"There is a lot of interest in flax but they don't know where to get the fibre," said [Greg Archibald]. "We process about 200,000 tonnes per year."

"It is important to MCI to have green products," he said, referring to the fact that flax is renewable resource. "Our U.S. owners are conscious of that and our customers are conscious of that."

"The industry cluster knew what it was doing when the CIC started," [Sean McKay] said. "Boeing's presence is a big influence but there are all sorts of other industry sectors involved. We're working on 26 different projects with another 31 in the proposal stage."