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Chemical Industry:
BIOTECHNOLOGY - ENGINE WITH MANY
GROWTH COMPONENTS
Finland is a leading force in European biotechnology. About
ten per cent of Europe’s biotechnology companies are
situated in Finland. Bioproducts and biotechnology and their
applications are the most promising technological fields of
the future.
Finland has invested heavily in this sector. Scientific breakthroughs
in the field are generating new inventions and applications
for numerous purposes. The Finnish areas of strength are pharma-ceuticals,
diagnostics, biomaterials, industrial enzymes and biotechnological
applications for food production.
The combined value of the output by the chemical industry
and bioindustry was 16 billion euros in 2000. The chemical
industry and bioindustry are undergoing restructuring. The
policy of the future is to focus on core know-how and utilize
the top-grade know-how and new technologies in many fields.
The products of the Finnish chemical industry and bioindustry
include basic chemicals, forest industry chemicals, oil products,
plastics, plastic products and paints, pharmaceuticals, environmental
products, diagnostic products and hygiene products. There
are about one thousand companies in the chemical industry
and some 120 in the bioindustry.
Strength from research concentration
The know-how in the Finnish bioindustry is strong and based
on the basic research done by universities and research institutes,
which has been supported by generous and committed public
and private financing. The high level of knowledge, research
and know-how in Finland, together with a sound infrastructure,
has created a favourable climate for the development of entrepreneurial
activity. It continues to be the case that most new companies
are established to carry forward research and innovations
that originated in universities and institutes of technology.
Companies are mostly situated near the universities and biocentres
in Finland. The five main biocluster cities are the Helsinki
area, Turku, Tampere, Kuopio and Oulu. Collaboration and networking
with academia are essential for the growing biotech field.
Today there are over 120 biotechnology companies in Finland,
ranking the country sixth in Europe after the United Kingdom,
Germany, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Finland’s
strategy is to concentrate on areas in which it has a very
strong research base i.e. pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, biomaterials,
functional foods and enzymes.
The biggest companies concentrate on the production of pharmaceuticals,
diagnostic products and industrial enzymes, and on biotechnological
applications in food production. The pharmaceuticals and diagnostic
sector also contains a large number of small growth-companies.
Huge opportunities in health care
Biotechnology is a rapidly expanding discipline in the pharmaceuticals
industry. A new R&D companies have been established worldwide,
as well as in Finland, to explore innovations that can lead
to commercial biopharmaceuticals.
The areas being developed by both pharmaceuticals companies
that apply biotechnology and research groups include medicines
for the treatment of cancer, diseases of the central nervous
system, vascular diseases and chronic inflammation, the prevention
of blood clots and also for alcoholism. Other important areas
are the prevention and treatment of illnesses associated with
ageing. DNA-based vaccines are being developed for illnesses
such as AIDS. Applications in the diagnostics industry include
tests used to prove cancer, allergies and other diseases or
the risk of them.
In 2000 BioTie Therapies Corporation was the first of the
new bioindustry companies to be listed on the stock exchange.
Unite-States-owned FibroGen Europe Oy, a developer of collagen-based
products, will most likely be the next company to go public.
Ark Therapeutics, which has a parent company in London, announced
its intention of obtaining a listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Several biomaterial companies have also been created in Finland.
The products include implants that decompose in the body for
treating bone fractures and damaged connective tissues, strong
biomaterials developed for face surgery and dental care and
materials used for vascular surgery. Bionx Implants Oy, a
manufacturer of surgical implants is listed on the Nasdaq
exchange.
In other fields the development of biomaterials has resulted
in the production of conductive polymers that conduct electricity.
Finns are on the leading edge of the field in producing commercial
solutions. In addition to the research on conductive polymers,
research is being carried out on biodegradable biopolymers.
Enzymes already on the international market
A strong area in the Finnish bioindustry is enzyme technology,
which has a research tradition that extends back a long time
and is internationally recognized for its high standard. The
industrial sectors in particular that use enzymes are the
detergent, food, feed and textile industries. Enzymes are
also produced for research purposes. Finnish enzyme manufacturers,
Finnzymes Ltd and Genencor International Oy and Roal Oy, have
already staked their claim on the international market.
Foods on new trails
The food industry’s use of biotechnology goes back a
long way. The production of cheeses, yogurts and other sour-milk
products, the raising of bread and fermentation of beer are
all, in fact, biotechnological processes.
Functional foods with health-promoting effects are being
studied extensively by the food industry. Several companies
and research institutes are working towards a combination
of modern food and biomedical research.
Know-how concentration increasing and specializing
The chemical industry and bioindustry are closely linked.
These areas are moving away from production that is weighted
in favour of basic chemicals towards specialized high-tech
products and services. The growth centre of the future will
be the know-how concentration formed by the chemical industry
and bioindustry. Its top-grade know-how and new technologies
will be of benefit to various customer sectors – in particular
the well-being, information and communications, and forest
industry sectors. The key know-how areas of the future will
be functional and intelligent materials, highly selective
drugs and diagnostics, chemistry relating to the forest industry
and other fine and specialty chemicals, which will be the
basis for developing special oil products and components for
the food industry.
Published 2003
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