With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1332052
BCBUSINESS.CA BEAM ON Penticton's Structurlam is bringing wood back into style C O N S T R U C T I O N T imb ering U p Tall buildings made of wood are having more than a moment–the number of such construction projects worldwide has taken off over the past five years, with no sign of stop- ping. And one of the leading global mass timber suppliers is Penticton- based Structurlam Mass Timber Corp. After nearly six decades developing proprietary products like glue-laminated and cross-laminated timber, Structurlam's time appears to have come as builders seek less carbon-intensive alternatives to steel and concrete construction. Unlike a sawmill, which produces a highly standardized com- modity out of the best timber, the company uses wood waste to create super-strong, custom-measured and -shaped pieces that can be quickly assembled at the building site like Lego. Already operating three plants in the South Okanagan employing 290 staff, this year Structurlam plans to open its first U.S. facility, in Conway, Arkansas. –M.M. B I O T E C H N O L O G Y A N ew D imension "We're at a stage now where we're turning sci- ence fiction into reality," says Tamer Mohamed. The president and CEO of Aspect Biosystems isn't kidding. Since the Vancouver biotech company co-founded by Mohamed launched com- mercial operations in 2016, Aspect has steadily advanced toward the goal of implanting its 3D-printed tissues in the human body. These "bio- printed therapeutics" could have a wide range of applica- tions in regenerative medicine —for example, a pancreatic implant that would help people with Type 1 diabetes regulate glucose levels, eliminating the need for insulin injections. Having focused on early- stage research as a platform company that collaborated with pharmaceuticals giants and other parties worldwide, Aspect is getting serious about moving its technology into the clinic and to market. "We're years away," admits Mohamed, a 2018 BCBusiness 30 Under 30 winner who dropped out of his PhD studies in electrical and computer engineering at UBC to build Aspect. "But the beauty of our business is, we're putting multiple shots on goal through our diversified portfo- lio of partnerships." Over the past several years, Aspect has worked with biopharma groups and industry partners including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, JSR Life Sciences and Merck, as well as international research groups across North America, Europe and Asia. To fuel its focus on invest- ing in innovation, Aspect is expanding its team and attracting world-class talent, Mohamed says. The company, which last January announced a US$20-million Series A fund- ing round led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures, grew from 34 to 50 employees in 2020. Over the summer, it named Eric Roos, a biotech veteran based in the industry epicentre of Boston, as chief business development officer. Although Aspect has team members elsewhere in North America and in Europe, it cares deeply about making a global impact from Canada, Mohamed stresses. "We want to make B.C. a really special place in terms of biotech, but we also have a sense of responsibility to make sure that Aspect succeeds and we succeed here," he says. "We're trying to, in some ways, take over the world, but very much trying to do that from Vancouver." –N.R. ■ JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2021 BCBUSINESS 39