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IBM invests 18 million euros
INNOVATION CENTRE FOR FOREST INDUSTRY COMES TO FINLAND
The information technology giant IBM spent more than a year
planning Europe’s Forest and Paper Innovation Centre.
It was finally decided to locate it in Finland.
“Finland and Helsinki as locations were ultimately the
best of the many good options that we looked into,” says
Thomas Doak-Dunelly, the head of Europe’s Forest and
Paper Innovation Centre (FPIC). He transferred to the position
from IBM Canada and at the same time was given responsibility
for the major customers in the BCS service unit’s European
forest and paper industry.
The advantages of Finland in making the choice were the big
forest and paper companies that have their headquarters in
Helsinki and the companies, such as Metso, that are linked
fundamentally with their operations. The high standard of
the university and research infrastructure also played a crucial
role.
“In European terms the biggest concentration in this
sector is in Finland. A very good comparison can be made,
for example, with the Canadian Silicon Valley North concentration,”
Doak-Dunelly says.
The task of the centre will be to create technological solutions
that will promote traditional and online business for international
companies in the forest sector. The centre will also provide
consultation services for these companies.
M-real first co-partner
In the start-up stage IBM’s partner will be M-real,
which is one of Europe’s leading producers of paper and
board. IBM is also going to invite other companies in the
sector to join in the operations.
Doak-Dunelly is confident that the other companies will also
be interested because in Finland the forest companies cooperate
with each other. Finnish companies in the pulp and paper industry
have shared a research laboratory (KCL) since 1916. Metsäliitto,
Myllykoski, Stora Enso and UPM-Kymmene finance about 40 per
cent of its operations.
With the member companies IBM will form an advisory board
for the centre that will have the task of identifying the
challenges and opportunities that exist between the forest
and paper industries and the suppliers of IT solutions. The
centre will operate in collaboration with IBM’s FPIC
in Vancouver, Canada, and, of course, with other IBM units.
IBM will be investing more than 18 million euros in the Helsinki
centre. The company does not make public the number of employees
at either country or unit level. “The investment is large,
and we for our part can say that it’s a very big commitment
to technological know-how in the forest and paper sector.”
Moving towards e-business
In practice the FPIC will be a base and information centre
operating between IBM consultancy staff who operate in different
fields and client companies. By pooling this information attempts
will be made to develop online business solutions that will
improve companies’ customer service and cost-effectiveness.
In the forest sector the companies that are near the end-customer
have been more enthusiastic about constructing online trading
solutions, while those who do not have direct contact have
made slower progress.
“Finnish forest companies have earlier been active in
looking into the possibilities and are perhaps slightly ahead
of the rest of the world. In this field, however, it’s
very difficult to define what a lead is,” says Doak-Dunelly,
assessing the present situation.
Photo: Thomas Doak-Dunelly, the head of the innovation
centre, transferred to Finland from Canada.
Published
2004
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