European cleantech, Canadian partners: more than 140 participants join the EU-Canada Cleantech Innovation Showcase in Vancouver

VANCOUVER - To close the EU Green Diplomacy Week in Canada, the EU-funded Low Carbon Business Action Canada project (LCBA Canada) drew more than 140 participants to the EU-Canada Cleantech Innovation Showcase on 6 October 2026. Organised by LCBA Canada and funded by the European Union, the event brought Canadian businesses, investors, and public-sector leaders together with European cleantech companies to explore business partnerships around specific Canadian needs in the built environment, water and the blue economy, energy resilience, data centres, and remote and Indigenous communities. The audience included representatives of consulates of EU Member States and chambers of commerce, Canadian and European companies, and a delegation of city representatives from the EU Cities Gateway program , also funded by the European Union, which connects cities and regions in the EU, the United States and Canada. Online participants joined from across Canada and Europe.

In her keynote remarks, delivered online, H.E. Geneviève Tuts, Ambassador of the European Union to Canada, placed the showcase in the context of a deepening relationship, a few weeks ahead of the EU-Canada Summit in Montréal. She described the clean transition as an economic and industrial strategy, highlighted the EU-Canada Green Alliance, launched in 2023, as a framework for accelerating clean technologies and building trusted value chains, and stressed that the transition must be inclusive and just, with the meaningful participation of Indigenous peoples.

"Today, the partnership between the European Union and Canada is stronger than ever, and it matters more than ever," said Ambassador Tuts. "If Europe and Canada want to be shapers of the global clean economy, we need to move faster, invest more boldly and connect our innovation systems more deeply."

David Sanguinetti, President of Sanguinetti Engineering and former CEO of Foresight Canada, linked the event to Canadian and British Columbia priorities on trade diversification and foreign direct investment. He pointed to strong demand in the province: progressively stricter building and embodied-carbon requirements, a growing need for grid capacity and energy storage, expanding data centres, the needs of remote and Indigenous communities, and an ocean economy anchored by Canada's largest port. He urged European and Canadian participants to approach each other as partners rather than simply as sellers and buyers, and to develop joint solutions that could also be exported to Asia and back to Europe.

Luigi Scarpa de Masellis, Senior Advisor, Economic and Commercial Affairs, at the Delegation of the European Union to Canada, presented clean technology opportunities in the 2026-2027 Horizon Europe work programme. Since Canada's association to Horizon Europe in 2024, Canadian organizations can receive funding directly from the EU budget, count toward minimum consortium requirements and coordinate projects. He highlighted a €540 million cross-cluster call (HORIZON-CID-2027-01) on net-zero energy systems and the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries, and encouraged Canadian applicants to start preparing now, as several deadlines fall in February 2027.

Jae Mather, Chief Innovation Officer at ClimateDoor and LCBA Canada Senior Consultant, then led a rapid problem-to-solution showcase, pairing Canadian market challenges with European technologies looking for Canadian partners. Examples included robotic 3D concrete printing from Coral (Czech Republic); greywater recycling from Hydraloop (Netherlands), which can cut a building's fresh water use by up to 45%; autonomous harbour-cleaning robots from Iadys (France), recently demonstrated at the Port of Vancouver; immersion cooling for data centres from Submer (Spain); and containerized drinking-water micro-factories for remote communities from Wayout (Sweden).

Mr. Mather explained how LCBA Canada works: a Canadian organization identifies a need, the project sources matching innovation from the EU, the parties can sign a non-binding letter of intent, and LCBA Canada provides EU-funded technical analysis to help the partners move towards a commercial agreement. Because the service is funded by the European Union, it comes at no cost to Canadian participants. Canadian organizations can also submit unmet business needs so that the team can search for European solutions on their behalf.

For LCBA Canada, the goal is not one-way sales but lasting business partnerships that work in both directions. Canadian companies bring market knowledge, local networks and sites for deployment; European SMEs bring proven technologies and experience from their home markets. Together, they set up distribution agreements, pilot projects and joint deployments, and can co-develop solutions for Canada, Europe and third markets, contributing to decarbonization, the circular economy and climate adaptation on both sides of the Atlantic.

Participants then moved to five themed stations to meet company representatives, ask questions, and discuss potential applications, followed by structured networking. Rasa Jautakaitė-Tunaitienė, Head of the Americas Regional Team at the European Commission's Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), delivered closing remarks.

In the coming weeks, LCBA Canada will follow up with organizations that registered their interest to arrange one-to-one meetings with relevant EU companies and explore potential partnerships. Canadian organizations interested in the featured technologies, or looking for solutions to a specific challenge, can contact the LCBA Canada team through lcbacanada.eu.

Background notes:

About LCBA Canada
The Low Carbon and Circular Economy Business Action in Canada project (LCBA Canada) is funded by the European Union and delivered in partnership with ClimateDoor, ICF and CESO. Its second phase runs from September 2024 to May 2028. It connects commercially ready EU cleantech SMEs with Canadian companies, utilities, municipalities and Indigenous communities, and supports these business partnerships through to signed commercial agreements that contribute to decarbonization, the circular economy and climate adaptation. More information: lcbacanada.eu

About the Delegation of the European Union to Canada
Established in 1976, the Delegation of the European Union to Canada is a fully-fledged diplomatic mission and, as such, the natural contact point in Canada between the EU and the Canadian authorities. It also has a strong public diplomacy mandate designed to enhance the knowledge and understanding of the European Union as well as EU-Canada relations.

Contacts:
Diodora Bucur, EU Delegation Press Officer, [email protected]
LCBA Canada: Jamie Moran, ClimateDoor, on behalf of LCBA Canada, [email protected]