Governments investing $50M in biomanufacturing centre for P.E.I.

The P.E.I. and federal governments came together Friday morning to announce a new addition to Charlottetown's BioCommons Research Park.

A new facility called the BioAccelerator will include space for research, manufacturing and training. The governments are putting up $50 million for its construction, which they say is the largest single investment in economic development infrastructure in P.E.I. history.

P.E.I.BioAlliance CEORory Francis says this is an important investment in the province's growing bioscience sector.

"Governments federal and provincial have, because of the pandemic, frankly, recognized the importance of the bioscience sector," Francis said.

"So the importance of biotechnology, the importance of companies in this sector and the importance of having the right kind of infrastructure in Canada to support companies, new technologies, MRNA vaccine, all these sort of things it's a bit of an enlightenment, I think, in public policy in the last couple of years."

Cost being split

The federal and provincial governments will split the cost, each investing $25 million.

Tenants in the BioAccelerator will include early-stage companies, smalland medium-size enterprises from Atlantic Canada, across Canadaand international locations. It will provide facilities for research, new product development and process development, and will act as a manufacturing incubator.

BioAccelerator will also house the national headquarters of CASTL, the Canadian Alliance for Skills and Training in Life Sciences.

The facility measuring 7,000 square metres (or 75,000 square feet)is expected to be open for business in the fall of 2025.

The Charlottetown Area Development Corporation will own the new building, and the city's mayorsays Charlottetown is investingtoo.

"Our investment will come through in tax incentives, business tax incentives which could amount over a 10-year period [to] a million dollars," said Philip Brown.

The bioscience sector on P.E.I. has quadrupled in size since 2012, the news release said, and now includes more than 65 companies with total sales revenues in the $600-million range. It is one of the top three industry contributors to the provincial economy.

The sector is aiming for $1 billion in revenue by 2030.