UPM Annual Report 2021

BUSINESSES

UPM

BEYOND FOSSILS

STRATEGY

RESPONSIBILITY

GOVERNANCE

ACCOUNTS FOR 2021

OPENING NEWMARKETS UPM BIOMEDICALS UPM Biomedicals is at the forefront of innovation and commercialisation, with a particular focus on personalised medicine.

A YEAR OF GROWTH UPM BIOCOMPOSITES UPM Biocomposites is mitigating climate change and creating circular economy solutions through the manufacture of innovative composite materials and decking products.

UPM ProFi utilises post-consumer plastic waste and post-industrial label waste to manufacture high-quality composite decking. The label production side streams from UPM Raflatac and its customers are collected and delivered to Germany, where the composite decking is manufactured. Recycled plastic from European post-con sumer waste is also utilised in the manufac turing process. UPM ProFi’s latest product launches in the UPM ProFi Piazza product range consist of up to 75% recycled ma terials. UPM ProFi is a member of the EU Circular Plastics Alliance, which aims to boost the EU market for recycled plastics to 10 million tonnes by 2025. In 2021, UPM ProFi achieved significant sales growth across many European mar kets with its renewed product portfolio. Thanks to its local European operations, operating efficiency and marketing capa bilities, it also benefitted from the increase in home renovations during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

UPM Formi creates and manufactures wood-based biocomposites, which enables up to an 80% reduction in the carbon foot print of the end product, compared to sim ilar products made from fossil-based mate rials. The composite materials are suitable for various end uses, including kitchenware, personal care and acoustic devices. The ma terials meet the highest quality standards, allowing the products to pass food standards or similar quality requirements. In 2021, UPMFormi, in conjunction with key business development partners, experienced volume growth among new and existing customers as a result of new end use areas. Strong demand for UPMFormi EcoAce continued. UPMFormi’s customers were recognised with prestigious awards for using sustainable materials, such as the Red Dot Design Award and the iF Gold Award.

UPM Biomedicals develops and supplies innovative and sustainable wood-based biomedical products for medical and life science applications. The main component in our products is high-quality nanocellu lose, extracted from birch wood. We actively collaborate with universi ties, research centres and key industrial partners in the fields of high-throughput drug screening, personalised medicine, advanced cell therapies, 3D bioprinting, tissue engineering and advanced wound care. More than 520 patents and patent applications protect our existing and future products. In life science , our main products are GrowDex®, a range of hydrogels for 3D cell culturing, and GrowDase™, an enzyme to release the cells from the gel. The nano cellulose ensures excellent compatibility with even the most demanding cells, such as stem cells and patient-derived cells. Our gels are animal free and do not introduce animal DNA into the test results. In 2021,

we entered into a global distribution agree ment with PerkinElmer Health Sciences, Inc. for the UPM GrowDex® and Grow Dase™ products (left). GrowInk™ is a range of bioinks for 3D bioprinting, used in areas like cancer research, where models of tumours can be printed to test their response to different treatments. Launched in 2021, our col laboration with CELLINK will allow us to develop the technology to print organs or tissue that, in the future, could be trans planted into patients. In the clinical field , FibDex® wound dressings were marketed and sold to healthcare professionals and hospitals in Finland, and work is ongoing to expand into other European markets.

CASE

CASE

MAKING LIFE EASIER FOR RESEARCH

THE LIMITLESS OPPORTUNITIES OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN Reform Design Lab’s Reform Lounge Chair, introduced at the Stockholm Creative Edition design week, was created using 3D printing. Using this cellulose-reinforced biocomposite material, UPM Formi 3D can reduce the product’s carbon footprint by up to 80%, compared to its similar fossil-based counterparts. The carbon footprint is further reduced by the zero waste production process and the fact that transportation costs can be kept to a minimum by printing the furniture in close proximity to the end users.

The collaboration with PerkinElmer offers researchers a solution for high-throughput screening (HTS) of 3D cell cultures in the early stages of the drug discovery process, combin ing the cell imaging solutions and knowledge of PerkinElmer and the animal-free hydreogels of UPM. The instrument, software and cell cul ture matrices advance research and accelerate the drug development process in which thou sands of molecules are screened, to eventually introduce a new drug onto the market. PerkinElmer’s automated high-content screening system using GrowDex hydrogels has been successfully used in a number of research projects, including automated drug sensitivity and resistance testing of patient-derived cells for personalised cancer treatment research.

www.upmbiomedicals.com

www.reformlab.se/black/

www.upmprofi.com www.upmformi.com

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UPM ANNUAL REPORT 2021

UPM ANNUAL REPORT 2021