UPM-KYMMENE OYJ

Their core work

UPM-Kymmene is one of the world's leading forest industry companies, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland. They convert wood and biomass into high-value chemical building blocks, specialty materials, biofuels, and bio-based products through advanced biorefinery processes. In H2020, they contributed industrial-scale expertise in lignin valorization, lignocellulosic biomass processing, and sustainable forestry — serving as the bridge between laboratory research and commercial production in the European bioeconomy.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In 2015-2019, UPM focused squarely on their core business: extracting value from wood. Projects like ValChem and PROVIDES targeted lignin chemistry and fiber processing using novel solvents, while EFFORTE addressed forestry operations. From 2019 onward, their portfolio broadened into downstream applications — biofuels (BIKE), biorefinery intensification (BioSPRINT), and enzyme-driven biopolymer engineering (BioUPGRADE). Two unexpected entries — organ-on-a-chip (EUROoC) and autonomous shipping (AUTOSHIP) — suggest the company is exploring where its cellulose-based materials and logistics needs intersect with entirely new domains.

UPM is moving downstream from raw wood processing toward higher-value bio-based products, enzyme engineering, and biofuels — positioning itself as a bioeconomy platform company rather than a traditional paper producer.

How they like to work

UPM primarily joins consortia as a participant (7 of 10 projects), contributing industrial-scale infrastructure and real-world testing environments rather than leading the research agenda. They coordinated only once (ValChem, their largest project at EUR 4.6M), which was closely aligned with their core wood chemistry business. With 145 unique partners across 21 countries, they operate as a well-connected industrial anchor — the kind of partner that gives a consortium credibility with reviewers and a path to market for research outputs.

UPM has collaborated with 145 distinct partners across 21 countries, making them one of the more broadly connected industrial players in the bioeconomy space. Their network spans the Nordic-Central European corridor typical of forest industry consortia, but extends well beyond into Southern and Eastern Europe.

What sets them apart

UPM brings something rare to EU consortia: a Fortune 500-scale forest industry company willing to participate in research projects and provide real industrial validation. Unlike university labs or SMEs, they can test biorefinery processes at production scale and offer a credible exploitation pathway for project results. Their transition from traditional paper to bioeconomy products means they are actively looking for new technologies to adopt — making them a genuinely motivated industrial partner, not just a name on the grant application.

Highlights from their portfolio

• ValChem
  UPM's only coordinated project and by far their largest (EUR 4.6M), focused on their core business of extracting chemical building blocks and lignin from wood.
• BioUPGRADE
  Their most recent project (2021-2025) signals a strategic shift toward enzyme engineering and biocatalytic upgrading of natural polymers into new materials.
• EUROoC
  An unexpected entry into organ-on-a-chip technology — suggests UPM sees potential for its cellulose-based materials in biomedical applications like tissue engineering.