Most start-up friendly company in Finland is Metsä Group

Metsä Group has been awarded as Finland’s most start-upfriendly company for a second year. The award, presented by the entrepreneurship community Tribe Tampere, is granted in recognition of the exceptional actions of large industrial corporations in collaboration with the start-up sector.

“We are once again extremely grateful and proud that our determined contribution has led to this recognition,” says Erik Kolehmainen, VP of corporate venturing at Metsä Spring, the innovation arm of Metsä Group. “Our involvement goes beyond simply investing capital in promising start-ups. Through our strategic collaboration, start-ups benefit from access to Metsä Group’s industrial assets and knowledge to facilitate R&D and innovation, advancing the forestbased bioeconomy.”

The Finland-based forestry group received particular praise for the openness of its collaborations, and the involvement of the top management, signifying clear strategic importance of collaborating with the start-up ecosystem.

Through Metsä Spring, the group invests in promising technologies that can improve the business ecosystem and bring value to the forestry and woodbased sectors.

Wood and bio-based innovations have recently been gathering momentum, says Metsä. According to Facts and to Smurfit Kappa’s commitment to sustainability and our desire to make real environmental change at a practical level. Through collaboration and hard work, together we can make every aspect of our operations as sustainable as possible in our journey towards net zero.”

Pedro Mendarozketa, general manager of the Sanguesa mill, added: “We are delighted to officially announce the solar panel investment at our paper mill in Sanguesa. The solar panels will enable us to generate sustainable energy, reduce our overall external energy consumption and reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. We look forward to officially unveiling the solar panels later this year.”

Installation of the solar panels is expected to be completed by the end of this summer.

Factors, the global bio-based materials market was worth around US$21 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to about $82bn by 2028.

Metsä Spring’s portfolio companies include start-ups such as Innomost, which offers cosmetics producers biodegradable and renewable ingredients derived from Finnish birch. Metsä Group’s internal demonstration projects include Kuura – an environmentallyresponsible textile fibre produced from softwood pulp, and Muoto, an alternative for plastic packaging.