The Tandem Forest Value programme promotes research collaboration between Finland and Sweden related to forest resources, the value chain of wood-based products, and wood construction. The results are now in for the programme’s TFV3 call (Tandem Forest Values 3): four Finnish-Swedish research consortia with twelve subprojects will receive just over a total of 3 million euros in funding.
The call is based on Sweden’s gift to Finland on the occasion of Finland’s centenary of independence in 2017. The funding granted in the TFV3 call is a continuation of two previous funding periods.
The Finnish call organisers were the Academy of Finland’s Research Council for Natural Sciences and Engineering, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Ministry of the Environment and the Walter Ahlström Foundation. The Swedish funding agency is Formas.
The Tandem Forest Value programme provides funding for two-year consortium-based projects led by early-career researchers from Finland and Sweden. The research is very multidisciplinary and includes researchers from different fields. The programme includes projects in areas such as wood construction, forest industry processes and materials research.
The University of Eastern Finland is a partner in two funded consortias. Professor Reijo Lappalainen’s group participates in a two-year project WoodPro (Sustainable value addition from forest residues: process integration and demonstration) in collaboration with Karlstad University, Sweden, and Natural Resources Institute Finland. Project studies the conversion of forest residues into novel products. Also, project supports the bioeconomy policies laid out by the Swedish and Finnish governments as regards the transition to a low-carbon society and also contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Professor Lappalainen’s group received funding of 283,934 euros.
Senior Researcher Laura Tomppo’s group is a partner in project PolyTree (Polyesters from wood-based building blocks) together with Kungliga Tekniska högskolan, Sweden, and Karlstad universitet, Sweden. The project aims to solve several problems related to the current generation and use of plastics. The objective of the joint research project is to synthesise renewable polyesters from wood-based raw material. Total subproject funding for Tomppo’s group is about 300,300 euros.
Source: Academy of Finland, https://www.aka.fi/en/about-us/whats-new/press-releases/2022/finnish-swedish-research-projects-granted-funding-to-study-forest-value-chains/
