First Sino–Canada Workshop on Biomass Transformation and Commercial Opportunities was successfully held at Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), CAS from June 2 to June 4. More than 50 scientists, entrepreneurs and management experts attended the workshop.

The workshop is sponsored by Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Science and Technology of China（DIC-MOST）and National Research Council of Canada (NRC), organized by China National Center for Biotechnology Development (CNCBD-MOST) and TIB,CAS. Prof. Shulin Chen from TIB and Dr. Aleks Patrzykat from NRC were appointed as the chairmen of the workshop. It aims to promote the collaborative research and industrial application of biomass transformation between China and Canada by introducing scientific experts and companies from both countries to each other.

The opening ceremony of the workshop was held at TIB, CAS on June 2. The related leaders from NRC, CNCBD-MOST, DIC-MOST, Department of Development and Planning of MOST, Bureau of International Cooperation of CAS, Tianjin Municipal Science and Technology Commission (TSTC) and TIB, CAS attended it. Prof. MA Yanhe, the Director-General of TIB, Mr. ZHANG Yongqin, the Deputy-Director of TSTC, Mr. MA Hongjian, the Deputy-Director of CNCBD-MOST and Mr. Roman Szumski, the Vice-President of NRC made a speech, respectively, for the opening ceremony.

The workshop went on well in the form of theme reports and round table discussions. There are 30 presentations in all during the workshop, including 14 from Canada and 16 from China. The speakers from Canada were those research experts from relevant programs of NRC and entrepreneurs from related companies, while the presentations from China were mainly given by more than 10 experts such as Prof. Yinbo Qu from Shandong University, Prof. Jianzhong Sun from Jiangsu University and entrepreneurs from companies such as Shandong Jinjing Biotechnology Co., Ltd. All of the speakers both from China and Canada put their focus on such topics as algal feedstock development and biorefinery approaches， utilization of biomass on industrial bioproducts and natural health products, the Processing of Lignocellulosic Biomass and Biofuels and so on.

On June 4, after 30 presentations, the workshop went smoothly to roundtable discussions. Each of the participants gave a positive speech on biomass transformation and utilization, meanwhile they made a deep discussion on the future collaboration.

During the closing ceremony, Mr. Roman Szumski, the Vice-President of NRC, and Prof. SUN Jibin, the Deputy-Director of TIB, made a closing speech, respectively. Related persons from the Embassy of Canada to China, Beijing also attended the closing ceremony and gave a speech. Both sides looked forward to the future substantive cooperation.

After the workshop, in order to let the participants from Canada have a more profound intuitive impression and understanding to the ultilization of biomass in China, TIB made a special arrangement for them to take a visit to some local enterprises such as Shandong Jinjing Biotechnology Co., Ltd in Weifang city and Tasly in Tianjin. Each of the participants gave their highly positive evaluation to the workshop, and they hope that they could keep follow-up communication and exchange after the workshop to jointly promote Sino-Canada bilateral cooperation in the field of biomass.

This workshop is the first in a series of workshops on biomass transformation to be held alternately in China and Canada to facilitate collaborations between China and Canada. The second workshop will follow to develop opportunities from the first workshop into project concepts and proposals and is envisioned to take place in Halifax, Canada tentatively in October 2014. The success of this workshop not only laid a good foundation for the second workshop, but also for the substantial cooperation in the field of biomass between the two countries.