Nowhere else in the world is the importance of the forest industry as great to its citizens as it is in Finland. Nor is there anywhere else forest-based corporate activity and expertise that is as strong and diversified.

The forest cluster is one of the key factors in Finland's economic and social development. It accounts for about 10 per cent of the gross domestic product, about 30 per cent of industrial output and a third of net export earnings. The forest cluster is growing on average by three per cent a year.

The forest cluster is Finland's biggest cluster, and it is expected to remain so in the future as well. Experts say that Finland is well placed to strengthen its position as a leading production and innovation environment in the sector.

Towards intelligent products

The players in the forest cluster have defined a joint vision for the future according to which the value of the cluster's products and services and the research and development input by the forest cluster will double by 2030.

At this moment the forest cluster spends about 400 million euros on research and development. Of the twelve biggest investors in R&D in Finland at this moment, five are strong players in the forest cluster.

The forest cluster's research in the future will have a strong bias towards those areas that will make it possible to increase competitiveness and add to wellbeing. In order to regenerate the forest cluster through research it will be necessary to produce new knowledge, technology, expertise and new products and services that are in demand globally.

The development of information and communications technologies and bio- and nanotechnologies will make it possible to develop new operational wood and fibre products. For example, the combining of electronics and information technology with traditional paper will make it possible to create new, intelligent products, such as papers that react to gases in the air, smart tags, packaging that gives information about the preservability of food or various compounds of wood fibres and other materials.

Forest exports

Exports by the forest industry per head in Finland total about 2,500 euros, the highest in the world.

In 2006 the forest industry exported its products to a value of some 12 billion euros. Paper and board accounted for two-thirds of this. The forest industry accounted for about 20 per cent of all Finland's goods exports.

Down the years Finnish forest-industry companies have grown into the biggest in Europe and the world. Today the forest industry operates more outside Finnish borders than inside. Less than 40 per cent of the capacity is in Finland and a considerable portion of the products are made near the markets, such as western Europe.

Finnish-made machines, equipment and components for the pulp and paper industry have a 30 per cent share of world markets. Finnish pulp and paper industry equipment, automation and control systems, and forest machines have also had success worldwide.

Growth in the forest industry's world markets has moved from Europe and North America to Asia, China in particular. Demand in the countries of Eastern Europe is also growing much more quickly than on the traditional markets.

Part of Finnish wellbeing

The forest is called Finland's green gold. One-in-ten Finns earn their living from the forest industry or sectors that serve it, and one in five Finns are members of a family that owns forest.

The forest cluster employs about 200,000 Finns directly or indirectly. The biggest employers are the pulp, paper and wood-products industries, the chemical industry, forestry, the packaging industry and the graphics industry.

>> Metsäklusteri Oy boosts growth in the sector

>> www.forestindustries.fi

Wood is an important raw material, from which products such as paper and board are made. In the future we will be seeing quite new forest industry products.