“The green transition and circular economy are drivers that push us to think more carefully about the efficiency of all production.”
synthesize egg white - albumen - from fungus. This innovation has applications in sectors like the bakery industry and will revo- lutionise traditions and reduce the carbon footprints of products. Vasara admits that sustainability often has many implicitly nega- tive associations like: stop this or reduce that. Of course, the lower consumption of materials is good, but it does not have to mean that the product will be worse or a compromise for the consumer. “I do not really understand the idea that consumers must be able to make the environmentally friendly decision by themselves. Why do we still even have environmentally unfriendly decisions? Why do we assume consumers need to be experts and know what to choose? Surely, we ought to be able to trust that if a product has ended up on the market, it is also the most environmentally friendly and healthy option.” And where eggs are concerned, you will still be able to eat traditional organic eggs in the future, even though the bakery industry may be able to use egg white produced with the help of new technologies. “The products we use as consumers can still be just as good as before. It is just that they will be made in a smarter way. Our quality of life does not need to deteriorate. And at the same time, we can make these new innovations into Finland’s new export products that also have a positive impact on the climate.” •
will be a good thing, because the product portfolio will shift to products of higher added value. The same is also true for pulp, even though its traditional advantage has been the bulk quality consistency shipped to the customer from the mill. “Cellulose as a downstream product will not go away. Instead, its production methods and end products will change. The green transition and circular economy are drivers that push us to think more carefully about the efficiency of all production. We need to be able to use the same raw materials to make more and better products with less production investment. I believe that in future, pulp’s added value will increasingly be seen as its competitive advantage, instead of the sheer volume the mill can produce every day.” Vasara believes that pulp and other wood-based raw materials will be used for completely new purposes in the future. “By dissolving and recrystallising pulp, we can make products such as transparent flexible films. Such films can be used for wa- ter purification, for instance. Cellulose molecules also have great optical properties, which can be used in optical sensors.” Pulp and wood are still green gold, and Finland’s trump card is its deep understanding of proper forest management. Vasara says Finland and Sweden understand the importance of measures such as thinning. Elsewhere in the EU, forest protection takes priority over everything else. “Our challenge is to prove to the rest of the world that how we manage commercial forests is part of sustainability.” Sustainability is not about stopping everything A good example of a pioneering deep tech company is Onego Bio, which began under VTT. The company has developed a way to
Antti Vasara Doctor of Science (Technology) in Technical Physics, serving as President & CEO of VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland since 2015. During his career, he has specialised in mobile technology, telecommunications, software development, IT services and growth company strategies.
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