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Technische Universität Darmstadt.
The ValChemproject taps into
a vast body of expertise covering
the forest industry, chemistry and
biotechnology. It aims to produce
wood-based chemicals that rival
oil-basedmaterials in terms of quality
and production costs.
“The project is a good example of
how EU funding supports bioeconomy
projects and distributes the risks
associated with funding. As we
are focusing on a specific product
segment, our customers are also
involved in the development work
from an early stage,” Ovaska says.
“Naturally, we cannot rely on
public funding, but it does contribute
to accelerating our product
development and decreasing risks.”
Open doors to partners
Ovaska praises the solid results that
have been achieved through public
funding and research collaboration
with the Finnish Funding Agency for
Innovation (Tekes) and the Technical
Research Centre of Finland (VTT).
With the help of public funding,
Finland has become part of a close-
knit international community in the
business and research world.
“We boast a wealth of expertise in
different areas, but we have been fairly
ineffective at translating innovations
into commercial products and
achieving large-scale production. The
same applies to the EU as a whole”
Ovaska says.
“We would like to see the Finnish
funding model become more
international. We would also gladly
open the door to foreign operators,
as the largest markets are ultimately
abroad. International collaboration
would benefit both large and small
companies alike."
Thanks to its ground-breaking innovations
and pioneering R&D, UPM stands at
the forefront of the bioeconomy breakthrough.
Heikki Ilvespää
, Vice President of Research &Development
at UPM confirms that a breakthrough in second-generation
biochemicals is the next major target on UPM’s R&D list.
“We have made systematic progress in this sector, and we
have already launched our first biochemical products such as
GrowDex and BioPiva on the market.”
One potential application for biochemicals is
manufacturing plastics from renewable rawmaterials. The
pulp derived fromwood can be broken down into sugars,
which can be processed further into chemical building blocks.
In the future, materials produced in this way could be
used to manufacture virtually any product that is currently
made out of plastic, such as beverage bottles for the soft drink
industry.
UPM is also doing research on biofibrils and lignin. The
GrowDex cell culture medium, for example, which is based on
biofibrils, is an intriguing new area of research. It’s a product
meant for biomedical research that can be used to grow
different kinds of human cells.
Innovating
a sustainable
future