The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry organized a Finnish-Swedish Forest Friends Forever Conference in Hanaholmen, Espoo on 17-18 April. The purpose of the conference was to thank Sweden for the gift in honour of Finland’s 100 years of independence and to further enhance Finnish-Swedish cooperation in research and innovation and in forest policy. Espoo, 17.–18.4.2018

1. Collaboration between RISE and VTT for the future
forest based bioeconomy
1
Peter Axegård, RISE
Jussi Manninen, VTT

2. Why it is imperative that Finland and Sweden
must work together?
 Forest bioeconomy is vital for both countries
 Breakthrough innovations needed to transform industries
 Need to make forest bioeconomy visible and acceptable
 Strong research groups and
infrastructure in both countries
 Resources of either country alone are not enough to make
big enough difference in the world market

3. 3
Pulp wood
Forestry
residues
Round wood
Solid wood
products
Pulp
fibres
Paper, tissue
packaging
Residues
Products from
residuals
Heat &
electricity
Current forest industry
CO2 uptake
CO2 from
used products
Pulp mill
Paper
making
Saw
milling
Solid fuel

4. 4
RISE-VTT collaboration agreement 12/2017
RISE and VTT have agreed on collaboration in the area of the forest-based bioeconomy,
in particular in the following areas:
• Forest based biorefineries, including biomaterials and advanced fuels
• Circular bioeconomy
• Digital solutions for bioeconomy
In addition to research collaboration RISE/ VTT will evaluate:
• Starting a researcher exchange programme
• Opportunities for research infrastructure sharing and joint offering for biobased industries
• Joining forces to deliver coherent narratives on future circular forest bioeconomy

5. 5
FIVE prioritized
research topics in the
forest-based
bioeconomy

6. Pulp mill based biorefinery
6
Forestry
residues
Round wood
Solid wood products
Pulp fibres
Market pulp
Paper, tissue, packaging
Heat & electricity
Agricultural
feedstock
Pulp mill
biorefinery
Celluloses
Lignin
Upgraded
residues
Residual
streams
Solid & liquid fuels, chemicals
Carbon fibres, liquid fuels,
materials, chemicals
Cellulose, textile, composites
Biogas, food , soil improvment
Saw
milling
Wood
Residues

7. 7

8. Advanced biofuels
WHY
• The use fossil transportation fuels in automotives, heavy duty vehicles,
aviation and ships is a major source of fossil CO2.
• Residues from forestry, agriculture and forest based industries including
biorefineries offer significant potential for future production of sustainable
and renewable transportation fuels.
• Feedstocks are forestry residues, saw dust, bark, organic waste, plastics
as well as residues from ethanol production.
HOW
• RISE/VTT are well-positioned for a joint R&D program using ideas,
competence and infrastructure.
• Processes to be developed are liquefaction (pyrolysis, hydrothermal
liquefaction and upgrading) and gasification.
• Cooperation with forest owners, forest product industry, producers of ethanol
and producers of transportation fuels.

9. Wood-based plastics and composites
WHY
• Fossil based plastics are in most cases not biodegradable. This results in
environmental problems such as microplastics, ocean litter, landfills etc.
• Another problem with fossil based plastic materials is that they are difficult to
recycle due large variety in types of plastics and additives.
• Materials based on cellulose and other wood components are biodegradable
and recyclable and thus positioned for replacing fossil-based raw materials
for plastic bags, plastic packaging and other plastic materials.
HOW
• RISE/VTT are well-positioned for a joint R&D program on biobased plastics
using ideas, competence, infrastructure and up-scaling.
• Areas to be developed are designed for performance for use and ease of
recycling.
• Cooperation with forest products industry, industrial users of plastics and
material recycling industry.
Preliminary

10. Forest based materials for energy storage
WHY
• Electrification is a major opportunity to eliminate emissions from traffic such
as NOx, particles and fossil carbon dioxide. Electrification is likely to be
implemented faster with more efficient batteries, capacitors, fuel cells
and hydrogen storage.
• All these advanced and high value carbon materials have been shown
possible to produce from lignin which is a major component in wood. New
Swedish and Finnish technologies make it possible to separate pure lignin
from kraft pulp mills and possibly also from other biorefinery processes.
HOW
• RISE/VTT are well-positioned for a joint R&D program on energy storage
materials using ideas, competence, infrastructure and demonstrators.
• Cooperation with forest industry, suppliers to automotive and energy industry.

11. Sustainable protein from residual streams
WHY
• Protein from meat and fish is associated with sustainability challenges.
• High quality protein can be produced locally and with low environmental
impact using residual streams from agriculture, forestry, residual streams in
pulp mills and future biorefineries.
• An interesting product is single cell protein which contains high levels of
protein and with many important amino acids.
• Single cell protein can be used for fish and animal feed and human food.
HOW
• RISE/VTT are well-positioned for a joint R&D program using ideas,
competence, infrastructure, upscaling and business models.
• Cooperation with forest industry, agricultural industry, producers of feed and
food, retailers and other stakeholders.

12. Optimal fibre use and back-tracking
WHY
• Digitalization offers opportunies for optimal fibre use and tracing fibres in
the products back to the origin.
• Predicting the most optimal final application for a given tree has
economical value for the whole value chain including the forest owner
• Tracing the fibres in the product back to the growth site for the tree
gives the consumer an opportunity to select products with high value
chain sustainability.
HOW
• RISE/VTT is well-positioned for a joint R&D program in digitalization using
ideas, competence and infrastuctue.
• Cooperation with forest owners, forest product industry and product users.

13. 13
Current funding opportunities for research collaboration
Tandem Forest Value Call
(Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry)
12 shared post-doc positions in sustainable forestry, new processes and products.
3 RISE/VTT proposals under preparation. Themes: advanced biofuels, wood-based plastics
and composites, forest-based materials for energy storage.
Development of key enabling technologies for bio-based products
(Business Finland & Vinnova
The call focuses specifically on technologies that enable moving biobased products and
materials from lab scale towards pilot or demo scale.
1 potential proposal under evaluation on advanced biofuels.

14. 14
Proposal for Finnish-Swedish innovation program in the
circular forest bio-economy
WHY
• Sweden and Finland are the two leading countries in the global forest-based bio-economy
• To build a successful future for forest-based economy in Finland and Sweden
• To leverage the strong collaboration tradition and mutual strengths
• To take forward the shared bio-economy agenda articulated by Prime Ministers
Löfven and Sipilä 2017
HOW
• Promoting sustainable use of natural resources, realization of carbon-neutral society and
transformation of forest-based industries based on cross-sectoral collaboration, multi-
disciplinary research, mobility and development of transnational platforms.
• Focus activities on 2nd generation forest bio-refineries, develop digital and circular solutions
for the forest-based bioeconomy.
• Allocating 50 M€ to ambitious development projects up to TRL5, and additionally 20 M€ for
piloting and infrastructure development.

15. 20502030
Textiles and hygiene products
15
10
5
Glues
Chemicals
Added-value wood and
paper products
Plastic replacement
New products could double the value added in the forest sector