As part of the "Growing Forward 2" agricultural strategy (2013-2018), the country is investing 3 billion Canadian dollars in innovation, competitiveness and marketing. Canada has high hopes for the innovative power of biotechnological applications in the agricultural and forestry sector. As a result, the Canadian government gave an early go-ahead for the commercial cultivation of genetically modified crops and the use of biotechnological applications in agriculture. As early as 2008, the Canadian biotech industry association BIOTECanada - inspired by the US Bioeconomy Blueprint initiative - published the strategy paper "Blueprint beyond Moose and Mountains" and called for the country to establish a bio-based economy. Although there has been no official bioeconomy strategy at national level to date, numerous bioeconomy activities are taking place in individual federal states, including a bioeconomy in British Columbia.