Four million euros to research supporting Finnish and Swedish forest industry and economy

Over four million euros were granted to nine Finnish-Swedish research consortia with 26 subprojects in the Tandem Forest Values (TFV) call. The Finnish share of the funding is 2.1 million and the Swedish share 2 million euros. The TFV programme promotes research collaboration between Finland and Sweden related to forest resources, the value chain of wood-based products and wood construction. The call is a continuation to Finland’s 100th anniversary present for research collaboration gifted by Sweden.  The programme supports Finnish-Swedish collaboration between research funders and researchers.

The call was organised by the Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Swedish funders were Forskningsrådet Formas and Kungliga skogs- och lantbruksakademien, through which the private foundations Wallenberg and Kempe also participated.

The programme funds two-year projects led by early-career researchers. Research is multidisciplinary, with researchers from different fields. The programme includes projects within the fields of forestry, forest industry processes and wood building.

Examples of funded projects

Associate Professor Jaana Vapaavuori (Aalto University, Finland), Senior Research Fellow Tiffany Abitbol (RISE Innventia, Sweden) and Academy Research Fellow Kati Miettunen (Aalto University, Finland) develop new multifunctional composites out of biomaterial which improve the efficiency and durability of photoelectric apparatuses.

Senior Research Fellow Saija Huuskonen (LUKE, Finland), Research Professor Jari Hynynen (LUKE, Finland), Professor Urban Nilsson (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden) and University Lecturer Emma Holmström (Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden) use models to study tree growth in boreal mixed forests. The research generates new information for decision-making and guidelines concerning forestry.   

Associate Professors Lassi Roininen (LUT University, Finland), Öktem Ozan (Kungliga tekniska högskolan, Sweden) and Andreas Hauptmann (University of Oulu, Finland) use next generation digitalisation to study the optimisation of sawing.

Researcher Kirsi Jarnerö (RISE, Sweden), Associate Professor Andreas Linderholt (Linnéuniversitetet, Sweden) and Docent Valtteri Hongisto (Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland) develop new acoustic methods for determining the impact sound insulation properties of wooden floors.