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BIOFORE
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.
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
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
United on the bio-front
Petri Peltonen