MODVION AB

Their core work

Modvion is a Swedish deep-tech SME that designs and manufactures wind turbine towers from engineered wood modules. Their core innovation replaces conventional steel towers with laminated timber sections that can be transported by road and assembled on-site, enabling towers taller than what steel logistics allow. Taller towers reach stronger and more consistent winds, directly lowering the cost of wind energy. The wood-based construction also dramatically reduces the carbon footprint of tower manufacturing compared to steel.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Modvion followed the classic SME Instrument progression: a short 2019 feasibility study (SME-1, EUR 50,000) to validate the concept, followed immediately by a multi-year Phase 2 project (SME-2, EUR 2.4 million, 2020–2023) to develop and demonstrate the product. The early phase carried no specific keywords — consistent with a proof-of-concept scope — while the later project crystallised around wind power, wood construction, renewables, and environmental footprint. This is not a shift in focus; it is the same technology moving from idea to reality, with sustainability impact becoming an explicit part of the value proposition at scale.

Modvion is moving from R&D validation toward commercial deployment of wooden wind towers, making them a potential industrial partner for wind farm developers, tower manufacturers, and timber engineering firms as the product enters the market.

How they like to work

Modvion has coordinated both of their H2020 projects independently, with zero recorded consortium partners — a pattern typical of product-building SMEs using the SME Instrument, which is designed for single-company development rather than research consortia. They are self-directed and founder-driven, not a hub-and-spoke network builder. Anyone approaching them should expect to engage directly with the company rather than through a research consortium structure.

Modvion has not built an international H2020 partner network — both projects were coordinated solo with no recorded consortium collaborators. Their EU relationships are primarily with the European Innovation Council and its predecessors as a funding body, not with research or industry partners through shared projects.

What sets them apart

Modvion occupies a highly specific niche: they may be the only company in Europe with EU-funded validation specifically for wooden modular wind turbine towers at commercial scale. Their differentiation is not incremental — wood towers solve a genuine physical constraint (road transport limits steel tower diameter, capping height) rather than just offering a greener material substitute. For consortium builders working on wind energy, sustainable construction, or bio-based materials for infrastructure, Modvion brings a demonstrated product rather than a research hypothesis.

Highlights from their portfolio

• Modvion
  The SME-2 project (EUR 2,427,762, 2020–2023) is the largest and most significant — a full product-development grant to bring wooden modular wind towers from prototype to commercial readiness, one of the most unusual material-substitution plays in European wind energy.
• Modvion
  The 2019 SME-1 feasibility grant marks the formal start of EU-validated R&D for this technology, demonstrating that the concept passed European Innovation Council scrutiny at the earliest stage.