Biocluster - Bioklusteri

The biocluster is a consortium that promotes green growth, business and innovation development.

The biocluster promotes green growth, low carbon business and circular economy. New businesses of bioeconomy and green growth develop in cooperation with research, development and innovation activities.

The project creates a model for the creation of a biocluster. The cluster brings together companies and associations of bioeconomy, agriculture and circular economy.

By increasing cooperation between companies, RDI-organisations, investors and public sector, new synergies and potential for new green businesses arise in the whole region.

The biocluster project defines the needs of RDI-organisations and companies to participate in joint cluster network development. In addition, it will be necessary to assess adequacy and availability of existing raw material and natural resources for sustainable usage.

Bioeconomy sectors

Renewable energy – includes solar, wind, hydro and bioenergy, geothermal heat and energy harnessed from the movement of waves and the tide. Bioenergy, on the other hand, covers wood-based fuels, field biomasses, biogas, and the biodegradable part of recycled fuels.

Biofuel is fuel produced from biomass, i.e. natural material. Biomass can be dried and burned as such or it can be processed into fuel such as bioethanol or biodiesel. Energy derived from biofuel is called bioenergy. Biofuels represent the circular economy when produced from wastes and side streams of various industries.

Natural resources – biodiversity means the variety of living nature that safeguards life on earth. Natural resources are for example, oil, fresh water and farmland. Scarcity and fair division of limited natural resources will create global challenges in the near future. The Western standard of living is based on complex dependencies and natural material resources of which the affordability and availability are no longer self-evident. These concerns are also international security issues that will increase as climate change continues. Wiser use of natural resources and development of higher value-added products, e.g. in food and cosmetics industry, and replacing plastics, will create new businesses.

The climate change will affect biodiversity in many ways. According to estimates climatic zones can shift up to 500 km north during this century. New plant and animal species will arrive in Finland from the south. At the same time some species adapted to the cold climate will be lost in Northern Finland. Urbanization and population growth will also affect biodiversity.

Circular economy – is an economic model that is not based on the continuous production of new goods – instead of ownership, consumption is based on using services, renting and the circulation of products. The value of the materials is maintained in the society as long as possible. In the circular economy, economic growth is not dependent on the consumption of natural resources.

Circular economy is closely linked e.g. to bioeconomy, cleantech, sharing economy and industrial symbiosis. Operating models of circular economy consist of waste and loss minimization in product and service planning, sharing, leasing and renting, repairing and restoring, reusage and recycling.

Environmentally friendlier transport – well functioning traffic system is a requirement for European competitiveness and growth. Most important goals are decreasing consumption and emissions of fossil fuels and improving efficiency and safety. The aim is to develop efficient, environmentally friendly, and safe traffic system serving citizens and fulfilling the needs of the economy and society.

The traffic industry and the manufacturing of transport equipment are important business sectors and employers. Global competition is constantly increasing and Europe needs to develop new technologies and solutions safeguarding competitiveness. At the same time we are searching for solutions to problems that traffic is creating: emissions, traffic congestion and accidents.

New technologies and low emissions in construction – construction and buildings produce around one third of Finland’s greenhouse gas emissions. In order to reach national and international climate action goals, Finland also needs to reduce emissions in the construction industry. In addition to reductions in the operational energy consumption of the buildings it is necessary to also monitor the carbon footprint during the entire life cycle of the building.

This REACT-EU (EAKR A77594) project is funded as a part of the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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