NISP Canada: Metro Vancouver Business Opportunities Workshop #2 (City of Surrey)

We are pleased to invite you to our FREE, circular economy-based 'Business Opportunities' workshop. This event is part of the ongoing Canadian pilot of a National Industrial Symbiosis Program (NISP), aimed at developing smarter ways of bringing resource management solutions and triple bottom line benefits to companies based in the region.

The NISP model is endorsed by the G7, OECD, EU, and Global Green Growth Forum and has been successfully implemented in 30 regions around the world, creating and preserving jobs; reducing waste and related cost; improving resource efficiency; and improving environmental performance.

Industrial symbiosis business opportunities include business-to-business partnerships to transform wastes or by-products from one business into higher value inputs for other businesses. Other opportunities can be based on business-to-business collaboration to maximize efficient use of logistics, space, R&D resources, and so on.

The workshop will help you to:

• Turn your waste into a resource

• Save money on your waste costs

• Generate new business opportunities

• Network with other local businesses

• Improve your environmental performance

• Be part of the circular economy

Who Should Attend?

Businesses across all sectors and sizes in 30 countries worldwide have benefitted from the NISP model. This workshop welcomes small, medium and large enterprises from any sector. In particular, the program benefits businesses with tangible resource flows (such as, but certainly not limited to manufacturing, distribution, farming, energy generation, hospitals, hotels and tourism, vehicle maintenance, construction / demolition / deconstruction, food and beverage processing, film and theatre production, research labs, chemical & petrochemical, oil and gas, and trucking / logistics and more).

A regional approach has been proven worldwide to result in far greater business savings than efforts focused within a single business or industrial district. Therefore, the workshop is open to businesses and organizations within and near the City of Vancouver.

Please note that the deeper the operational knowledge of your delegate, the greater the chances you will uncover symbiosis opportunities.

As well, the best workshop results are achieved when businesses having resource and waste management challenges attend. A few spaces will be allotted to service providers; however, space is limited, and priority will be given to operating firms and the like.

How Does It Work?

Businesses attending this free workshop will literally table their respective resource “Haves” and “Wants”, sharing them with all the other attendees. Resources frequently include solid ‘wastes’ or by-products, but can also include excess thermal energy, (waste)water, or even space, logistical needs, or expertise.

Through a specially facilitated process, potential matches between identified Haves and Wants are made at the workshop itself. Typically, each business in attendance makes 5-10 matches per workshop. Participants will receive a report summarizing their matches soon after the workshop, typically in a day or two. Attendees can then pursue implementation on their own or with facilitation support from the regional NISP practitioners.

In addition, these NISP practitioners will run analyses to find matches that may have been missed at the actual workshop. They also constantly look for new matches with businesses attending other workshops. That is, once an organization’s resource Haves and Wants are entered into the proprietary “SYNERGIe” model, they are able to be matched with “Haves” and “Wants” from both earlier and later workshops, vastly increasing the possibility of generating more business opportunities.

Finally, please note that under the NISP model, BUSINESSES ONLY IMPLEMENT OPPORTUNITIES THAT MAKE BUSINESS SENSE TO THEM.

We look forward to seeing you on January 24!