Botaneco Named Life Sciences Company of the Year

Press Release    

Making breakthroughs in oilseeds, Botaneco is the winner of the 2017 BioAlberta Achievement Award for ‘Company of the Year.’ The innovator of gentle extraction processes that alleviates the need to access oilseed components by conventional crushing, heat, and chemicals, today supplies sustainable ingredients that lower the environmental footprint of personal care and food and feed product manufacturers around the world.

“Botaneco brings higher-value components of oilseeds to makers of skin care products in a way that allows them to produce innovative formulas, and do that sustainably,” said James Szarko, President & CEO. “Production of sustainable ingredients from safflower, canola and sunflower oilseeds now takes place at our facility in Calgary on a large scale, in an environmentally-friendly manner, thanks to a technical breakthrough developed within Alberta’s thriving life sciences community,” Szarko said.

Botaneco traces its roots to plant science research that began at the University of Calgary Department of Biological Sciences in the late 1980’s. Most recently, in 2012, an offshoot was established - Botaneco Inc. - to focus on the need for sustainable ingredients in personal care products.

According to the BioAlberta’s President and CEO, Mel Wong, the evolution of the life sciences sector in Alberta is representative of emerging global trends for innovative products and technologies that provide better outcomes to customers and offer greater societal benefit.

“BioAlberta is pleased to present Botaneco with the Company of the Year Award for its truly cutting-edge oilseed processing technology and its outstanding success as a business in supplying high-quality ingredients to manufacturers of personal care, food and feed products,” said Wong. “Alberta’s life sciences sector holds significant potential for company growth, and BioAlberta plays a vital role in connecting companies to growth opportunities.”

BioAlberta was established as a not-for-profit organization in 1988 to nurture the growing life sciences industry within Canada’s province of Alberta. It is an advocate for companies serving the health biotechnology industries, agricultural, industrial biotechnology, environmental and natural health sub-sectors.

About Botaneco

Botaneco, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, adds performance and value to personal care, food and feed products with highly functional components of oilseeds. Through a proprietary, gentle extraction process that alleviates the need for conventional crushing, heat, and chemicals, Botaneco sustainably harnesses the oleosomes and proteins of safflower, canola  and sunflower to provide products in their original, natural state. The company’s new Sustainability Center of Excellence in New Jersey (USA) serves as a resource to optimize sustainable technologies in personal care.