,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.

An in-house skills training programme will be implemented in partnership with the Collège Communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, aiming to help meet growing demand for technicians in fermentation, electronics, automation and process engineering.

Tim Houston, Premier of Nova Scotia, said: “An investment in the Verschuren Centre is an investment in growth and development across sectors and across the province”.

“Their work supports dozens of companies in important fields like health and wellness, agriculture and clean technology. We know this money will have a far-reaching impact, and I’m thrilled about the opportunities it will create.”

The investment builds on the province’s previous CAD 2.5 million (approx. $1.8 million) contribution toward the development of the Verschuren Centre demonstration plant in 2022, and CAD 1 million (approx. $720,000) toward increasing capacity and training in 2025.