FINLAND (News release) -- Metsä Group is expanding the operations of its innovation company Metsä Spring that was established in June 2018. So far, Metsä Spring has been mainly involved in development activities outside the current business areas of Metsä Group. From now on, it will also support research and development related to Metsä Group's current business areas.

Research and development cooperation will be increased both within Metsä Group and with different research institutions and stakeholders. A wider innovation ecosystem plays a central role in the Metsä Group model. With this change, the company aims to strengthen its position even further in different networks and carry out research and development cooperation actively with various partners.

"Metsä Group has to be able to continuously renew itself. We improve Metsä Group's readiness to react to a changing operating environment and be better positioned in the forefront of development. We must find new development areas that promote sustainable bioeconomy. At the same time, we must be able to develop our current products so that they can be used for a wider range of end uses," says Ilkka Hämälä, President and CEO of Metsä Group.

Metsä Spring will also continue in its original role investing in new projects with its partners to identify and develop new business opportunities related to the sustainable forest-based bioeconomy and circular economy. At the moment, Metsä Spring is involved in five such projects: two demo projects aiming to produce new bioproducts (textile fibres with Itochu and 3D fibre products with Valmet), two startup investments (Woodio and Montinutra) as well as the ExpandFibre cooperation with Fortum.