Uusi Puu — New Wood Competition 2021

What can wood do?

A total of 23 wood-based products and solutions entered the Uusi puu – New Wood 2021 competition.

The winners of the Uusi Puu – New Wood 2021 Competition were announced on April 29, 2021 at the pre-PulPaper online event. Both the competition and the public vote were won by the UPM Biomedicals FibDex wound care dressing made from nanocellulose. FibDex wound dressing speeds up wound healing and reduces pains experienced by the patients. Read more

 

Candidates 2021

*The jury nominated six finalists for the final. View the video of the finalists here.

1. Aesthetically appealing and multi-functional biomaterial — Sulapac (3rd prize)*
2. Plastic-free takeaway packaging — Pyroll & Kotkamills (Everyday Heroes Special Recognition)*
3. Cost-efficient wooden stairs — Fixtep
4. Wound care dressing from nanocellulose — UPM Biomedicals (1st prize)*
5. Paper bag with a paper window — Pyroll
6. Resource-efficient packaging material — Plafco Fibertech
7. Ecological and innovative pet supplies — Sidebay
8. Biocomposite building system — Block solutions
9. Ecological design pet bowl — Venandi Design
10. Recyclable and material-efficient paper straw — Kotkamills & Dolea
11. Forestry products from recycled fibre — Ecopulp Finland
12. Packages from oat hull — Tampere University of Applied Sciences
13. Natural sweetener from birch bark — KoivuBioTech (2nd prize)*
14. User-friendly and easy-to-recycle bag-in-box — Lemtapes
15. User-friendly and recyclable pellet packaging — Stora Enso Packaging
16. Flute cup for festive moments — Metsä Board & Esbottle
17. Carbon negative acoustic panel — Lumir*
18. Recyclable cartonboard lid — Kotkamills & Kruunukartonki
19. Mask bin — Futupack, Capertum & Metsä Board
20. Wooden design recycling systems — Niimaar
21. Recyclable, plastic replacing candy pouch — Paptic*
22. Nanocellulose-laminated wallboard — VTT & Aalto-yliopisto
23. Application for tracing the origin of wood — SilvaTrace

Jury members

Parliament members

Tiina Elo, The Greens
Sari Multala, National Coalition Party
Jari Myllykoski, Left Alliance
Anders Norrback, Swedish People’s Party
Arto Pirttilahti, Centre Party

Business and Reserch

Ali Harlin, Professor, VTT
Erno Järvinen, Managing Director, Finnish Forest Foundation
Juha-Matti Katajajuuri, Senior Scientist, Luke
Nina Kopola, Director General, CEO, Business Finland
Tiina Kähö, Executive Director, Smart & Clean Foundation

Rules

  • Wood-based solutions can be existing products, methods or processes. An existing product/method/process may also refer to a solution that is commercially feasible but not necessarily yet on the market.
  • Concrete solutions compete in the competition, not people or companies. One solution can involve several companies, individuals or teams.
  • Five megatrends are in special focus in the competition: resource scarcity, consumer awareness, urbanisation, demographic change and digitalisation. The solution may also respond to one or more megatrends or challenges created by Covid-19. More detailed descriptions of the megatrends can be found on the Uusi puu website.
  • The solutions may have participated in previous Uusi puu competitions.
  • The competition does not apply to solutions concerning printing or writing paper or bioenergy.
  • The submission period for entries was 22.10.2020 – 15.1.2021.

Evaluation criteria

The entries will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

  • Ability to respond to global megatrends
  • Social significance
  • Sustainability
  • Innovative use of wood
  • Global market opportunities

 

More information:

Virpi Korhonen
Project Manager
Uusi puu
Metsäviestintä Oy
virpi.korhonen (at) uusipuu.fi
Puh. 0400 697973

Finalists 2021

FibDex – Wound care dressing made from nanocellulose – UPM Biomedicals

Rasweet – Natural sweetener from birchwood – KoivuBioTech

Aesthetically appealing and multi-functional biomaterial – Sulapac

Sustainable food service packaging for Norwich City F.C., Kotkamills & Pyroll

Biofiber-based carbon-negative acoustic panel – Lumir Bioboard

Plastic replacing, wood-based packaging material – Paptic