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Biotech and food

Enter the ecosystem of biotechnology

Welcome to the ecosystem that is reinventing how to produce raw materials, bio-based products and sustainable foods through biotechnology. Espoo's innovation ecosystem connects you to Finland's strengths in biotech and food industries: world-class R&D, high-tech expertise, and the use of renewable materials.

VTT has led the Finnish biotech research for decades. Aalto University educates the next generation of sustainability experts in raw materials and natural resource processing. Big companies like Neste and Metsä Group drive energy transformation through renewable fuels and bio-based products. And a world-class startup ecosystem in biotech, medical and pharma, and non-agricultural sustainable foods has materialised from a foundation of high-level research.

Espoo’s biotech and food strengths

  • Medical & pharma
  • Bioprocesses and technologies
  • Food
     

We help you find the right biotech & food business and investment opportunities

Enter Espoo matches international corporations and investors with the right biotech and food startups, technologies, and investment opportunities in Espoo’s innovation ecosystem and Finland. We give you easy access to the leading innovation hub in the Nordics. We help you to find the right biotech and food business and investment opportunities.

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Why should you do biotech and food business in Espoo?

Finland has invested heavily in biotechnology for decades. As a result, new biotech companies have reimagined the forestry industry. The traditional sector now thrives by producing biofuels and bio-based products like bioplastics, biochemicals, and medicine.

It’s the biotech and food players in Espoo that drive Finland’s biotech innovation: 

  • VTT runs EIT Food, Europe’s leading agrifood startup accelerator.
  • FinnCERES is a globally top-ranked materials bioeconomy cluster that creates new biomaterials through lignocellulose research. 
  • VTT Bioruukki is a bio-based product piloting plant and lab that’s open for companies. 
  • Synbio Powerhouse turns the massive synbio opportunities into business — globally.
  • From Espoo come startups like Solar Foods that literally creates food out of the air by using renewable energy. 

 

Facts & figures

​​​​​​It’s the law! Finnish Biobank Act of 2012 enables the commercial and scientific use of the national biobanks.

Did you know? Finland has had a national bioeconomy strategy since 2014.

Big numbers: All transport liquid fuels distributed in Finland contain bio components — the national target for the share of transport biofuels is 30 % by 2030.

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Find the best startups in Finland

Discover intelligence on Espoo-based and Finnish startups on the Dealroom platform.

What does sustainability mean in biotech and food?

Biotechnology and bioeconomy can help solve the world’s most challenging environmental and societal problems sustainably. Biotech can help us to provide safe and secure food and can act as a valuable tool to reduce poverty. Ground-breaking biotech research enables companies and organisations to come up with new ways to create, for example, biofuels, produce novel drug therapies, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or diminish the use of pesticides.

Industrial biotechnology’s most significant contribution might still be its ability to transform a wide variety of manufacturing processes. It provides sustainable tools for the industrial sector, reduces wastes and pollutants and safeguards non-renewable natural resources.

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