Metsä Group involved in European collaboration on bioeconomy
Metsä Group Press Release 10 July 2013
Metsä Group, 47 other European companies and the European Commission are together proposing to establish a joint organisation to strengthen the competitiveness of European bioeconomy by coordinating and funding development projects.
The negotiations regarding the public-private partnership (PPP) proposal were completed today, 10 July. Industry was represented in the negotiations by the Biobased Industries Consortium, a community set up in December 2012, whose founding members and active players include Metsä Group. The joint proposal will next be handled by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
The Biobased Industries PPP, also known as ‘BRIDGE’, aims in particular to accelerate the commercialisation of research results. The PPP will be officially launched in early 2014. The estimated budget of operations from 2014 to 2023 is close to EUR 4 billion, of which the share of the European Commission is EUR 1 billion. The rest is financed by the industry and other public support schemes.
The Biobased Industries PPP will also accelerate the renewal of the Finnish forest industry and strengthen its position in the sustainable bioeconomy of the future. The new cooperation model will promote bioeconomy by using renewable raw materials and fuels and by producing safe and recyclable products. Bioeconomy is one of the core sectors of the European Union. Strengthening it will create jobs especially in rural areas.
The European Commission published today a total of five PPPs. The aim of these public-private partnerships is to create economic growth and employment in Europe.
METSÄ GROUP
Group Communications
For further information, please contact:
Niklas von Weymarn, Vice President, Research, Metsä Fibre, tel. +358 405476977
Additional information:
More information on the Biobased Industries PPP is available on the website at http://bridge2020.eu/
Metsä Group is a responsible forest industry group whose products’ main raw material is renewable and sustainably grown Nordic wood. Metsä Group focuses on tissue and cooking papers, consumer packaging paperboards, pulp, wood products, and wood supply and forest services. Its high-quality products combine renewable raw materials, customer-orientation, sustainable development and innovation. Metsä Group’s sales totalled EUR 5.0 billion in 2012, and it employs approximately 11,500 people. The Group operates in some 30 countries. Metsäliitto Cooperative is the parent company of Metsä Group and is owned by approximately 125,000 Finnish forest owners.