Wood Materials and Products in the Development of Bioeconomy 2014–2018 Metla/Erkki Oksanen Research, Development and Innovation Programme, Metla forest • knowledge • know-how • well-being The new programme of Metla opens new opportunities for wood products cluster in the bioeconomy society The Research, Development and Innovation Programme “Wood Materials and Products in the Development of Bioeconomy” – the MAT Programme – studies and develops the value chains of the wood products cluster from raw materials to business models and markets in the changing society of bioeconomy. The programme’s objectives are to • create a foundation for knowledge and expertise on which Finnish bioeconomy can be built through the wood products cluster • analyse new opportunities for the wood products cluster in a bioeconomy society • add to the competitive ability of the entire forest and wood products cluster by providing knowledge of the future’s wood-based raw materials, product demand and customers’ needs to - develop new products and service and - generate novel and improved processes and business models. The programme combines expertise from the disciplines of wood science and technology, forest genetics and tree breeding, forest products and their marketing, forest policy and socio-economic research, business economics and foresight research, and network research and life-cycle research. The activities cover five thematic research areas. The cross-section theme of the programme, “Wood products cluster in bioeconomy”, yields new knowledge and foresight related the operational environment of the future and utilisation of bioeconomy thinking in the wood products cluster. The research in this theme also brings together elements related to bioeconomy in the four other themes (see the figure below). In addition to the applied research and development and innovation work pursued in collaboration with the customers of research, the programme’s research scientists engage in studying the fundamentals for strategic knowledge-based breakthroughs and developing novel research expertise. They take an active role in the development of policies and collaborative research that support development of the bioeconomy society in Finland and through Europe. www.metla.fi/ohjelma/mat/index-en.htm The research supports the transformation of the forest and wood products cluster, along with its full development process The emphasis in industries using wood-based biomass as raw material is moving toward the green economy, and new opportunities uses are arising to versatile use of wood biomass and side streams. Finland has three significant means of increasing the wood utilisation: a large increase and specialization in pulping, advanced bioenergy generation and biorefining based on tree biomass, and large-scale manufacture of wood products. New business and operation models, products and services combined with life-cycle thinking increase the competitive ability of wood product industries. They contribute to efficient utilisation and control of material streams and answer to the growing needs of building and living products, logistics solutions, advanced biorefinery products, and environmental performance. Raw material basis and demand for products create opportunities while also imposing limits for the strategic decision-making within the wood products cluster. Forest genetics and tree breeding offer new opportunities to match wood quality to the prospective products. Developments in measurement and grading, along with the management and utilization of data, support the actualisation of the new opportunities in the raw material and product markets. More information: Programme director, professor Erkki Verkasalo, phone +358 29 532 3020 Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu, Finland Wood products sector in bioeconomy: Riitta Hänninen, senior researcher, phone +358 29 532 2232 Wood utilization, products and services: Henrik Heräjärvi, senior researcher, phone +358 29 532 3037 Raw materials and side streams: Erkki Verkasalo, professor, phone +358 29 532 3020 Measurements of raw materials and wood products: Jari Lindblad, senior researcher, phone +358 29 3072 Forest and plant genetics for wood quality and utilisation: Katri Kärkkäinen, professor, phone +358 29 532 3767 E-mail: firstname.lastname@metla.fi The wood products cluster is positioning itself for the bioeconomy society In the bioeconomy, the goal is a carbon-neutral and resource-efficient society composed of industries, citizens and the public sector.This should provide new opportunities to promote the wood products cluster and enhance its competitive ability, growth and employing ability. Low-carbon operations, recyclability, and sustainable procurement and utilisation of raw materials and products are at the focus of resource-efficiency efforts. In these areas, wood products and materials present obvious advantages over most other options. Research of fundamentals: knowledge innovations, development of expertise Development projects, problem solving, customer service: applications, added value Wood utilisation •Product properties and their improvement •New products and uses •Building and living with wood •Demand and markets •Profitability and competition ability •Resource-efficiency, material flows, recycling Wood-based raw materials Wood measurement Genetics and wood quality • Future’s raw material basis and cultivation forestry • Side streams of wood product industries and their utilisation • Markets for raw materials, added value, growing for quality • Wood-based vs. alternative raw materials •Novel measurement, grading and sorting methods of woodbased raw materials •Novel measurement methods of product properties •Versatile implementation of measurements and efficient utilisation of resulting information •Basis of genetic variability and potential of genomic breeding of wood properties •Measurement and utilisation of genetic variability of wood properties •Relationship of genetic origin and silviculture with wood quality •Economic effects of tree breeding towards wood quality Wood product cluster in bioeconomy Foresight – Business innovations – Environmental competence – Life-cycle analysis – Promotion of wood product cluster www.metla.fi/ Metla/EPur 2014