One very important part of the grants and contributions money is funding for forest product innovation, which is the largest and I think most successful partnership for forest research and development in the world between governments and the private sector.
Under this $54 million, the program generally is going to be composed of two parts. One part will go to expanding market opportunities. We've already been very successful in opening up new markets, working with partners in China and in other Asian economies. For example, exports to China have increased from $166 million to $1.45 billion in the span of only four years. Exports to South Korea have doubled.
Under this program we will continue to work with partners to grow these offshore markets and also to look at growing exports and domestic use of wood in non-traditional areas, for example, non-residential construction, schools, hospitals, and so forth. That means in some cases working with various partners to try to ensure that the building codes recognize how wood can be used safely in those kinds of construction.
The second part of the effort is around innovation. It is supporting the emergence of breakthrough technologies, the kind of work that we've been doing in the past through FPInnovations, for example, encouraging the development of a technology called nanocrystalline cellulose. We're told of considerable promise with a mill now in Windsor, Quebec, serving as a demonstration plant. These are various efforts.
We think the future of the industry means both innovating in terms of its products and processes and having new markets geographically and sectorally in order to grow. The industry does have to change, but we think it has started to turn the corner and it has a much better outlook now than it did three or four years ago.