For many years, La Coop fédérée has been accessing federal government R and D programs. Sometimes we have to find roundabout ways of accessing some of those programs because cooperatives are not always directly eligible. What we often do is partner with other businesses in order to access programs.
As for the new energy initiatives, they nearly always involve partnerships. In terms of the use of biomass molecules to manufacture new products, the emerging trend is such that the research would be too expensive for La Coop fédérée to undertake on its own. While you might consider La Coop fédérée to be quite a big business because of its $6 billion in sales, it is too small to pursue this kind of research alone. So we have to work with partners. We work with other Canadian businesses that are not necessarily cooperatives.
It was mentioned earlier that Desjardins Group was a partner in the carbon area. And we have partners in Manitoba helping us with the combustion piece. In terms of developing the next generation of ethanol, we also have other partners who have been working in the field for a long time.
I will let Mr. Harel speak to the molecule project, since he knows more about the last consortium held with the businesses in the Eastern Townships.