MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
INTER-CLUSTER COOPERATION STRATEGY
Stakeholders within the whole forest related value chain in the Northern hemisphere
are looking for new products and opportunities in the shift to a biobased economy. By
creating an inter-cluster collaboration platform the possibility to focus towards strategic
areas, i.e. smart specialisation, will increase. This will in its turn benefit companies
(especially SMEs), Universities and Institutes as well as municipalities and counties.
Regions
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The region Värmland has a strong position within Swedish forest industry. A
number of break-through technologies within wood processing, ie continuous
cooking, originates from the region. The manufacturing focus of the region’s pulp
and paper companies is on packaging or tissue. The Paper Province companies
form a more than 150 years old cluster within Värmland, northern Dalsland and
Örebro County.
The two counties Hedmark and Oppland are the most important forest regions in
Norway. The focus is on forestry and producing products of solid wood; building
materials made out of wood, wooden houses and to some degree bioenergy.
Three university colleges are located here. Tretorget is a cluster organization
with its main area in these two counties. This region is neighbor to Värmland and
has a long tradition with making business across the border.
Central Finland is recognized as the Bioenergy Region in Finland. The strongest
branches of economic activity are pulp and paper, wood products, forestry and
production of machineries and equipment. The Bioeconomy cluster of Central
Finland represented by JAMK University of Applied Sciences generates actions to
develop, educate, research and promote new businesses based on renewable
natural resources and especially in the field of bioenergy.
Strategies
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The region Värmland’s vision is Värmland - A good life. The vision of The Paper
Province is to be a leading competence node for forest-based bioeconomy.
The two counties Hedmark and Oppland have a mutual strategy for forestry and
forest based industries e.g. sustainable forestry; leading within forest-based
bioenergy and a model for good use of wood. Tretorget’s vision is to create
market winners in the mechanical wood value chain.
Central Finland’s vision is to be a region of collaboration, entrepreneurship and
expertise. The Bioeconomy cluster aims to resource wise bioeconomy society
both in expertise and practice.
Cooperation
We, the undersigned, representing the project partners hereby express our mutual
interest to collaborate under the MISICS (More innovation from SME with inter-cluster
strategy) project for its successful implementation and the joint actions resulting from
the project. The three regions are all strong within forest industry. Sweden has WorldClass competence within pulp & paper; Norway within mechanical wood processing and
Finland in bioenergy. Together we form a World-Class forest industry cluster a strong
Scandinavian Forest Industry Cluster.
As partners in the project MISICS we represent a wide network of companies, institutes,
academy, public sector and RDI facilities. Working together we are increasing the social
capital between the nations, which will make innovations for SMEs more efficient. We do
this by;
 Establish a mutual platform of information for the three clusters.
 Share information on RDI projects and continue to develop projects in
cooperation.
 Market training and job opportunities from the extended regions and open up for
students to do their degree paper in different regions.
 Share news and a description of the different regions on our respective web sites.
Maria Hollander
Managing Director
The Paper Province
Hannariina Honkanen
Institute of Bioeconomy
JAMK University of Applied Sciences
Ola Rostad
CEO
Tretorget AS
Pasi Raiskinmäki
Director of Unit, School of Technology
JAMK University of Applied Sciences
The project MISICS (More innovation from SME with inter-cluster strategy) is financed
by Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth - Tillväxtverket; Innovation
Norway and Ministry of Employment and the Economy Finland.
Cluster: The Paper Province
The Paper Province is a cluster located in the region Värmland, northern Dalsland and
Örebro County in the middle of Sweden. Most of the member companies are located in
Värmland. The region, Värmland, has a strong position within Swedish forest industry
and almost a quarter of the region’s industrial work force is directly employed by the
forest industry. In addition to that almost equally many indirect jobs are created due to
the existence of the mills. A large proportion of the region’s manufacturing-, IT-, and
knowledge-based industry are also closely connected to the forest industry and its
products. Värmland has (2011) 273.000 inhabitants and 120.000 is in work, 17% of
them works within the industry sector.
Regional strategy - Värmland
The regional strategy is based on eight strengths that one by one is not unique but
together reinforces each other and forms the region’s distinct character. The regional
strengths are: Hospitable and open people, Forest, A tradition of storytelling, Karlstadthe province’s capital, International companies, The link to Oslo, Lake Vänern and
Karlstad University.
Vision: Värmland - A good life
To achieve the vision four areas with strategic importance for the development of the
province of Värmland have been identified:
 High quality of life for everyone
 A great variety of strong companies
 Improved competence on all levels
 Better communications
By uniting the regional leadership around these areas steps will be taken in the direction
of the vision.
The Paper Province
The Paper Province coordinates and develops cooperation between member companies
and has been appointed a World-Class Cluster by the European Cluster Observatory. The
whole value chain, from equipment and wood suppliers via the pulp- and paper mills to
the converters, is represented in the region. In addition to the large, international
players the cluster members also represent other suppliers and service providers as
well as consultants. Many of the small and medium enterprises originate from the large
companies. Through cooperation new products and services are developed.
The members of The Paper Province, 90 companies, together with other regional
companies, form a more than 150 years old cluster with deep knowledge about forestry
and wood processing. A number of break-through technologies within wood processing,
ie continuous cooking, originates from the region.
As of today there are still several global players present in the region and some
examples of World-Class Cluster members with different business ideas are; Stora Enso
Skoghall Mill, Valmet Paper, SOMAS and BTG. Stora Enso Skoghall mill is one of the most
modern paperboard machines in the world with two big paperboard machines. The
daily amount of produced cartonboard is enough to make 100 million 1-litre packages.
Valmet Paper started as a mechanical workshop and foundry in 1865/1873 and the first
paper machine was manufactured in 1890. Today the focus is on paper machines for
tissue production and more than 200 tissue lines have been delivered world wide.
SOMAS is a family owned company founded in 1945 and has always worked with
products developed in-house. The company worked in close connection to the local pulp
and paper industry which meant that they early started to manufacture valves in
stainless steel. Today the product program covers most of the needs of the process
industry. BTG is another example of a company that has grown as a result of working
with demanding local customers, both pulp and paper producers. Today BTG has a very
comprehensive range of transmitters and core competence around tissue machine
process improvements (from fiber and Yankee surface management to crepe control).
The manufacturing focus of the region’s pulp and paper companies is on packaging or
tissue. From a number point of view the majority of the members are SMEs while the
large companies of course stand for the largest share of employees as well as turn-over.
The large companies in the cluster are all active on a global market which means that the
need to remain competitive. Their focus on productivity and innovation is a potential
for international growth for regional SME:s where many today are primarily local
service providers.
External analyses performed during five years show that approximately 75 % of the
members increase their innovation ability by being part of the cluster and an analyses
from 2012 indicates that being part of a cluster improves the growth of a company by 10
to 27 % over time (2007-2011) compared to the region as a whole.
Cluster strategy
The Paper Province vision is to be a leading competence node for forest-based
bioeconomy. With bioeconomy we mean using natural inputs, and expending minimum
amounts of energy and waste, as all materials discarded by a process should be utilized
as inputs for another process. An important part of the strategy is to create a large-scale
demonstrator where we from a service perspective can verify, test and support
development of new business models, services and products derived from the forestbased industries value chain. The long-term aim is to create a transition from a
industrial community to a innovation society.
The strategy is structured around three levels;
 Traditional mills and sawmills with existing infrastructure and side-streams with
development potential.
 Services, users and processes that connect forest raw material with stakeholders
in the region.
 Communication to learn about market needs and global challenges and to spread
results.
SME:s are a central part of this strategy contributing with new ideas and having the
capability to grow and create new value.
Cluster: Tretorget
Regional description
The two counties Hedmark and Oppland in the south-eastern part of Norway are the
largest and most important forest region in Norway. This region has:
 28% of the Norwegian forest resources
 40% of the annual cutting/harvesting of forest in Norway
 42% (1.4 billion NOK) of the total Norwegian value creation in forestry
 26% (3 billion NOK) of the Norwegian value creation in lumber and wood
products
 No pulp and paper industry, but produce nearly everything for production of
wooden houses, bridges etc.
 The headquarter of Moelven Industrier, who are the biggest sawmill company in
Norway. They also have production of glue lam and wooden container houses in
this region.
 The headquarter for Forestia who is the biggest chip board company in Norway.
Hunton Fiber is another board company in the area.
 A leading position in bioenergy in Norway. The biggest players in the region are
Eidsiva bioenergi, Solør Bioenergi and Pemco.
 Market leading producers of wooden houses as Boligpartner, HedAlm Anebyhus,
Moelven Byggmodul and Tinde Bygg.
2 companies (Moelven Industrier and Bergene Holm) have 80 % of the Norwegian
production from sawmills. Both companies have big activity in the region. The region
also have some of the biggest sawmills (Gausdal Bruvoll, ESAS, RingAlm Tre, Fåvang Sag
& Høveleri, Otta Sag & høvleri) who are not a part of those two companies. The two
companies in Norway making poles of wood (Solør Treimpregnering and Scanpole) are
also located in this area.
In the city of Elverum, you find the main office of Tretorget, you will find the
headquarters for some of the biggest timber trading companies in Norway (Glommen
Skog, SB Skog, Nortømmer and Stora Skog Norge). The region also has the leading
Norwegian companies for production of forest management plans (Foran and Mjøsen
Skog). The region has the headquarter for businesses importing harvesters and other
machinery for forestry (John Deer, Ponsse, Komatsu Forest, Caterpillar), but there is no
production of this type of equipment. You will also find the headquarters for import of
equipment for sawmills (Söderhamn Eriksson, Rema Control etc.). There is one
manufacturer of equipment for the sawmill industry: Odden Verksted. You can also find
several consultants working for this value chain (SilviForum, Silvinova etc.) and
NOREXECO who will offer a fully regulated environment for trading derivatives in the
wood, recycled fibre and pulp industries. The region has three university colleges, two of
them (HiHm, Evenstad and HiG, Gjøvik) with R&D and education related to forestry and
the wood value chain.
Regional strategy
Tretorget is located in the county of Hedmark which have the vision: 220.000
inhabitants in 2020. To reach the goal of “Faith for the future and optimism are
characterizing all the Hedmark” the county is focusing on “Value creation through
sustainable development” through: Competence and Business Development,
Infrastructure, Appeal and Climate, Energy and Natural Resources.
The two counties Hedmark and Oppland have agreed on a mutual strategy for forestry
and forest based industries:
 Be a model for good use of wood
 Be leading in the development and use of forest-based bioenergy
 Increase the long-term production and utilization of wood
 Reduce the forestry and forest industry transportation costs
 Have the best expertise as a basis for the development of forestry and forest
industry
 Help achieving national climate goals
 Base the forestry business on sustainable forestry and respect for the
environmental qualities
Tretorget AS
Tretorget is owned by the mechanical wood value chain and is their tool for increased
value by accelerating innovation processes. Tretorget was founded in 2001. First
established for 7 municipalities in southern Hedmark. The main activity is in the
counties of Hedmark and Oppland, but Tretorget is also involved in more national
projects. Tretorget is organized as a corporation with 14 different shareholders. Among
the shareholders are big Norwegian businesses like Moelven Industrier, Bergene Holm,
Glommen Skog, Sandermoen, Statskog, ESAS and NorDan.
By making the innovation process more efficient, Tretorget will make a difference for
new and established businesses in our value chain in Scandinavia. The shareholder
structure should reflect this role and ambitions. Our vision is: We create market
winners. Our goals are to become first choice for our value chain for:
- Development of new business
- Improving the performance of existing business
Cluster strategy
A process for a more specific cluster strategy is going on for the moment. Tretorget is
both a central player in this process and are responsible for the process. In the mean
while we present the strategies for Tretorget as our cluster strategy. Tretorget will
address its vision and goals by:
 Establishing a unique Scandinavian network for efficient retrieval, selection and
support of product and business ideas with potential
 Initiating and running processes that deliver products and business ideas
 Having the ambition to be part of SIVA's incubator program
 On the basis of demanding customers contributing to supplier development
 Diagnosing potential for corporate improvements and organize services that
realize those potentials
 Initiating, communicating and commercializing R & D
 Having a clarified role in relation to other actors in the forest-based innovation
systems
 Being one visible and effective team of expertise who live as they learn,
contribute to personal development and are recruiting talents to the industry
 Being a relevant and trusty partner
 Running their business so that they normally does not have to take out loans
Cluster: The Bioeconomy cluster of Central Finland
Central Finland has a long tradition and world class expertise in the development and
utilization of bioenergy throughout the entire value chain. The key strengths of the
companies and research centres in the area cover e.g. efficient biomass supply chains,
biomass combustion technologies and heating systems, biogas technologies, as well as
energy solutions for the industry.
The area of Central Finland has a population of 270,000 and it covers nearly 20,000 km2.
The most remarkable biomass resources are forests, in total almost 1.4 million hectares
(14,000 km2). In addition to City of Jyväskylä, other energetic cities are Jämsä, Äänekoski
and Saarijärvi with surroundings of vivid countryside and agricultural industry. The
strongest branches of economic activity are pulp and paper, wood products, forestry and
production of machineries and equipment. The machinery and equipment
manufacturing, along with the basic metal industry, are closely connected to the forest
industry.
Central Finland is recognized as the Bioenergy Region in Finland – even though pulp and
paper industry brings the most revenues to the region. Not only is utilisation of
bioenergy at an exceptionally high level in Central Finland, but R&D and the training
sector in bioenergy represent the top in Finland. Today, half of the total energy
consumption (including traffic) is covered by local biomass. Biomass resources
constitute 80% of the fuels used in heat and electricity production. 1
Regional strategy
According to the Regional Council of Central Finland, the vision is Central Finland is a
region of collaboration, entrepreneurship and expertise. The four pillars of the
development in Central Finland are successful entrepreneurship, success through
expertise, well-being of citizens and an appealing environment.
In Central Finland strategies related to natural resources have included key issues like
responsible use of the natural resources and the promotion of the renewable energy
expertise and development of the sustainable forest and land-based energy production
and the certified peat production. Rural Strategy for Central Finland (2005-2030) aims
at increased efficiency and competitiveness in rural areas which indicates e.g. increased
opportunities of bioenergy production and use. Dynamic Bioenergy programme (20072015) have concentrated on renewable biomass resources for energy production. In
addition, Jyväskylä Region Centre of Expertise Programme on energy technology (OSKE,
2007-2013) have strengthened the competitiveness of the enterprises as well as
promoted the innovations and new solutions to meet the challenges of the forestry
industry. Regional Technology Strategy for Central Finland (2005-2015) has the focus in
the technologies of the forest cluster with joint services, and in the energy technologies.
Also, according to Regional Forest Programme for Central Finland (2012-2015), forests
value as replacing fossil fuels will continue to grow. This progress includes also biomass
Source: BIOCLUS outputs - The BIOCLUS project (12/2009-11/2012) was focused on the sustainable use of
biomass resources and aims at boosting the regional competitiveness and growth in five European cluster regions:
Central Finland, Navarre (Spain), Western Macedonia (Greece), Slovakia and Wielkopolska (Poland). The project was
funded by the EU seventh framework programme for research and technological development. The project was
coordinated by JAMK University of Applied Sciences.
1
based transport fuels and other competitive products. Increasing the use of wood as
energy is one important development area in forest sector. One focus is utilizing lower
value wood as forest residues. The aim is to use forest based energy 1,2 million m3 per
year.
In BIOCLUS1 project, the strategic research areas of the Central Finland cluster region
were identified:
 Biomass production, handling and processing
 Biomass logistics and storage
 Biomass combustion technologies
 Fibre processes and biomass refinery
 Sustainability assessment
 From research to products and services.
Institute of Bioeconomy, JAMK University of Applied Sciences
JAMK wants to be the best university of applied sciences in Finland, with a strong track
record in quality of education, internationalization and promotion of entrepreneurship.
JAMK focus areas are resource wise bioeconomy, renewable competitiveness, well-being
of families and health promotion, cybersecurity and innovative learning.
In JAMK we develop, educate, research and promote new businesses based on
renewable natural resources. We invest especially in SME business development and in
generating innovative operation models and services. We combine intelligently
expertise of different knowledge fields and aim to increase the additional value of
biomass use. We support bioeconomy business trials with novel approaches and
participate actively in the national and international networks. We focus on:
 Resource wise supply chains of agricultural, forest and waste biomass
(production, processing, logistics and refinery)
 Decentralized and sustainable energy production
 Resource and energy efficiency, especially nutrient recycling
 Control and measurement of water system impact of bioeconomy and rural
region water supply
 Wood based construction and novel innovations in mechanical wood processing.
Cluster strategy (RDI)
Vision 20201: Central Finland is an internationally recognized region of knowledge in
sustainable use, research and development of biomass, especially in the fields of
bioenergy and forest industry supply chains, enhancing new biomass-based business. In
2020 the Central Finland research driven biomass cluster will supply qualified research,
development and testing services for companies, research organizations and public
entities. These services will be provided in the fields of sustainable biomass supply
chains, bioenergy and forest industries.
The Bioeconomy cluster of Central Finland is here represented by JAMK being strong
player in the field in development actions in cooperation with research institutes,
authorities, business and companies. The cluster strategy will be strengthened in
framework of national Innovative Cities (INKA) programme (2014-2020) funded by The
Ministry of Employment and the Economy of Finland. The programme is locally
administered by development company Jykes via local municipalities.