Growing from individual actions to the creation of new research knowledge and its application, the collaboration has demonstrated that partnerships between the University and the private sector produce talent, knowledge and solutions to common challenges. When the partnership was launched just over five years ago, the goal was to develop broad-based and multidisciplinary collaboration. That goal has undoubtedly been achieved: our collaboration encompasses students and training as well as direct research commissions and joint doctoral thesis projects.
Future experts: 50 summer employees, 20 theses
The partnership’s most prominent effect has come about through people. In five years, 50 students have secured summer jobs or traineeships in Metsä Group businesses. For many, this has been their introduction to the field. In the same period, 20 theses have been completed on topics directly relevant to the Group and the sector as a whole, including packaging materials, food shelf life, timber trade pricing, customer experience, large language models in business development, carbon capture, tending methods for seedling stands, transport cost optimisation, regulation and corporate responsibility, forest management goals of Metsäliitto Cooperative’s members, and attitudes in various business sectors.
Students have also met company representatives in lecture rooms: over 20 guest lectures have brought the Group leadership and experts to the University to talk about both field-specific topics and everyday aspects of professional life. Metsä Group has participated in HelsinkiUNI Career Day, the UNITalent networking programme, the ViikkiAreena networking event and the HELSUS Co-Creation Lab master’s thesis programme – all settings where student progress and future business recruitment needs meet.
Research in the service of sustainable forestry and the forest industry
Research is another key pillar of the partnership. The collaboration has included thematic workshops, several R&D projects – some jointly funded, others carried out with Business Finland – and direct research commissions for the University of Helsinki. Research collaboration topics have covered ionic liquids, chemistry in the circular economy and sustainable forestry. Collaborative doctoral thesis projects have produced new sustained knowledge that serves the entire forest industry. An example of such close collaboration is Metsä Group’s participation in a thesis committee for a doctoral thesis on carbon capture and in the associated scholarly publishing.
One focus area in research collaboration is the promotion of sustainable forestry: the production of new research-based knowledge and its practical application. Visits to Hyytiälä Forest Station have made the importance of research tangible, as theory and practice come together on location, outside research articles.
Strategic partnership founded on trust
Regular leadership meetings speak to the nature of the partnership: what binds the partners is not a formal agreement but a shared ambition to make a difference. Continuous learning on both sides is
another important element. In fact, the University’s continuous learning opportunities and experiences gained from the UNITalent programme have been shared in Metsä Group’s intranet.
A decision has been made to extend the collaboration with a new five-year key partnership agreement, with chemistry in the circular economy, regenerative forestry, bio-based materials and the bioeconomy transformation as the themes for the next term. The partnership framework is also extending its reach: discussions on collaboration under new master’s programmes are ongoing.
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