Building bridges between large companies and start-ups in sustainable development: SusChem network’s “Innovation and Start-up Forum” now being organised for the 2nd time

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  • Green Industry Park and Smart Chemistry Park of the Turku region will introduce themselves at the ChemBio Finland event. 

Green Industry Park Oy, a development company specialising in bio and circular economy and promoting industrial growth of renewable forms of energy, and Smart Chemistry Park, which is a cluster of innovations in chemistry and process industry located in the Raisio industrial area, will be attending the ChemBio Finland event to be held at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre on 8–9 June. The Innovation and Start-up Forum of the SusChem network will also be organised at the event.

Green Industry Park and Smart Chemistry Park, with their associated companies, will be attending the ChemBio Finland event in June. The event is the first public appearance for Green Industry Park, which promotes use of the former Naantali oil refinery for industrial purposes, among other things. The company is seeking prospective companies with a growth mindset, which could complement the future business ecosystem in sustainable industry in the Turku region. 

Since Green Industry Park rents space in the Smart Chemistry Park innovation cluster, managed by Turku Science Park, it seemed only natural to participate in the event together. Smart Chemistry Park comprises ten growth-minded companies in the chemical and process industries. Four of the companies, CH-Bioforce Oy, CH-Polymers Oy, Chementors Oy and Finnpatent Oy, will be attending the event. Smart Chemistry Park will also be sharing responsibility for organising the second start-up and innovation forum of the SusChem network, being held at the ChemBio Finland event for the first time. 

Network Manager Reeta Huhtinen of Smart Chemistry Park, who is helping to organise the event, says, “The first SusChem innovation forum was organised as a hybrid event in the autumn 2020. Now, after the worst of the Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted, we felt it was important to organise the event completely on site. There are hopes to be able to organise the event once every two years. The event organisers are the founding members of the network: the VTT state-owned research institution, which is the primary coordinator, the Chemical Industry Federation of Finland and Smart Chemistry Park

“The idea behind the SusChem Innovation and Start-up Forum is not only to make large companies aware of the types of start-ups we have in the chemical industry and sustainable development here in Finland, but also to inform the start-ups about the expectations large companies have and the kind of collaboration that is done with innovation companies,” Huhtinen explains. Continuous Improvement Manager Jaakko Tuomainen, for example, tells about Borealis Oyj’s SPIRIT programme and the ecosystem in his pitches to start-ups and new innovators. CH-Polymers’ pitches tell start-ups about innovative binders and barrier dispersions.

Contrary to the other start-up events, the forum is not intended for financiers at all. Rather, the purpose of the pitches is specifically to increase interaction and collaboration between companies of different sizes. “Even promising start-ups and technological innovators may experience challenges in scaling and commercialising technology. This is when collaboration with large companies may prove to be a lifesaver,” Huhtinen says. 

The SusChem network strives to smooth over what Huhtinen describes as the “Death Valley stage” by building bridges between companies. 

ChemBio Finland chemistry and biotechnology event at the Helsinki Expo and Convention Centre on 8–9 June 2022 — Green Industry Park Oy and Smart Chemistry Park will be there, booth 3m38.

SusChem Innovation and Start-up Forum will be in seminar hall 3F on Thursday 9 June from 9:30 to 13:00. The event is free for preregistered visitors.

Forum programme:

https://chembio.messukeskus.com/whatson/?lang=en