Stora Enso has opened a new centre in Helsinki, Finland, which aims to enable the development of innovative solutions for renewable packaging.
The centre will be used by the pulp and paper manufacturing company and its stakeholders as a venue for research and development to come up with sustainable concepts.
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Located at the company headquarters in Kanavaranta 1, it comprises a packaging design lab, presentation areas with advanced touchscreen technology and virtual-reality retail technology.
The centre is also expected to serve as an incubator hub for the company, which will be used to develop customer value through collaboration with customers, start-ups and other industry stakeholders.
Stora Enso intends to commercialise new packaging concepts and design trends, which can drive sales, while bringing down costs and environmental impacts at the same time.
Stora Enso CEO Karl-Henrik Sundström said: "Through our new innovation centre, we are able to liaise with our customers in a unique way and together design the packaging solutions of tomorrow.
"Sustainability is the backbone of Stora Enso’s business and our dedication to renewable materials will be highly influential in how we collaborate with customers in the centre."
The centre will also be used by Stora Enso as a showroom to display its new products, prototypes and designs related to packaging innovation.
In October, the firm announced divestment of its mill in Barcelona, Spain, and a packaging plant in Komárom, Hungary, for a combined value of €23m, to private equity fund Quantum and Van Genechten Packaging International respectively.
While the Barcelona mill was used to produce recycled-fibre based consumer board, the Komárom facility generates offset printed micro-flute packaging.
