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/1512670
11 THE NBOX i J a n ik S ö ll n e r/ N o u n P r oj e c t B C B U S I N E S S . C A J A N U A R Y 2 0 24 there to pitch their services. The connections between the two nations are consider- able. The first lady of Iceland is Canadian Eliza Reid, and Canada is home to the largest population of Icelandic im- migrants (and their descen- dants) outside of Iceland (see "On the Radar," page 12). Per Unheim, head of public affairs and trade at the Embassy of Iceland, believes B.C.'s indus- tries are a particularly good fit. "Iceland and British Columbia share a very strong maritime industry," he says. "Iceland has developed a sophisticated series of industries coming out of the seafood sector. We call it the 100-percent fish model. It's basically making all kinds of products based on every part of the fish, from cosmetics to sutures that are used to treat burns and other wounds. The biomedical field in the country has really grown out of the fishery sector." Among those biomedical initiatives is the use of fish skin in tissue regeneration, an innovation offered by a company called Kerecis. "I think Canadians recognize that Iceland is a bit ahead in terms of how much technology we use in our processing indus- try," Unheim says. "With a small population, we've had to develop innovative technology that helps us prosper and grow economically without drasti- cally increasing the size of our population." The giant of Iceland's processing industry has grown far beyond the seafood sector. For several years, a cloud hung over bilateral relations between Canada and Iceland. In 2018, Iceland's president, Guðni Jóhannesson, expressed his conviction that pineapple pizza, Canada's gift to the culi- nary world, should be banned. Diplomatic outrage ensued. But, according to Hlynur Guðjónsson, Iceland's ambassa- dor to Canada, the dispute has now been settled. "It was finally put to rest when your prime minister and our president met during his state visit in June," he says. "Yeah, high-level meet- ings, high-level meetings." With that obstacle out of the way came a recent event held at the Wosk Centre for Dialogue in downtown Van- couver that was specifically intended to foster more com- mercial ties between Iceland and British Columbia. Rep- resentatives from a number of Icelandic companies were VIKING VENTURES Business relations between B.C. and Iceland are heating up by Steve Burgess T R A D E " We call it the 100-percent fish model. It's basically making all kinds of products based on every part of the fish, from cosmetics to sutures that are used to treat burns and other wounds." VEST FOOT FOWARD Iceland's seatech business delegation visits North Vancouver's Seaspan Shipyards