BC Research Inc. was based at a 180000 square feet (16,722.5 m²) scientific research and development company located at the BC Research and Innovation Complex at the south end of the University of British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...

 campus. The facility closed in November 2007. The company specialized in consulting and applied research and development in the area of plant biotechnology and environment, health and safety, process and analysis, transportation and ship dynamics.

The company can be traced back to 1944 as it developed from the non-profit BC Research Council to a private company in 1993. Its plant biotechnology team was mostly spun off in Silvagen Inc. which specialized in clonal reforestation and which became a part of CellFor. In 1999 Azure Dynamics, a hybrid commercial vehicle systems developer, was formed with some of the transportation team and left the facility in 2004 having gone public in 2001 as Azure Dynamics Corporation. Technologies, Inc., specializing in microwave-assisted natural product extraction, purification and isolation, was also spun off in 2001 as a joint venture with Environment Canada. The remaining laboratory and consulting business functions continued under the name Vizon SciTec until August 2006 when CANTEST Ltd. announced its acquisition from BC Research Inc. which continues as a privately held technology holding company. In May 2007, the former Industrial Process Division of BC Research was acquired by Kemetco Research Inc. Kemetco provides contract research, process development and laboratory testing services to industry, primarily in mining, metallurgy and chemical processing.