Team Finland in co-operation with the Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Finland invite you to join to this visit to The Netherlands, led by Ms. Terhi Lehtonen, State Secretary, Ministry of the Environment on 13-15 June, 2022.
The Netherlands faces huge challenges to solve the growing pressure on the housing market. The building sector has been in a backlog due to the nitrogen emission restrictions, the pandemic and logistics problems, rise of raw material prices, and lack of skilled workers. The ambitious targets for reaching climate neutrality, are also pushing for new transitions and offer huge potential in the greener construction industry. Wood construction has gained interests in housing and in larger constructions and public buildings. Green Deal for wood construction, signed by 80 national private, public and knowledge organizations in October 2021, is one concrete sign of this.
This visit will bring together Finnish and Dutch companies, public sector organizations and innovation networks. There will be meetings with key decision-makers of certain interesting Dutch regions, e.g. the greater Amsterdam area, Utrecht and Gelderland Regions as well as meetings and networking with companies and key organizations in innovation ecosystems of sustainable & healthy building and timber building.
The new Dutch government has housing as one of the focus areas to solve in the coming years and the new Minister for Housing and Social planning will get a special budget for the next 10 years to solve the housing problem. Large cities are also taking own actions. The Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam has agreed that every fifth building from 2025 onwards should be made of wood. The plan aims at a more sustainable and a more faster to build housing pool.
Finnish expertise in bio- based & circular solutions in building, construction projects, timber construction, and sustainable, green buildings and building information modelling in planning have a lot to offer on the Dutch market.
The goal of the visit is to give a better understanding of the Dutch market needs, opportunities and trends for Finnish export companies and policy makers in the area of sustainable & healthy building/wood construction.
The purpose is to create opportunities for mutual learning and benchmarking, and to provide companies with a number of key connections with local stakeholders for a potential market entry and business development.
Who should attend?
This visit is especially targeted at Finnish suppliers and providers of:
- Sustainable building materials, bio-based raw materials e.g. timber, wood, and other materials with low or negative CO2 value. Material innovations.
- Design and planning services, and construction innovations based on digitalization and building information modelling reducing the raw materials and waste, increasing efficiency, re-use & circularity.
- Building process innovations, new techniques, and modular solutions, solutions that improve and aim for circularity of building materials.
- Consultancy, research and expertise services on sustainable wood construction.
- Solutions that target for long life cycle and maintenance of buildings, including also energy efficiency and healthy living conditions.
- Companies in the field of LCA/carbon footprint –calculation.
- For local and governmental policy makers in green building, environmental planning and innovative public procurement.
See the preliminary program of the visit below.
Participation fee & practicalities
As of 26 January, 2022, the Dutch government has announced that the COVID-19 vaccination coverage is high enough in the Netherlands and the restrictions have been lifted. Basic rules still prevail (rule to stay 1.5 meters from others, face masks where this is not possible, home quarantine if symptoms). Please note that the residents from EU countries can travel to the Netherlands with proof of vaccination, proof of recovery or a negative test result.
To cover the expenses of arranging the visit program in the Netherlands, Business
Finland will charge a participation fee:
- Micro Businesses and SMEs: 1170 EUR + 24% VAT per person
- Major Companies: 1380 EUR + 24% VAT per person
Business Finland will invoice the participation fee after the visit based on the actual costs. The invoiced fee will not exceed the amounts mentioned above. Kindly note that the participation fee does not include flights or accommodation of the participant nor meals outside the business delegation program.
