The Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program's interim statement – helping the manufacturing industry in the green transition
The Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program started at the beginning of 2020 and will end at the end of 2023. The program’s common thread has been to strengthen the Finnish manufacturing industry with productivity and environmental sustainability indicators.
More than 150 companies and nearly 10 research organizations have participated in the Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program in the first two years. A total of 70 million euros in RDI funding has been granted through the program so far.
Crises have shaken the manufacturing industry
During the Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program, the world was first tested by the coronavirus pandemic and, more recently, by the war in Ukraine. Manufacturing has also been directly affected by these crises. The coronavirus shut down the world, broke supply chains, and made it difficult to obtain raw materials and components.
The Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program provided targeted coronavirus crisis assistance for manufacturing companies to find new foreign customers. The program built joint offers for manufacturing companies, identified new markets and customer groups, and implemented targeted export incentives. Nearly 50 Finnish subcontractors found new customers in Central Europe through these program activities.
In addition, the program carried out a study of the manufacturing industry's crisis resilience and created a guide to the resilience of sustainable production to support Finnish companies in preparing for similar situations. You can download the guide from this page: Make your company resilient.
Sustainability is a competitive factor
The second half of the program now focuses on environmental sustainability. In particular, we would like to emphasize how green values are an opportunity for many companies to develop them as a differentiating factor and as a significant competitive advantage.
“Large companies have already realized that environmental sustainability can be a competitive factor and a major source of growth. The Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program also encourages small and medium-sized enterprises to adopt this approach. SMEs should also note that consumers increasingly value sustainable values and demand products and services that conform to them. Any requirements that customers may have regarding green values are effectively passed down the supply chain, all the way to primary production. Subcontracting companies must also pay attention to this,” explains head os Sustainable Manufacturing Finland Toni Mattila.
We invite you to join the Sustainable Manufacturing Finland program
Further information
Toni Mattila
toni.mattila (at) businessfinland.fi
Tel.. +358 40 500 9909
