Jilin Jien Nickel Industry says it will invest an additional $400 million in its project to extract nickel in Nunavik. The company’s CEO made the announcement that  production is expected to begin in mid-2012 and that the company will employ about 270 people.

Read more : Chinese firm to double investment in Quebec nickel mine

Eisai Inc., a pharmaceutical company who’s parent company is Japan-based Eisai Co., plans to establish its Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, creating 11 new jobs and protecting one other position with the help of the Ontario Government. Eisai’s expansion into Canada could increase access to a variety of therapies and medications, including treatments for advanced breast cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and epilepsy. Eisai says it will also continue to invest in clinical trials in the province, supporting Ontario suppliers, both public and private research institutions and organizations.

Read more : Japan pharmaceutical company Eisai to establish headquarters in Mississauga

Dana has been selected to receive a $2 million technology grant from the province of Ontario for the developing and manufacturing of lithium-ion battery cooling technologies that will be used in electric cars. The grant will support the company’s work at its Oakville and Cambridge locations and allow for the company to work together with several universities in Ontario to develop the battery cooling systems. Based on the anticipated growth from the grant, Dana is expected to invest up to $37 million into its Oakville and Cambridge locations over the next five years, which could create more jobs in each of the facilities.

Read more : Dana to receive $2M technology grant from province of Ontario

Central to Alcatel-Lucent’s future lies in its Kanata, Ontario, plant which specialises in selling networks built according to technical standards based on Internet protocol (IP). More than half the firm’s global research and development related to IP is done in Kanata. The company, co-headquartered in Paris and New Jersey, sold $564 million worth of IP networks, up 28% year-over-year. The firm’s Kanata campus, which employs 2,700 includes developers who specialize in optical, Wideband-CDMA wireless, security and network access technologies. The firm has added about 200 employees to its Kanata over the past year and expects growth to continue at the same pace.

Read more : Alcatel-Lucent’s Kanata site central to firm’s growth

Canadian financial institutions are well represented in the latest ranking of the World’s 50 Safest Banks. Global Finance’s 20th annual ranking includes six Canadian financial institutions with winners selected through an evaluation of long-term credit ratings — from Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch — and total assets of the 500 largest banks worldwide. Royal Bank of Canada leads the pack with the 11th spot, Toronto Dominion Bank is ranked 13th, Bank of Nova Scotia 18th, Caisse Centrale Desjardins 20th, Bank of Montreal 30th, and CIBC 31st.

Read more : Canadian banks among world’s safest

Cisco Canada announced it will double its R&D workforce in Ottawa with the help of a $25 million provincial investment. The company is currently working on a next-generation router that would be able to transfer one billion videos at a time. In total, the company plans to invest $401 million in research and development over five years on various initiatives, including advanced telemedicine, improved virtual workforces and energy management. The investment will allow the company to add 300 employees, with at least half going to the Ottawa office. Cisco also said it will double its workforce in Kanata, Ontario, which currently has more than 200 employees.

Read more : Cisco to create 300 new jobs in Ontario

Swiss international biotech company Roche Holding AG, through its Roche Canada unit, said it will invest almost $200 million over the next five years at its Mississauga plant near Toronto, with a $7.8 million Ontario Government commitment. A new Mississauga research centre, with a staff of 200, will manage all Roche’s clinical trials for new drugs in co-operation with the multinational’s five existing world research centres.

Read more : Roche to invest $200 million for Canadian research centre

David Bressler, an associate professor in the Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta, has collaborated with industry, government and other researchers to forge waste cattle proteins into heavy-duty plastics “that could soon be used in everything from car parts to CD cases”. The raw materials are discarded parts of carcasses that were sidelined from beef production after bovine spongiform encephalopathy devastated the industry in 2003. Bressler believes that the biofriendly plastics, though still at the development stage, are poised to become an innovative resource for the plastics industry, which "is under pressure to increase the renewable content in its products."

Read more : Canadians synthesise plastic from beef byproducts

Le professeur associé de la faculté d’Agriculture de l’Université de l’Alberta, David Bressler explique que des scientifiques ont mis au point une technologie pour transformer les déchets de bovins en matériau plastique. Ce matériau pourrait être utilisé dans la fabrication de nombreux produits, allant de pièces de véhicules à des boîtiers de disques compacts. Cette trouvaille permettrait de redonner une nouvelle valeur industrielle aux protéines animales qui échouent dans les sites d’enfouissement depuis la crise de la vache folle. Le plastique produit grâce à la nouvelle technologie est partiellement biodégradable, précise M. Bressler.

Read more : Des scientifiques canadiens transforment les restes de vaches en plastique

Bank of America agreed to sell an approximately $8.6 billion Canadian card unit to Toronto-Dominion Bank and exit U.K. and Irish card markets as the firm limits international consumer lending. TD will pay $7.6 billion for Bank of America’s MBNA Canada unit and assume about $1.1 billion in liabilities. Bank of America’s portfolios in the U.K. and Ireland have a combined $19 billion in credit card loans and more than 4,000 employees, the bank said.

Read more : BofA to sell Canada credit cards to TD, exit UK, Ireland unit