​Forestry’s most important meeting places join forces – three strong events under the same roof

Adforum, the world-leading organiser of trade fairs for the pulp and paper industry, and Elmia, whose fairs include the world's leading bioenergy fair, have agreed to combine their fairs to create a strong and timely meeting place in the forest industry. Starting in 2016 the previous forest industry and bioenergy fairs will all form part of International Wood Biorefining Week, 24-26 May in Stockholm.

“This will be a long-term collaboration together with our joint partners,” explains Marcus Bergström, CEO of Adforum. “The forest industry is experiencing very powerful change in which synergies and integration between various sectors in the industry are increasingly important. Our customers have long desired fewer, more multifaceted, bigger and, above all, more timely meeting places in the industry where they can meet relevant business partners and customers. Now we can finally offer them that.”

The three events included in International Wood Biorefining Week are International Pulp & Paper Week, World Bioenergy and Bioeconomy Innovation Forum.

International Pulp & Paper Week continues the tradition of fairs for the pulp and paper industry that have been organised by Adforum since 1968. The latest event was held in cooperation with a Swedish pulp and paper organisation in Stockholm in 2011 and brought together 650 exhibiting companies from 30 countries plus almost 10,000 visitors from 56 countries.

Biobased products

World Bioenergy has been organised by Elmia and it’s partner Svebio, since 2004 and has for ten years been an important marketplace for suppliers and purchasers of products, technology, services and expertise in the bioenergy sector.

“Thanks to Sweden’s leading position in the bioenergy field, it has been possible to develop World Bioenergy into a global event with participants from 80 countries,” comments Torbjörn Johnsen, Business Manager Forestry at Elmia. “When we launched World Bioenergy, the growth area was by-products from tree harvesting and the sawmill industry. Today we have a totally new situation with a pulp and paper industry that is investing heavily to create an integrated process industry in which bioenergy is becoming an ever more important part of the product mix.”

Bioeconomy Innovation Forum is a new event for new and innovative products from the forest industry. The focus is on bioplastics, textile fibres, nanocellulose, carbon fibre, packaging, biochemicals and wooden structures. Exhibitors at this event will encounter not only visitors from the forest industry but also from other industries with an interest in biobased products.

“For this event we will also be inviting visitors from other manufacturing industries with an interest in forestry’s sustainable solutions,” Marcus Bergström says. “It’s important to create a dialogue between various industries and to enable forestry companies to meet their customers. At previous forestry events they have mainly met their own suppliers and employees.”

Integrated conferences

In 2016 the three fairs will be held concurrently in the same hall at Stockholmsmässan and the conferences will also be integrated with the fairs. Another partner involved in the fairs is the trade journal Nordisk Papperstidning & Biobusiness, which is owned by the media company Mentor Communication.

The Swedish Bioenergy Association (Svebio), which is one of the world’s leading bioenergy associations, will be involved in the World Bioenergy event. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, the leading research and technology company in the Nordic region, and Innventia, a world-leading research institute that works with innovations based on forest raw materials, are conference partners for the Bioeconomy Innovation Forum.

“The forest industry is becoming ever more broader nowadays and it feels both good and important that we can jointly offer customers a marketplace where all stakeholders can meet and new partnerships and business deals can be made,” comments Torbjörn Johnsen. “Sweden and Finland have a special position with regard to the shift towards a biobased society and the driver of this development is the forest and forest industry. It feels totally right that we are now locating this new joint international event in Stockholm.”

Adforum was founded in 1968 and is the world-leading organiser of exhibitions for the pulp and paper industry. Over the years the company has organised the world’s biggest pulp and paper exhibitions in Stockholm and Helsinki as well as in China and India. Adforum is owned by Stockholmsmässan and Messukeskus.

Elmia AB in Jönköping is one of the Nordic region’s leading trade fair companies and annually organises a range of fairs in a variety of business sectors, including conferences, congresses and events. Elmia organises the world’s biggest international forestry fair, Elmia Wood, the Nordic region’s biggest forestry fair, SkogsElmia, and the international bioenergy fair World Bioenergy.

For more information please contact Marcus Bergström on marcus.bergstrom@adforumworld.com or telephone + 358 44 56 24 524 or Torbjörn Johnsen on torbjorn.johnsen@elmia.se or telephone +46 70 64 61 686.

Information can also be found at the websites www.pulppaperweek.com or www.elmia.se/worldbioenergy