BIOECONOMY IN SWEDEN SECTOR OVERVIEW

Business opportunities in a bioeconomy growth market

PAVING THE WAY FOR A RENEWABLE FUTURESweden has a strong raw material heritage. Already in the 1600s Sweden was the dominating country glob-ally when it came to trading of commodities like copper and iron. During the 1700s, Sweden represented 1/3 of the total global production of bar iron. Gradually forest products became an increasingly important part of the Swedish economy. In the 1870s, Sweden became the world’s largest exporter of sawn timber. This was fol-lowed by a strong increase of the Pulp & Paper sector but also an innovation-driven diversification of the Swedish industry overall.

The combination of raw materials supply and a diversi-fied industry triggered a strong focus on development to ensure fit-for-purpose materials properties in respec-tive sectors. This tradition lives on through advanced international materials companies, but also through the continued focus on materials technology development. Major EU initiatives within materials, ESS in Lund or the Graphene flagship coordinated by Chalmers, illustrate Sweden’s recognised strength in this field.

The forestry sector is currently going through a transition phase due to declining demand for newsprint and office paper. Given the importance to the Swedish economy, this transition towards finding new application areas for the Swedish forest – a renewable resource, sustainably managed and with the highest stock since measurements began – is supported by the society as a whole. Significant investments into R&D by public stakeholders, public/pri-vate initiatives, private foundations as well as corporates signal the seriousness behind this transition. Sweden has the definite ambition to be leading player in this change towards a society with a wider use of renewable materials.

Forestry and forest industrial research in Sweden are closely connected with the industry and new application areas are beginning to see the light.

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PAVING THE WAY FOR A RENEWABLE FUTURESECTOR OVERVIEW

WHY SWEDEN? ▸ With an increasing supply of biomass from sustainably man-

aged forests, Sweden is committed to leading the transition towards a society based on renewable materials.

▸ Substantial funding from both private and public sources, drives basic and applied R&D in developing new products and processes from the tree.

▸ Advanced technology companies with a global potential are emerging at an increasing rate.

▸ Access to the large number of different testbeds and knowhow in Sweden.

▸ Sweden has a tradition of successfully creating holistic solu-tions and integrated systems, instrumental when breaking new ground in complex value chains.

▸ Swedish consumers have a strong sense of care for the environ-ment.

▸ Sweden is the home to a large number of multinational compa-nies such as Tetrapak, IKEA, Volvo, Ericsson, Atlas Copco, H&M, SCA and Sandvik, for whom materials property development is central to future business success.

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Forest Industry Products Chemicals Pharmaceutical Products Energy Goods

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Source: SCB, 2016

Exports and Imports of Some Products Groups 2015 (Million SEK)

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FROM FOREST TO PRODUCT SECTOR OVERVIEW

Process and product development are key priorities in the on-going transition towards a bio based economy and a wider application area for the forest. This effort includes a large num-ber of projects and programs where a few selected ones are described below.

PLANT SCIENCE AND SUSTAINABLE FORESTRY HARVESTING Research and development is required in order to secure an efficient supply of raw materials that can cope with the foreseen increase in demand and at the same time be ecologically and economically sustainable.

UMEÅ PLANT SCIENCE CENTER (UPSC) Umeå Plant Science Center (UPSC) is a centre of experi-mental plant biology. With a staff of 170 from 37 differ-ent countries, this is one of Europe’s most prominent research centers for plant biology. Research is carried out in several fields, including bioinformatics, development, ecophysiology, forest genetics, metabolism, photosyn-thesis, and stress responses.

FORESTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SWEDEN (SKOGFORSK) Forestry Research Institute of Sweden (Skogforsk) is the research body for the Swedish forestry sector, offering applied research to shorten the step from research to practical application. Over 60 researchers are studying the work environment, wood, conservation, silviculture, plant breeding materials, forest energy, operations and products, logistics, entrepreneurship, and damage to forests.

THE FOREST MACHINERY CLUSTER The Forest Machinery Cluster is a cooperation between contractors, researchers, manufacturers and forestry companies, which has resulted in Sweden holding a lead-ing position in forest machinery in the world market. Ad-vanced R&D programs focus on powertrains/propulsion systems, systems for more efficient extraction of wood parts/biomass for bioenergy/biorefining, and electrical hybrid systems for fuel-efficient motors and systems for mechanisation of planting.

FUELS-ENERGY Sweden has an ambition to have fossil independent auto-motive fleet by 2030, and biobased fuels are expected to play a significant role. Subsequent to major investments in recent years, Pulp & Paper plants are virtually all fully biobased (96 percent).

F3 OR THE SWEDISH KNOWLEDGE CENTRE FOR RENEWABLE TRANSPORTATION FUELS F3 or The Swedish Knowledge Centre for Renewable Transportation Fuels is a platform for interaction be-tween large and relevant national and international R&D programmes. Research related to the entire renewable fuels value chain -F3 partners - includes Sweden’s most active universities and research institutes within the field, as well as a wide range of companies.

BIOMASS GASIFICATION Biomass gasification is an important technology for converting biomass into automotive fuels. Sweden is the location of Gobigas, the first plant in the world to con-tinuously produce high quality biomethane from biomass through gasification. Swedish Gasification Centre, where academy and industry cooperate with access to a >60 million euro budget, develops large scale techniques for production of renewable fuels like biogas, DME and methanol.

BIO4ENERGY Bio4Energy is an internationally leading research environ-ment with about 240 members across three universities, four research institutes and with a network of industrial partners in Sweden and beyond. The objective is to de-velop methods and tools for a sustainable and efficient biorefinery. Bio4Energy covers the entire production chain - from tree to finished products and in the form of biomass, bioenergy, green chemicals, such as may be used for pharmaceutical, textile and packaging.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON BIOMASS Academic research on biomass is conducted in more than 30 different departments and centres at leading uni-versities including Royal University of technology (KTH), Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

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Source: Volvo

TEXTILES Consumption of clothing continues to increase, with a significant impact on the environment. To combat this, the Swedish forest, textile and fashion industries have joined forces to take the lead for sustainability research in this field.

STRATEGIC INNOVATION PROJECT–ESTABLISH LOCALLY GROWN TEXTILES IN SWEDEN ”Strategic innovation project- Establish locally grown tex-tiles in Sweden” In order to replace fossile based textiles with cellulosic or recycled biobased textiles, the project including 55 organisations, enterprises and R&D institu-tions, will look into everything from infrastructure, pilots, labs, and production, to recycling.

MISTRA FUTURE FASHION MISTRA Future Fashion is a cross-disciplinary research programme and a national platform for research within sustainable fashion. The stakeholders represent the whole textile value chain, from forestry via pulping, tex-tile manufacturing to recycling, including development processes for turning new bio-based fibers into textiles. An example of novel technology is CelluNova, replacing cotton with viscous fibres.

ECOBUILD INSTITUTE EXCELLENCE CENTRE EcoBuild Institute Excellence Centre conducts applied and basic research and innovation activities to develop the next generation of biobased materials, including cel-lulose fibers and bio composites, coatings and modified wood. Ecobuild gather institutes and academic partners from Sweden, UK, France, Denmark and Germany, and companies including Volvo and IKEA.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON BIOMASS Academic research on biomass is conducted in more than 30 different departments and centres at leading uni-versities including Royal University of technology (KTH), Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

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CHEMICALS Sweden’s chemical industry cluster strives to become fossile independent by 2030. The key industrial players; Aga, AkzoNobel, Borealis, Ineos, and Perstorp have in cooperation with academia and the public sector formu-lated an action plan to reach this objective.

WALLENBERG WOOD SCIENCE CENTER (WWSC) Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC) is a joint re-search centre focusing on new materials from trees. The research staff includes among all 20 professors in chem-istry, chemical engineering, materials science, mechanical engineering and biotechnology. The research focuses on plastics foams, fiber-reinforced bioplastics, fireproof building materials as well as advanced products based on nanocellulose and modified molecules.

BIOINNOVATION BioInnovation is a R&D initiative with an annual budget of 10MEuro that includes some 60 stakeholders, of which half are companies and half are organisations, universities and institutes. The objective is to develop competitive high performing and innovative materials, products and services based on renewable raw materials within four priority areas: chemicals and energy, construction and design, materials and new utilisation.

SICOMP Sicomp is one of Europe’s leading research institutes in the field of polymer fibre composites. A recent showcase is the cooperation project with Innventia (see below) to develop a roadmap-2025 of producing commercial car-bon fibre composite from softwood lignin.

ACADEMIC RESEARCH ON BIOMASS Academic research on biomass is conducted in more than 30 different departments and centres at leading uni-versities including Royal University of technology (KTH), Chalmers University of Technology, Lund University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

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CONSUMER APPLICATIONSThere is an increased interest for renewable alternatives in products used in healthcare, packaging, buildings and construction. Wood-based raw material is seen as one of the most important feedstock for replacing non-renewa-bles and is getting widely used even in new and advanced applications.

BUILDING IN WOODWOOD CENTRE NORTH Wood Centre North is an innovation hub for wood use, design and technology. A large number of industry-driv-en, needs-oriented projects are in the works by network partners representing some of the most advanced tech-nology companies and academia in the world in the field of innovative use of wood.

SP SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT SP Sustainable Built Environment offers technical evalu-ation, research and training in the area of wood technol-ogy, building physics and acoustics.

ADVANCED PACKAGING SOLUTIONS IPACK iPack focuses on paper and intelligent packaging and with 8 multi-disciplinary research groups, research insti-tutes and a large number of business partners it forms the base for cross-functional research, system integration of new and existing components (e.g. combining paper with ICT).

PACKBRIDGE Packbridge is a network with around 230 member com-panies in packaging and related fields.

INNVENTIA Innventia research institute develops innovative fibre-based packaging solutions, ranging from new packaging and barrier materials to consumer insight and psycho-logical research related to how people perceive materials and packaging.

SELECTION OF BIOECONOMY OPPORTUNITIES IN SWEDEN

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BioDME and bio-methanol process plant LTU Green fuels (Piteå)

Lignocity – an open test bed for com-panies who want to evaluate and verify new processing con-cept for lignins (8)(Kristinehamn)

Cellulosic ethanol process development pilot lineBiorefinery pilotLU (Lund)

Biomass gasificationPyrolysis Oil CycloneCatalyst Test RigCombustionSP ETC (Piteå)

Pilot plant for nano-cellulose Innventia (Stockholm)

Laboratories for chemical, biochemical and pharmaceutical research from small to large scale. SP PD (Södertälje)

Large scale pilot plant for nanocelluloseCellulosic demo plantAlgae pilotSpin pilotBioreactorDryer pilotPre-treatment reactorTorrefaction pilotChemical synthesis reactorsSingle pilot equipment SP Processum (Örnsköldsvik)

Pilot plant for wet spinning of textile fibres based on cel-lulose from forest raw materials. (Swerea IVF) (Mölndal)

BUILDING KNOWLEDGESWETREE TECHNOLOGIES Swetree Technologies offers products or strategic alli-ances within one of the most advanced tree functional genomics platform in the world as well as exclusive ac-cess to IP generated from leading researchers in this field from five Swedish universities.

CELLUTECH The company Cellutech can provide access to innova-tions developed by the researchers at the Wallenberg Wood Science Center (WWSC).

INNVENTIA Innventia is a world-leading research institute working with innovations based on forest raw materials in three focus areas: biorefining, material processes and packag-ing solutions. Innventia’s research programme is open for companies from all over the world and has resulted in several pioneering processes and products within the forest industry. Innventia offers a number of world-class demonstration and pilot plants where to evaluate new ideas and innovations. Already in 2011 the company opened the world’s first pilot plant for the production of nanocellulose.

MORE MoRe is a R&D company in the field of products and processes that offers knowhow for all process steps from wood to paper, analytical services, biorefinery knowhow and pilot tests.

RISE-RESEARCH INSTITUTES OF SWEDEN RISE-Research Institutes of Sweden is a research and technology organisation with 2 400 employees co-owned by the Swedish government. RISE can assist you from an early stage of the bio economy value chain all the way to test your technology in any of the large number of test beds in Sweden.

TESTING AND DEMONSTRATION YOUR SOLUTIONSwedish consumers have a strong sense of care for the environment. Sweden also has a fully-fledged bio econ-omy value chain and a tradition of successfully creating holistic solutions and integrated systems. This provides an excellent ground for creating and undertaking market “field-tests” of bio based solutions.

Access to the large number of different testbeds and knowhow in Sweden will speed up your development process. Suppliers and technology providers with offer-ings that could support increased production, improve efficiency, and increase forestry yield and products, can use Swedish cluster organisations and networks to get in contact with relevant partners.

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STEPS TOWARDS A BIO-BASED SOLUTION SECTOR OVERVIEW

Sweden can offer knowhow, ideas, technologies and demo plants for international players wanting a head start into the bio-based economy. Global brand owners and end users of different materials may find many opportunities to build knowledge, verify a technology or make a market introduction in Sweden. Internationals in search for innovative IP have nu-merous opportunities to collaborate with early stage enterprises looking for access to global markets, development and project partners or capital.

Business Sweden supports international companies to connect with investment opportunities in Sweden – whether the interest is to gain access to the market or world-class R&D competence and innovation. We provide you with the information, guidance, solutions and network required to invest in Sweden.

EXPERIENCED STAFFBusiness Sweden’s industry specialists facilitate for international companies in the process of establishing in Sweden and finding partners for collaboration or invest-ment. Our strength lies in an experienced team of interna-tional trade and investment professionals in sectors where Sweden enjoys competitive advantages such as environ-mental technologies, ICT, life sciences, material technolo-gies and transportation systems. A network of regional partners across Sweden ensures local support.

WE HELP YOU EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS IN SWEDEN SECTOR OVERVIEW

Business Sweden is the official Swedish trade and invest council. We facilitate foreign invest-ment in Sweden and make it easier for Swedish companies to grow internationally.

For more information, please contact: Anders Eliasson Vice President Email: anders.eliasson@business-sweden.se Phone: +46 8 588 668 69

STEPS TO SUCCESSBusiness Sweden has a simple process for sup-porting your future business with Sweden and our offer is based on your company’s specific needs. Our working process consists of a number of steps, including the following services:

▸ Information sharing. Based on your investment needs, we share insights on Swedish business sectors, the Swedish market, the investment climate, R&D, specific competence clusters and investment costs.

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