On 18 and 19 February 2008 a joint Canada-EC workshop on “Biorefineries: Biofuels and Bioproducts” took place in Montreal with the participation of 35 Canadian and European officials and scientific coordinators of the research projects.

This event was organised as a starting meeting of a new initiative - Twinning of Research Projects, between the European Commission (FP7) and ABIP Canada using as pilot the projects on agricultural bioproducts with the aim to identify opportunities for the mutual benefit. Twelve opportunities for the twinning research projects involving at least one research institution in Europe and in Canada were identified.

Furthermore, the European Commission and Agrifood Canada (ABIP) organised the second EC-Canada workshop on “Biorefineries: Biofuels and Bioproducts” in Pisa (Italy), 16-17 June 2009, together with the University of Pisa. During this meeting, a total of 67 activities were identified between Canadian and European projects.

With the aim to further progress this cooperation the European Commission and ABIP Canada are planning a new event for the 5-7 October in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan). This workshop will be different from the previous two events where the main focus was on project's twinning. The Saskatoon's workshop, titled 'Biotechnologies for Biorefineries and Biobased Materials', has been conceived as a forum for discussion targeting concrete aspects on biotech in the areas of biomaterials and biorefineries for  possible collaborations with Canada and other industrialised countries.