The Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) program encourages the use of innovative wood-based building technologies in construction projects. The renewed program expanded its focus to fund innovative building solutions and schematic designs under key areas of interest including, but not limited to, prefabrication, modular buildings, retrofits, and design for disassembly/adaptability.

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Presenter

Jean-Francois Levasseur, Director, Industry Relations & Innovation Programs, Natural Resources Canada

Graduating from the University of Ottawa’s Chemical Engineering program, Jean-Francois started his career in a variety of increasing roles in Kraft pulp mills, including mill process and environmental engineer positions. He then joined Environment and Climate Change Canada where he led on numerous aspects of environmental regulatory regimes applicable to Canada’s forest sector.

At Natural Resources Canada since 2009, he has led in the design and implementation of various funding programs supporting strategic R&D, innovation and capital investments that accelerate the transformation of the Canadian forest sector towards the Bioeconomy:

• the Pulp & Paper Green Transformation (PPGTP);

• the Forest Innovation Program (FIP);

• the Investments in Forest Industry Transformation program (IFIT), and;

• the Green Construction through Wood program (GCWood).

Together, these programs provided more than $1B to support energy efficiency improvements, green energy production, and the commercialization of innovative products, transformative technologies and new wood based green building and mass timber demonstrations.