/INS. Wood based products and fuels are becoming very important in order to meet the future requirements regarding sustainability and solve the climate issue. The forest industry will play an important role in this change. International Wood Biorefining Week (IWB Week) that takes place at Stockholmsmässan from 24-26 May will offer a versatile and comprehensive program covering the entire wood-based biorefining industries.

The aim of IWB Week is to create a meeting place for the forest industry and showcase the possibilities the industry can offer in order to meet the expectations regarding sustainability.

The event will be opened by the minister for rural affairs, Mr. Sven-Erik Bucht. During the first day there will be focus on markets for biobased products. It will also be a session about sustainable and intelligent bio-economy. During the following days the program will cover advanced biofuels, biopower- and heat, nanocellulose, smart packaging, carbon fibers, building in wood, cellulosic textile and wood in food production. The conference will end by a session focusing on the future of the industry.

The speakers will not only represent the forest industry but also other manufacturing industries interested in sustainable products. For example Elin Larsson from Filippa K will present their view about sustainable materials in the textile industry and Oliver Smith from Scania will talk about the use of carbon fibers in car design. One seminar will be devoted to the possibilities to use lignin as biofuels, including information about RenFuels technics, that will be used at Bäckhammars bruk.

-The idea is create a cross industrial dialogue between the forest industry and other manufacturing industries says Marcus Bergström, CEO of Adforum. I am glad to see that many companies in the forest industry understand the importance of commercializing and marketing their great product solutions.

-Bio energy in the form of electricity, heat, biofuels or solid fuels can often be produced together with other products. Bio fuels will be needed for transports, aircrafts and shipping. Here the forest industry has big opportunities to make business, says Gustav Melin, CEO at Svebio.

Except a great conference program, IWB Week is also featuring an international exhibition with approximately 170 participating companies from almost all European countries as well as Canada, China and India. In the exhibition area, the visitor can furthermore find a non-commercial product exhibition for wood-based innovative materials as well as a Media Partner Center with close to 40 different magazines supporting the event. On May 24th, Innventia will release their third Global Outlook Report: “A Cellulose-Based Society”. Except the exhibition and conference, there will many side events such as different social events and company visits.

The registration to the event is now open and the entire program for IWB Week is now available at www.iwbweek.com.

International Wood Biorefining Week is jointly organised by Svebio, Adforum, Elmia and Nordisk Papperstidning & Business. The conference World Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Innovation Forum is a part of IWB Week. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, a leading research and technology company in the Nordic region, and Innventia, a world-leading research institute that works with innovations based on the forest raw material, are both conference partners for the event.

Caption: Johan Olsson/ Innventia. © Adforum

For more information on International Wood Biorefining Week contact:

Gustav Melin, CEO, Svebio, gustav.melin@svebio.se, +46 844 17 081

Marcus Bergström, CEO, Adforum, marcus.bergstrom@adforumworld.com. +358 44 56 24 524 / +46 8 749 97 31