Bio-Mile® and Clean Energy Technology Centre

The Bio-Mile®

The Town of Drayton Valley’s Bio-Mile® is an area of industrial land located adjacent to the Weyerhaeuser sawmill.  The Town of Drayton Valley established the Bio-Mile® in order to attract businesses from the emerging bio-economy.  It is designed to provide a home to companies, organizations and research partnerships focusing on creating new products from waste products including bio-mass from the forestry and agriculture industries.

The Bio-Mile® opportunities have already brought industry, government and academia on board in collaboration to support the bio-industrial developments in our community.  We have several Memorandums of Understanding in place with industry and post-secondary institutions.  Working with CLIB2021, a European based research consortium, has assisted in developing a strong network of international players.  We are working with Energy Academy Europe from Groningen, Netherlands to pursue a joint research project with industry. Local industry is supportive and we are always interested to receive their input and ongoing needs assessments.

The on-going developments underway at the Bio-Composites Group fibremat plant is the first success story for the Bio-Mile. We are proud of the success Biocomposites has had and excited to see their vision to commercialize their fibremat products coming to full fruition.

Clean Energy Technology Centre

In support of the Bio-Mile® having successful business attraction and new startups setting their roots here, the Town of Drayton Valley is recently opened the Clean Energy Technology Centre (CETC). The CETC is an innovative centre and first of its kind in Alberta that provides a focus of services for education and training, business development and incubation, and applied research and development.

The CETC is a 28,500 square foot facility with a large multi-event space able to seat 350 guests at round table. An onsite teaching kitchen at CETC is able to provide catering and culinary classes for the variety of events including: conferences, trade shows, career fairs, lectures, workshops and community events.

The CETC has classrooms including video conferencing suites, computer stations, health care lab, and modern learning spaces. The learning commons area provides students, researchers and instructors innovative space to collaborate in small working groups along with a quiet study area. The administration space is designed as a central nucleus for the facility to inspire creative idea and knowledge sharing between NorQuest instructors and staff, CETC administration, researchers, business incubators, entrepreneurs, and clients.

The CETC will engage industry to provide service gaps that currently exist in the region. Many local employers send employees out of town for educational and training needs. With a the highly skilled oil and gas industry next door to the CETC there are a variety of courses from credit programs, leadership and professional development programs, and continuing education courses that are in need. Furthermore, as the bio-industry advances, there’s a growing need for skills training required for bio-manufacturing and alternative energy equipment and processes.

To see more information along with upcoming programs at the CETC please visit our website and Facebook page! Follow us on Instagram!

For more information contact the Bio-Mile Co-ordinator.