Forest Bioeconomy Start-up Competition

The start-up competition seeks the most promising and potential forest bioeconomy growth companies.

The winner of the competition is Aisti Corporation

The competition highlights new and significant solutions in the field of forest bioeconomy, with the winner being awarded the 10,000 euro Pulp & Beyond Award funded by the Finnish Fair Foundation.

The winner of the competition is Aisti Corporation, which has developed a patented ultra-low density fire-retardant foam material, suitable for production of board-like products for many different applications such as acoustic tiles, thermal insulation products, windshield panels and package cushions. Read more about the Aisti acoustic tile here >>

The start-up competition seeks the most promising and potential forest bioeconomy growth companies. The Pulp & Beyond Award will be given to a Finnish company that has developed an innovation in the forest bioeconomy sector that creates a positive image and has the potential to become a significant product or service internationally. The solution, at its best, also opens up new perspectives in the forest bioeconomy sector.

The competition is organized by the Pulp & Beyond event in collaboration with the Finnish Forest Products Engineers’ Association.

Jury

The start-up competition jury includes Atte Virtanen (VTT), Katarina Kemppainen (Metsä Group), Jenny Müller-Wahlman (Stora Enso), Ville Leminen (LUT), Antti Lindqvist (PI), and Marcus Bergström (Messukeskus).

Finalists 2024

Aisti Oy: Aisti acoustic tile

Buildings are currently responsible for 39 % of global energy-related carbon emissions. It’s a sobering statistic that demands action. Current construction materials that are used in suspended ceilings of all non-residential buildings are simply not sustainable, and the demand for ecological solutions is louder than ever before. We developed a patented ultra-low density fire-retardant foam material, suitable for production of board-like products for many different applications such as acoustic tiles, thermal insulation products windshield panels and package cushions. In the wet-laid process, cellulose CTMP fibers are mixed with water and foaming agent to produce the board-like material to be dried, formed. The board is then cut, coated, or laminated to form the final product.

Carboreal Oy: Carbon offset solutions, Afforestation projects, Carbon footprint assessments, Consulting and training

Who? All CO2 emitters, organizations, cities, countries aiming to become carbon neutral. Which need? Contribute to combating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide emissions while supporting the forest heritage of Finland and other countries. Carboreal helps companies and organizations offset their CO2 emissions with unique afforestation solutions to efficiently mitigate the effects of climate change. We provide sustainable solutions to the challenges of climate change. We offer companies the opportunity to actively participate in offsetting their carbon dioxide emissions. The core of our business is afforestation. We use a scientifically developed calculation tool based on nine main factors, ensuring the additionality, permanence, and verifiability of carbon sequestration. Our afforestation projects not only promote carbon sequestration, but also increase the resilience and biodiversity of the ecosystem, planting spruce and pine trees and preserving natural occurring hardwoods. Our projects are located on wastelands and each client knows exactly which area is sequestering emissions. We also offer financial services for investors interested in the carbon offset market.

Fiberdom Oy: Pulp based single use cutlery and tableware which is home compostable and recyclable with cardboard materials

The Single Use Plastics directive banned the use of plastics and products containing plastic for use in single use cutlery and related tableware. The only solution has been wood-based ones imported from China with bad user experience or some poor performance paper ones which contain a barrier which is against the SUP directive. We have developed a fully bio based single use cutlery which is based on Nordic Kraft cellulose pulp combined with a novel and patented biobased and food approved chemistry to provide a fully home compostable, recyclable solution with a super smooth feel and superior strength both in dry and wet conditions but has no barrier or film. The technology can reincorporate process side stream back into the production leading to very low waste.

Pulp & Beyond 2022 Start-up Competition Won By Montinutra

The start-up competition is now being held for the fourth time. The previous competition held in 2022 was won by Montinutra, which uses sawdust as a raw material to produce Kuusikumi™ extract for use in cosmetics, technical chemistry, and even the food industry.

Montinutra’s innovation is truly related to the forest industry, competitive and scalable. It is also new and interesting from a consumer perspective. Montinutra uses raw material from the forest industry, which is generated from the byproducts of the forest industry. The raw material used adds significant value to the product. Montinutra Spruce Extract is an important innovation in wood processing.

In the high-quality competition, the jury gave an honorary award to Natural Antivirals for putting the healing effect of forest nature on everyone’s skin. With the honorary award, the jury wanted to thank the company for an innovative product with a lot of good research behind it.