Date and time: 8 April 2019, at 9.00-17.00
Venue: University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Science Park, Louhela Auditorium, Länsikatu 15, Joensuu
The University of Eastern Finland and Teollisuusneuvos Heikki Väänänen's Fund are organising the 5th Karelia Symposium under the theme New Future of Wood Products.
The symposium focuses on developing scenarios of researching and producing new products from wood presented by leading specialists of the field. The bioeconomy is experiencing a transformation from fossil-based products to products made from renewable and recyclable raw materials.
This requires new basic and applied research as well as innovation activity to manufacture as textiles, bioplastics and biocomposites from wood fibre, among other things. Novel wood products have a remarkable global market potential.
“The goal of the symposium is to bring together experts, researchers, students and companies in the field of wood materials science,” Professor of Wood Materials Science Ossi Turunen says.
“There have been significant advances in the manufacturing methods of products made of wood fibre. However, as biological materials are very different from fossil-based ones, there are some challenges. We need to develop novel material solutions in order to be able to replace fossil-based products.”
“Finland has played an important international role in the development of wood-based products and their manufacturing processes. This is a role we should keep playing and, preferably, make it an even more prominent one,” Turunen says.
The 2019 grants of the Teollisuusneuvos Heikki Väänänen Fund will be announced at the symposium. The grants are intended for wood science research at the University of Eastern Finland. There will also be a poster exhibition at the symposium. The best poster selected by the audience will win an award. The language of the symposium is English.
For further information, please contact: Professor of Wood Materials Science Ossi Turunen, tel. +358 50 342 5151, ossi.turunen(at)uef.fi
Symposium programme and further information