Evaluation Report Publications of the Academy of Finland 1/11

particular the Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering unit.
A closer examination of the groups having “industrial” or “applied” chemistry in 
their names reveals that these groups investigate either applied catalysis (AU) or 
wood chemistry (UJ). VTT is of course a special unit in this respect, since its primary 
aim is industrial applications, trying to encompass all fields of applied chemistry.
With Finland’s strong tradition as a pulp and paper nation, it is not surprising that 
wood-related chemistry, engineering and biotechnology are present at several of the 
evaluated units. For the panel, it is not obvious whether all “wood” units have as unique 
a profile as they are stating. The panel therefore strongly encourages collaborative 
efforts towards increased cooperation, visibility and efficiency. Some competition 
between the larger units in this field (Forest Chemistry at AU, PCC at ÅA) is 
unavoidable and even healthy, but the panel recommends a nationwide organisation of 
the research in the field for all of the other smaller units (e.g. Applied Chemistry at UJ).
A number of units advocate the concept of “biorefinery”, be it for wood (in most 
cases) or other bioproducts. However, a general overview of the different parts of 
such biorefineries and a life-cycle analysis of such processes are still missing. Finland 
(along with Canada) is certainly one of the most advanced countries in this field, and 
it would be timely for the relevant research units to join forces and provide state-of-
the-art activity in this interdisciplinary field.
Applied catalysis is present in a number of units (in particular in Industrial 
Chemistry at AU, Inorganic Chemistry at UH, Organic Chemistry at UJ, Organic 

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Chemistry at UO, Materials Chemistry at UTU, Industrial Chemistry and Reaction 
Engineering at ÅA), and, indeed, one of the last EUROPACAT meetings, the premier 
European catalysis conference, was organised by a group from ÅA. However, there 
does not seem to be much contact between these teams, nor with the chemical 
engineering groups. The ÅA unit Industrial Chemistry and Reaction Engineering 
covers the whole field from catalysis to catalytic engineering, and might be a nucleus 
for a collaborative effort in Finland in this field.