Many things were put on hold when the corona pandemic struck the world, but not inventiveness. This became clear in the global innovation competition “What wood you do?”, where a jury has now selected six finalists that will compete for €25,000 to realize their idea about how to use the forest in the green recovery.
Forests play a vital role in combatting climate change. They bind carbon dioxide as they grow and can be used for renewable materials for houses, packaging, clothing, and other climate-smart products. While politicians are debating the need for a green recovery, Paper Province, a Swedish business cluster within the forest bio-economy, is running a global innovation competition to find the next big ideas to accelerate the shift toward a fossil-free society. Six finalists from 50 submissions spread across 10 countries have just been selected.
“When the world stopped, the positive effects on the environment were an eye-opener. People have had time to reflect on what type of world they want to live in after the pandemic. We hope that this competition will bring in new ideas for future sustainable solutions, where Sweden’s biggest resource, forests, can take a central role,” says Maria Hollander, CEO at Paper Province.
The competition “What wood you do” kicked off in March, with idea submissions from Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Canada, UK, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. Innovation ideas came from researchers and entrepreneurs and ranged from fake snow and cat litter to drone technologies and fiber-based clothing. A Jury composed of industry leaders, and researchers within forest bioeconomy, selected the finalists, analysing the sustainable impact, scalability, and business potential of each entry.
These six teams will now get business and communication coaching to perfect their pitch. And this autumn during a two day Hackathon in Karlstad, Sweden, they will be competing head to head for a chance to win €25,000 and business support from the incubator Sting Bioeconomy during one year. All runners-up will receive €2,500.
Here are the six finalists at the heart of this new green industrial revolution:
Read more about the finalists at https://whatwoodyoudo.eu/
Paper Province is a business cluster and global hot spot for innovation within the forest sector and together with our partners we offer a wide range of innovation support services to those who want to develop their ideas. The “What wood you do?” competition is sponsored by Sveaskog, Gunnar Sunblad’s research fund and Stora Enso.
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Paper Province is a world-leading business cluster within the forest bio-economy. We are owned and operated by more than 100 member companies. The cluster is based in Karlstad, Sweden, and mainly operates in the province of Värmland and the surrounding area, but also nationally and globally. Together with our member companies we work towards sustainable development with focus on innovation, skilled work force, internationalization and regional mobilization.