FPInnovations honoured at 2009 Premio Venezia

www.fpinnovations.ca

MONTREAL , Dec. 14 /CNW Telbec/ - FPInnovations received the Green Collaboration award, recognizing excellence in collaboration between Québec and Italy , at the Premio Venezia event held in Montréal on October 22, 2009 . The event was organized by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada (ICCC) in partnership with Desjardins.

The Green Collaboration award goes to organizations that have distinguished themselves by carrying out projects of collaboration with Italian partners aimed at sustainable development, environmental protection and reducing their environmental footprint.

In the words of Pierre Lapointe , President and CEO of FPInnovations, "The award from the ICCC is an honour for all of FPInnovations' employees. It is directly aligned with the organization's strategy of developing and promoting tomorrow's environmentally-friendly services and products. It gives us a burst of energy and encourages us to continue to explore possible collaborations in Italy and Europe ."

FPInnovations received its Premio Venezia award in the Green Collaboration category for its collaboration with Innovations Canada Europe , a company based in Padua, Italy . The partners' prime objective is to develop the green construction sector and green building products, first in Italy and then across Europe .

Green construction is based on the use of new engineering systems and new applications for erecting multi-storey wooden buildings in the non-residential sector. "Innovation in the green construction area has made significant progress in the past few years, enabling impressive flexibility when it comes to choosing wood materials and structures. A new, environmentally-friendly solution is now available to us in the construction sector," said Pierre Lapointe .

Louis L. Roquet, Honorary President of Premio Venezia, Corporate Director and Consultant, was pleased by the record number and high quality of the collaborative projects submitted for the 2009 edition of the awards. "These awards are an excellent opportunity to highlight relations between organizations in Québec and Italy . They are both rich and dynamic, but many people are unfortunately unaware of them," he said.

Albert de Luca, ICCC's President, expressed his firm belief that synergy with Italy will continue to grow. "The collaborations honoured this year point to promising results and shared growth for the partners, and I am convinced that they will encourage other organizations to build bridges across the Atlantic."

About the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada (ICCC)

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada is a bilateral organization dedicated to facilitating trade exchanges between Quebec and Italy . Its mission is to actively support the internationalization projects of Quebec and Italian businesses and to organize various trade missions on both sides of the Atlantic. With offices in Montréal, Québec City, Milan and Naples , the Chamber plays a vital role in strengthening business ties between North America and Europe . As part of a network of 80 Italian overseas chambers of commerce, the Canadian Chamber has been working for more than four decades in the field of international business development. For more information about the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Canada , visit: www.italchamber.qc.ca

About FPInnovations

FPInnovations is a not-for-profit world leader that specializes in the creation of scientific solutions in support of the Canadian forest sector's global competitiveness and responds to the priority needs of its industrial and government members. It is ideally positioned to perform research, innovate and deliver state-of-the-art solutions for every area of the sector's value chain, from forestry operations to consumer and industrial products. Created from the merger of the three main Canadian forest sector research institutes, namely Feric, Forintek Canada Corp. and Paprican, FPInnovations also provides technical direction to Natural Resources Canada's Canadian Wood Fibre Centre. FPInnovations' staff numbers more than 600. Its research laboratories are located in Quebec City, Montreal and Vancouver , and it has technology transfer offices across Canada . For more information about FPInnovations, visit: www.fpinnovations.ca

For further information: Nathalie Guilbault, Corporate Communications Director, [phone], [email protected]