Invitation: Uusi puu – New Wood 2021 Award Ceremony and Jury Panel Discussion on April 29th, 2021

The most significant Finnish wood-based innovations of the moment participated in the Uusi puu – New Wood 2021 competition. The winners and results of the public voting will be announced at the Virtual pre-PulPaper event on April 29, 2021 at 2:45 p.m. Sign up for the event!

A total of 23 wood-based products and solutions entered the Uusi puu – New Wood 2021 competition. The winners and results of the public voting will be announced at the Virtual pre-PulPaper event on April 29, 2021 at 2:45 p.m. PulPaper is the forest industry’s leading international event to be held online this year.

The entries represent commercially viable wood-based products developed/designed for solving global challenges such as resource scarcity, urbanisation, changes in the population structure, digitalisation, Covid-19 and increasing consumer awareness. The entries were assessed for their social significance, sustainability, innovative use of wood, and global market opportunities.

– The competition entries are an excellent demonstration that wood-based solutions can meet all significant global challenges, says Erno Järvinen, Chairman of the Jury and Managing Director of the Finnish Forest Foundation.

The final of the competition consists of six solutions, which were announced on February 4, 2021 in the national Metsäpäivät online event.

The six finalists of the Uusi puu — New Wood 2021 competition are:
1. Biodegradable wood-based packaging material – Sulapac
2. Sustainable food service packaging for Norwich City F.C. – Kotkamills & Pyroll
3. FibDex – wound care dressing made from nanocellulose – UPM Biomedicals
4. Rasweet – natural sweetener from birchwood – KoivuBioTech
5. Biofiber-based carbon-negative acoustic panel – Lumir Bioboard
6. Plastic replacing, wood-based packaging material – Paptic

– Openings to completely new areas of use are even more significant when looking for a leap forward in the development of the forest industry. The proposals submitted to the competition show how broad the range of new application areas can be. All proposals in the final are significant and innovative in their respective fields, comments VTT Research Professor Ali Harlin, Vice-Chairman of the Jury.

The jury panel discussion will be attended by MPs Sari Multala, Anders Norrback and Arto Pirttilahti, LUKE Senior Scientist Juha-Matti Katajajuuri and VTT Research Professor Ali Harlin. The panel discussion will be chaired by Erno Järvinen, Managing Director of Finnish Forest Foundation.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONTEST:

See the project website for Introductions of 23 wood-based products and solutions that entered the contest
Registration for the free pre-Pulpaper event
A video of all 23 candidates on YouTube
More information about the project on the smy.fi-website

For more information, please contact:
Ms Virpi Korhonen
Project manager
Uusi puu project
Metsäviestintä Oy
Salomonkatu 17 A 5th floor
00100 Helsinki
Tel. + 358-400-697973
Email: virpi.korhonen@uusipuu.fi

Uusi puu – New Wood
The goal of the Uusi puu project is to increase general awareness of the wood-based bioeconomy; highlighting new and existing products and solutions, exploring their impact on society, and offering expert perspectives on the outlook for this innovative industry. Comprising more than 20 Finnish organisations, Uusi puu is a community that promotes wood-based bioeconomy and provides information to influencers and political decision-makers about the significance and value of wood-based products.

Uusi puu member organisations
Jaakkoo-Taara – Jospak – JAMK University of Applied Sciences – Kotkamills – Lumir – Metsä Group – Metsähallitus – The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK – Forest Products Engineers – Paperiliitto – Paptic – Pyroll – Stora Enso Packaging – Sulapac – Finnish Corrugated Board Association – Finnish Forest Foundation – Tampere University of Applied Sciences – Tampere University – VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland – UPM – Walki – Woodio