UPM-Biofore-Magazine-1-2016-EN

After a passing tech boom, Finland is now returning to its traditional source of wealth. Well over half of Finland’s bioeconomy innovations are based on the sustainable use of renewable forest resources.

United on the bio-front

Finland has recently seen the rapid emergence of a boundary-breaking bioeconomy cluster that is bringing together the forestry, chemicals and energy industries. Biotechnologies are also playing an important role in the food and health sectors. Finland is among the world’s top innovators in new bioeconomy products, says Petri Peltonen , Director General at the Finnish Ministry of Employment and the Economy. “The bioeconomy, cleantech and digitalisation are all areas where global demand for new solutions will grow in the long run. Thanks to our strong expertise and sustainable domestic rawmaterial base, our national economy can benefit from the future growth of the bioeconomy,” Peltonen predicts. Cross-fertilised portfolios In order to improve the competitiveness of the Finnish bioeconomy, companies are encouraged to participate in innovative collaboration across industries. Many new products are currently based on the utilisation of forest industry side streams, but the role of the chemicals industry will also grow as the use of bio-based rawmaterials increases. “These industries complement each other, and cross-industry

collaboration will help companies increase the versatility of their portfolios. We should also adopt and accept new practices to make the most of this collaboration and the expert input provided by different industries,” Peltonen says. With plans to invest around EUR 3.5 billion in new bioproduct plants and pulpmills within the next few years, the growth of the bioeconomy seems promising. However, for the industry to take off, a sufficient amount of biomass must be made available for the new plants. The Finnish government aims to increase the use of wood by 15 million cubic metres per year. “The government is preparing changes to tax legislation to increase the average size of forest estates and to speed up generational change among forest owners. Forest owners will also be encouraged to adopt a more entrepreneurial approach to forest management,” Peltonen explains. Growth from key projects Over the last ten years, the output of the Finnish bioeconomy has grown by more than EUR 10 billion. The government aims to accelerate this growth and create more jobs by investing a total of EUR 1.6 billion in key projects over the next three years. Projects related to the bioeconomy will receive approximately EUR 300

Petri Peltonen

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