In Finland, VTT is participating in two projects under the US National Science Foundation’s Global Centers program.
The Biofoundry project focuses on the development and utilization of new types of biological production processes based on microbes on an industrial scale. The goal is to enable the replacement of particularly fossil-based materials with bio-based materials. “In the long term, biofoundries will revolutionize [the] bioeconomy, as materials can be produced from various resources, such as biomass and carbon dioxide. In the project, VTT develops the equipment, processes, microbial strains and data processing required by bioproduction in such a way that in the future, bioproduction will work like any other production,” says Tiina Nakari-Setälä, VTT’s Vice President of industrial biotechnology and food.
VTT will also participate in the FoodID project, which aims to accelerate the transition of the food system to reduce the environmental burden particularly by meat production. The project focuses on combining cellular agriculture, including fermentation, and plant-based innovations. The three-year project is implemented as a collaboration between the United States and Finland coordinated by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Finland is the only EU country selected for the Global Centers program.