Canada’s forest sector research institutes to merge

Pointe-Claire, QC – Three Canadian forest-sector research institutes — the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC), the national wood products research institute Forintek and Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada (Paprican) — have voted in favour of a merger of the institutes effective April 1 2007. The new single institute will be named FPInnovations.

The vote, held last week, follows a previous vote by the members of each institute in June 2006 to explore the creation of a new structure to spearhead the activities of the three institutes. In September 2006, Dr Ian de la Roche was named as president and CEO of the new structure. During the intervening period, due diligence was successfully completed and presented to the boards and member companies which led to the positive vote in January of this year.

“In addition to spearheading the activities of Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC), Forintek and Paprican, FPInnovations will also provide technical direction for the Canadian Forest Service’s newly created Fibre Centre. This means that researchers along the entire value chain will be better positioned to support industry in developing the next generation of value-added products,” said Frank Dottori, chairman of Paprican. “Understanding the unique qualities of Canadian forests and determining how to maximize the value of that resource is key to the industry’s future success. FPInnovations will play a significant role in assisting industry with this challenge.”