The recently announced Protein Industries Supercluster is expected to help create more than 4,500 new jobs in the Prairie Provinces and across Canada, and add more than $4.5 billion to Canada's economy over 10 years.

"The world has a growing appetite for crop protein," said Frank Hart, Chair of the Board for the Protein Industries Supercluster. "That's a huge new opportunity for Canada but also a challenge. The Innovation Supercluster Program will help farmers, feed and food processors meet that challenge and provide high quality plant proteins for the global market. We are very grateful to the federal government for the vision and investment of the Innovation Superclusters Initiative. This is an industry-led project, with ag and food science industries staking $450 million. But we could not get this project to the stage it needed without the Innovation Superclusters Initiative."

Through plant genomics that improve nutrition, novel processing technology and digital solutions from farm to fork, the Protein Industries Supercluster will help Canada increase the value of key crops in premium markets and answer the increasing demand for plant-based meat alternatives in North America.

The Innovation Superclusters Initiative is a centrepiece of the Government of Canada's Innovation and Skills Plan, a multi-year strategy to prepare Canada for the innovative jobs of today and tomorrow.

The five Canadian superclusters are the Ocean Supercluster (based in Atlantic Canada), the SCALE.AI Supercluster (based in Quebec), the Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster (based in Ontario), the Protein Industries Supercluster (based in the Prairies) and the Digital Technology Supercluster (based in British Columbia).