The 3D Fibre project aiming to commercialise a new Muoto™ packaging business for Metsä Group was highly scored in the European Commission's competitive evaluation process during 2024. Metsä Group has now completed the grant negotiations with the European Union on the co-financing for the first commercial Muoto™ mill planned for construction in Rauma, Finland. Spinverse funding experts provided Metsä Group with support during both the project proposal phase and the Grant Agreement negotiations that followed the positive evaluation.
Novel moulded fibre packaging to replace fossil-based packaging
Muoto™ is a completely new range of moulded fibre packaging aiming to replace fossil-based plastic packaging in multiple packaging applications, primarily focusing on food and food service packaging. The Muoto™ product idea has its roots in Metsä Group’s innovation company Metsä Spring, the roles of which include investing in and supporting potential innovations and technologies that find new purposes and higher value for Nordic wood, thus replacing fossil-based raw materials in everyday products with innovative wood-based solutions.
Metsä Group is currently taking the 3D Fibre project forward on three main fronts. Firstly, The 3D fibre demo plant in Äänekoski, Finland, jointly owned with Valmet, is used to test and further develop the new manufacturing method. Secondly, pre-commercial sales have been launched with the aim of getting a better understanding of the market's views of the novel Muoto™ products. Thirdly, the pre-engineering phase of the potential commercial Muoto™ mill in Rauma is currently underway. If promising results are obtained from each of these three main fronts, Metsä Group may be in a position to consider investing in the first-of-a-kind Muoto™ mill and in the start-up of the Muoto™ packaging business, earliest by end of 2025.
Spinverse provided Metsä Group with expert services for proposal preparation and grant agreement negotiations
The Spinverse team of experts led by Project Manager Andreas Lindberg supported Metsä Group with their Innovation Fund proposal. Spinverse contributed extensively to the proposal’s feasibility study, business plan and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission avoidance calculations during the intense proposal preparation phase – each section led by Senior Consultant Lauri Aikala, Consultant Viivi Ropponen and Innovation Consultant Marja Jallinoja, respectively. The Spinverse team provided a full-service package which included project concepting, proposal writing and proposal preparation process management as well as coordinated support in the Grant Agreement Process (GAP) between Metsä Group and the EU. The GAP was coordinated by Senior Project Manager Marianna Mea. In addition, Director for Bioeconomy Kaisu Leppänen was overseeing the project as a senior expert and Analyst Akseli Makkonen provided financial insights for the project's business plan
Niklas von Weymarn, CEO of Metsä Spring, says: “The Innovation Fund application and Grant Agreement preparation phases are both very demanding, requiring expert teams with very special skills. Few, even big companies can alone meet these resource demands and thus, reaching out to expert organisations like Spinverse is a must. We are very pleased with the support we got from Spinverse working on the 3D Fibre project.”
Photo credit: Metsä Group
More information on the Metsä Group website.
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