Caverion Lietuva equipped business center with engineering systems meeting future standards

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In Vilnius, on Lvovo St 37, one of the most innovative business centres in Lithuania has already opened its doors. To meet the modern requirements of the A + energy class building, as well as the needs and expectations of the customer and tenants, ‘Caverion Lietuva’ equipped the 8-storey, 23,000 sq. m. building with engineering systems management, safety and telecommunications systems that meet large-scale future standards. 

One of the most interesting and resource-intensive solutions is the automatic blind control system. A weather station mounted on the roof of the building, which is connected to a blind control system, automatically reacts to the sun.

If the building stood in the fields, this solution would be straightforward, but in the business district, the facades of high-rise buildings create a lot of shadows during the day, which must be evaluated in the blind control algorithm’, says project manager, Arūnas Virketis.

The business centre is also equipped with a contactless centralised building management system, indoor microclimate management systems, including a ventilation system with a humidification function, in addition to modern telecommunications systems that are especially needed for an administrative building. The conference rooms located on the ground floor are equipped with a modern audio and video system and a universal conference management and content sharing solution, and computer network systems are installed throughout the entire building.

Great attention is also paid to safety and security – a unified fire detection, burglary and access control system has been installed, which allows quick and accurate reaction to the emerging dangers. The building is monitored internally and externally by ninety-nine, high-resolution video surveillance cameras, and the evacuation and control system ensures smooth and rapid evacuation of personnel in the event of an emergency.

‘Although the building is large in size and has required a lot of resources, we are glad that most of the energy needed to operate the building was generated by heat pumps with hydro modules, which ensured extremely low CO2 emissions. We are happy to see that sustainability and environmental protection are as important for both customers and tenants as they are for us’, says project manager Arūnas Virketis.

‘We have installed a screen in the atrium, which will constantly display the consumption of the main energy resources of the building, the kilowatt-hours generated by the solar power plant and other readings. In general, the IoT, BMS, BIM and other technological solutions that we have invested in mean that tenants will enjoy cheaper operation, all of which will contribute to the green deal and environmental friendliness’, says Karolis Tuinyla, manager for the customer, ‘Lords LB Special Fund I Subfund B’.

Currently, the building is already being used by the main tenant ‘Telia Global Services Lithuania’ and the clinic, ‘Antėja’, is about to start operating from here as well. On the ground floor, there are conference centres and an ‘iLunch’ restaurant.

‘Caverion Lietuva’ is one of the largest construction engineering and building maintenance companies in Lithuania, owned by the international ‘Caverion’ corporation. The company currently has more than 400 employees.

New Member FOROS

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The new company FOROS joined the family of FLCC members this month. FOROS is a fast-growing Lithuanian company running an all-in-one forest platform for buying, selling, and growing your green assets, enabling green investment simple and accessible for everyone.
More about the company: https://www.foros.com

New member UAB Skogran

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New member  UAB Skogran joined the association in April. UAB Skogan  has provided a wide range of forestry services in Europe for over 16 years now. Skogran started its business in Sweden, when a hurricane devastated large forest areas that needed to be restored in 2005. Couple years later first teams of Skogran’s employees arrived to Finland and company has been expanding it’s business every year. Today Skogran is operating in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, Austria and Lithuania under the widely recognised brand name for the forestry services – Best Planter. The team of professional foresters provides forest planting, forest care and cone collecting services.

Success story of the Finnish company Leinonen in Lithuania:

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Leinonen Lithuania is part of Leinonen Group – an internationally established accounting and advisory company with 14 offices in the North, Central and Eastern parts of Europe (full list of locations here). The company has been part of the Finnish Chamber of Commerce since 2011.

Originally Finnish, Leinonen establishes operations in Lithuania at the end of the 90s. In that days, Lithuania is the fourth destination for the experienced entrepreneur Petteri Leinonen, having already established businesses in Finland, Estonia, and Latvia. After Lithuania, Petteri does not stop with the expansion of Leinonen Group. He keeps scaling the business and setting up entities in other parts of Europe – most recently in Belarus.

Since its establishment in 1996, Leinonen Lithuania has gone through a gradual growth to become one of the leading Accounting & Payroll providers in the country. Now having over 65 employees in Lithuania and over 250 clients from various industries and with different background!

In addition to the expert Accounting & Payroll team, a major success factor is having the in-house Tax & Legal department. That allows Leinonen Lithuania to offer accounting, payroll, tax, and legal services under one roof and to support enterprises from any size.

Big, medium, and small companies take advantage of the highly experienced financial and tax specialists. On the other hand, startups rely on Leinonen’s knowledgeable lawyers and accountants from the very first steps on the Lithuanian business scene. Starting with assistance during company establishment and then providing client-oriented accounting solutions that support strategically the gradual growth of the newly established entities (full list of services here).

Being a quarter century old, Leinonen Lithuania has set ambitious goals for the future. In addition to the high emphasis on client satisfaction, the company considers as top priorities the digitalization and modernization of processes combined with an accent on employee satisfaction.

Wishing Leinonen Group and Leinonen Lithuania all the best!

FARM TO TABLE: CELLULAR AGRICULTURE

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Dilek Ercili-Cura, a Liberator of Protein Production and Senior Specialist in Food Applications at Solar Foods, talks about how cellular agriculture and Solein, our protein innovation made from it, can provide a new sustainable source of food that is free from the burdens of agriculture.

Have you heard of cellular agriculture yet? – It is a production method where agricultural products are manufactured utilising cell culturing techniques.

It is being called the fourth agricultural revolution. The first one taking place when humans started farming around 12,000 years ago, the second was the reorganisation of farmland after the Middle Ages, and the third (also known as the Green Revolution) was the introduction of chemical fertilisers and pesticides alongside heavy machinery and mass production from the 1950s onwards. The fourth industrial revolution refers to the massive change to food production stemming from new technologies, with cellular agriculture being at the centre of it along with AI, robots and gene editing.

 

FARM-TO-TABLE

“Cellular farming, or cellular agriculture, is essentially the cultivation of microbial cells under controlled conditions, for the industrial production of food instead of traditional farming practices,” says Dilek Ercili-Cura, Senior Specialist in Food Applications at Solar Foods.

According to Dilek, cellular agriculture can mean growing tissue cells in bioreactors and producing meat and seafood without animals; it can also mean harnessing cells to produce eggs without chickens, or milk without cows.

“It can mean farming and growing microorganisms – that is microbes, fungi or yeast – via traditional or gas fermentation processes and turning the biomass into high protein foods and on to our dinner plates. That is what we’re currently doing here at Solar Foods,” she explains.

BREAKING AWAY FROM UNSUSTAINABLE FARMING

But why is cellular agriculture needed then? – Dilek responds by saying that, first of all, industrial food production in its current state is not sustainable at its current rate. Humanity is facing great threats of climate change, loss of arable land and overall crop productivity, which could lead to a sudden collapse of the whole ecosystem we are a part of.

“Industrial food protein production which relies on animal husbandry or e.g. soy plantations is not only affected by environmental destruction, it is one of its main contributors. Cellular agriculture provides a solution by decoupling food production from mass-produced animals, plants and the methods of conventional agriculture,” Dilek says.

Cellular agriculture is sustainable food production that doesn’t compromise environmental stability: safe and nutritious food produced even under the most challenging environmental conditions.

“I see cellular agriculture as one of the major contributors to the solutions in keeping our planet blue and green – that also makes it possible to practice conventional agriculture for generations to come” she says.

SOLEIN GETS COOKING

Solar Foods’ efforts in boosting cellular agriculture revolve around the company’s extraordinary innovation, Solein, which is a unique single-cell protein made with a fully natural fermentation process, utilizing air and electricity as its main raw materials. Solein is also very much at the centre of everything Dilek does, as she balances her typical workday between the bioprocess of Solein production and assessment of its potential as a food ingredient.

“My work aims to improve the quality of Solein as a food ingredient, both nutritionally and technologically. This means decoding Solein’s nutritional potential as well as its techno-functional characteristics” she says.

What advantages does Solein have, other than being a protein source, for the food industry? What micronutrients does it deliver? What is the physiological response in people who consume it? – These are questions that Dilek gets and poses to herself in her daily work.

“We of course make it a priority to ensure that Solein is safe to consume and follows the instructions of regulatory authorities for its approval as a novel food source.”

This means a regular stream of very thorough safety assessments, but Dilek doesn’t mind. “Most of those assessments require that I learn new things every day and I love being out of my comfort zone.”

HOW BIG IS YOUR PICTURE?

Dilek is a food engineer who had worked in R&D, focusing on proteins and their structure-forming properties in food, for already 15 years before starting at Solar Foods. Dilek says that for her, the biggest source of motivation is the big picture: what Solein offers in terms of securing a nutritious food supply for future generations and how it will achieve this without compromising environmental stability.

“Overall, working with a food concept that literally is produced from thin air, is a massive driver in itself,” she smiles.

In her mind, the best thing about Solein is that it is a one-of-a-kind concept within the cellular agriculture field that truly is decoupled from agriculture.

“With Solein production, you don’t need, for example, sugar at all and you are not dependent on arable land, climate or the weather. Any of the things we associate with growing food from soil. You can continue producing food anywhere, anytime, as long as you have renewable energy. This fascinates me the most,” she says.

“This feels exciting and it just feels right. In my opinion, Solein has the great potential to be a turning point for humanity.”

 

In our video series, we introduce members of Solar Foods’ core team and explain how Solein®, the protein made out of thin air, can break us free from the environmental burdens of agriculture.

Watch the full video series »

Finnish-made smart patch could revolutionise patient monitoring

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VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND HAS SPEARHEADED THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SMART PATCH WITH LIGHTWEIGHT WIRELESS SENSORS CAPABLE OF MEASURING HEART RATE, BODY TEMPERATURE, OXYGEN SATURATION AND RESPIRATION RATE, AS WELL AS TAKING AN ELECTROCARDIOGRAM.

Developed with partners including GE Healthcare, the smart patch reduces the risk of medical complications by ensuring hospital staff are able to monitor the status of patients remotely and continuously for any warning signs. The ability to detect changes in vital functions early and resource efficiently is critical in, for example, treating coronavirus-induced respiratory difficulties especially due to the strain the pandemic has put on hospitals worldwide.

Teemu Alajoki, the research team leader at VTT, explained that the patch sends the measurements to a system that analyses them to produce follow-up information and issue alarms to healthcare professionals.

“For example, a patient recovering from surgery could move about freely while measurements are taken, instead of lying in bed surrounded by wires,” he said.

VTT indicated that the patch has the potential to replace inconvenient wearable devices, such as activity bracelets and heart-rate monitors, because it is virtually unnoticeable, comfortable to use and affordable to produce – with a unit price of only a few euros.

The structure of the patch is founded on printed electronics developed by the research centre for various clients in the past two decades. The base material is pliable and stretchable, while the circuitry is printed with conductive ink and any separate components are attached with conductive adhesive.

Even the single largest component, the button-cell battery, should be replaced by a flexible battery in the coming years.

VTT is also developing data analytics capable of evaluating changes in the measurements and comparing them to other patient data, thus paving the way for automatic alarms about cardiac events, blood poisoning and other changes in health. The right kind of analysis, it believes, would enable people to use the smart patch to monitor their health and fitness not dissimilarly to smart rings and watches – only more accurately.

The patch could be introduced to market in two or three years. Researchers at VTT have already taken the next step toward epidermal electronics to provide a wider range of measurements in an even more discreet package.

New member Greenlux Finland Oy joined the association

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Finnish Greenlux Finland Oy has recently joined FLCC. It  is a Finnish company founded in 2007. Greenlux designs and manufactures durable, smart, high quality and energy efficient general LED lighting solutions. Their  lighting products are suitable for industry, retail and office. Greenlux has its own production facility in Espoo, Finland. Local production in Finland offers the potential to reduce the carbon footprint and provides a faster and more environmentally friendly way to serve the customers. Greenlux also has a subsidiary in India that produces lighting solutions for fast- growing local markets and also manufactures export production for delivery worldwide when needed.

New member Solutionlab Productions joined the association

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SOLUTIONLAB PRODUCTION, UAB has core competencies in applications and systems Development, Support, Maintenance, Administration, Setup and has a high reputation in the Scandinavian and Baltic markets, where highly skilled and Microsoft certified professionals with practical experience deliver the best solutions to the clients.  The company helps  customers be better equipped to meet current and future challenges by giving them insight into and control over their platform through their consultants’ expertise and the company’s  unique, innovative and flexible services. SOLUTIONLAB strives to deliver quality IT solutions that deliver value to the customers’ organization. IT helps Startups to accelerate their technology solutions and has proven knowledge and experience in helping Startups move their prototypes or MVPs to scalable world class solutions. SOLUTIONLAB is a certified Microsoft and Umbraco partner.

Paulig gives its coffee waste a new life

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Paulig gives its coffee waste a new life: Paulig venture arm PINC leads EUR 1.1 million seed round in Kaffe Bueno

As a sustainability frontrunner, Paulig is actively seeking new business models that promote circularity and reduce climate impacts. Paulig Incubator, PINC, invests in a Danish start-up, Kaffe Bueno, that upcycles coffee waste from Paulig’s Vuosaari roastery into high-value ingredients for cosmetics, nutraceuticals and functional foods. 

PINC invests in early stage start-ups in and around the future of food. The Kaffe Bueno and PINC collaboration started about a year ago with testing of the upcycling of ground coffee waste from the Paulig’s Vuosaari roastery. The by-product of coffee production is now used as raw material for cosmetics, nutraceuticals and functional foods.

“Being involved in this pioneer project, where we give coffee waste a new life, has been very interesting and rewarding. We have been evaluating different ways to recycle coffee waste for years and I am pleased to see it turned into something good”, says Timo Tuukkanen, the Facility and Security Manager of Paulig Vuosaari roastery.

Paulig has ambitious sustainability targets and achieving them requires innovations and collaboration. Testing the coffee waste upcycling led to a business deal where Paulig is now an investor in the Kaffe Bueno business.

“Kaffe Bueno is a perfect fit for PINC and Paulig. We aim to support start-ups with a strategic, financial and societal impact and Kaffe Bueno scores high on all of those”, says Marika King, Head of PINC.

In recent years, there has been a growing number of products related to coffee, from functional beverages to cosmetics and nutraceuticals and there is still a lot to be explored.

“The power of coffee is amazing; it is much more than a beverage. Growing up in Colombia, we used it for everything: wounds, skincare, desserts, you name it”, says Juan Medina, CEO and one of the three founders of Kaffe Bueno. “Our goal is to play an important role in the up and coming bio-economy by unlocking the health potential of coffee. Our pure Kaffe Bueno oil is already globally available for high-end personal care products and our versatile Kafflour is being used for healthier baking. With this capital injection we can really switch gears and scale up production to meet customer demand and accelerate the development of our next wave of products”.

Globally, 10 billion kg of spent coffee is waiting to be upcycled into health-promoting ingredients.

Kaffe Bueno recently announced a commercial agreement with Givaudan’s Active Beauty division. They are based at the Alfa Laval innovation hub outside of Copenhagen and will now expand their team and continue scaling up. The other investors in the round are Danish Vaekstfonden, global Agfood venture capital firm The Yield Lab and a Danish business angel.

Interview with H.E. Ms Arja Makkonen Ambassador of Finland to Lithuania

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Searching for new markets? How about getting acquainted with Lithuania?

After starting as Ambassador of Finland to Lithuania at the beginning of September, the autumn was full of enthusiasm and positive buzz. However, towards the end of October we already saw the fast increasing numbers of Covid19 cases. Since mid-December, we have experienced a strict lockdown to get the numbers down, and we seem to be on a right track. Although the corona virus is continuing to affect our daily lives, it has not been able to stop us working – on the contrary!  We have achieved a real digital leap with all the virtual ways of working.

After the November parliamentary elections, the new government started at full speed in December with the budget, new corona measures and reviewing the contents for the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility.  Ambassadors have already had many online-meetings with new ministers. In addition, many Finnish ministers have exchanged views with their new Lithuanian counterparts on current matters through virtual means.

The good news is that Lithuania has suffered less than predicted and less than many other countries from the pandemic. Last spring Lithuania and other Baltic countries managed the corona outbreak really well and could already in May create the so-called “Baltic Bubble”.  Perhaps this very solid management contributed to business confidence and gave optimism to consumers as well. The structure of the economy partly explains the resilience, but Lithuania also entered the pandemic from a strong economic position, with a fiscal surplus and low debt, strong private sector, and households in good shape. Lithuania is expected to be among the EU’s earliest recoveries.

Last year the economy shrank 1.7 % and the recovery should be starting late summer – of course, a lot depends on the corona situation. The drop in exports of goods was 4.6 % and about 30% of foreign direct investments were postponed or canceled.  However, the year 2020 was still a good year in investments – 42 projects and 4200 jobs created.  Like elsewhere, there have been differences how various sectors have been affected during the past year. So far, the companies in trouble have been paid €439m. The second lockdown measures contain €150m for subsidies and €30m for direct loans.  Another EUR180M is meant for compensations by Ministry of Social Security.

Business environment in Lithuania is good – I hear no complaints from the companies. Companies appreciate a safe and stable country near to essential big European markets. Lithuania is considered an interesting place to run a business because of skilled labour force with good language skills.  The costs are still reasonable although last year the wages went up by 9.3 %.  What I have already noticed even not having had the possibility of visiting companies in person, is that there is a good drive, flexibility and readiness to quick changes to respond the needs of private sector, if needed.

According to a recent report by Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Swedish direct investments last year were €3.3 bn making Sweden the biggest investor in Lithuania with 17.6% of total foreign direct investments.  Sweden is followed by Estonia (14.7%) and Netherlands (13.5%).  Finnish investments account for 3.3 %, Norwegian 3.2% and Danish 4.4%.  Swedish companies employ already around 22000 employees in Lithuania.  There are around 200 Finnish companies in Lithuania.  The Nordic working culture is definitely an attraction, when competing the skilled Lithuanian work force.

Ministry of Economy aims at business-oriented regulation in order to diminish red tape and establish more flexible company registration policy.  The government strives also for a fairer and growth friendly taxation that is predictable. Tax incentives will be revised, which streamlines the system.  Ministry of Economy would also like to have 0- income tax for reinvested income.  On the other hand, the tax base will probably be broadened by putting more emphasis on environmental taxation. There are already seven Free Economic Zones in Lithuania that offer significant incentives for foreign companies.

We could assume that also for Finland the neighboring countries or countries close by appear quite attractive as market area or as places to invest in the aftermath of the pandemic. We have seen how fragile the value chains are in a crisis.  Now the EU member states are busy preparing their national recovery packages to get them ready before the final deadline in April. After the packages have been approved, there will be a huge number of projects with the purpose of making structural reforms. According to preliminary plans in Lithuania, this means about 42 % of the funds to be allocated to green transformation and climate-related projects, 20 % to digital transition and the rest to reforms in education, health sector and research and development, as well as improving the business environment.

What kind of opportunities will there be for Finnish companies?  For Finnish cleantech sector there will be business opportunities, for example, in waste management or wastewater treatment. Lithuania is also going to put efforts into renovation of buildings and energy efficiency.  Huge projects like Rail Baltica, Via Baltica and enlargement of the port of Klaipeda could also find solutions in Finnish high-value add products like smart logistics.

FinTech sector in Lithuania is well developed; in 2020 over 230 FinTech companies were present here.  According to Global Fintech Index Lithuania is ranked No 4 worldwide and No 1 in the EU for Fintech friendly regulation.  Further digitalization will take place with recovery package.

Life-sciences sector in Lithuania has grown fast. Over 90 % of healthcare and pharmaceuticals are exported. I recommend taking part in Life Sciences Baltics Fair22-23.9.2021. In addition, Baltic MilTech presenting defence industry equipment will coming up later this year.

I encourage you to have a look at Lithuanian markets – Lithuania is not far from Finland and the business culture does not differ a lot from our way of doing business.  If you need advice, let´s get together virtually – at least for the time being. There is also a very active Finnish Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce  to support the Finnish businesses in Lithuania.

For next, I am sincerely looking forward to diving into the cultural scene of Lithuania, seeing the unique Unesco-listed places and a glimpse of the beautiful Lithuanian seashore.

H.E Ms Arja Makkonen
Ambassador of Finland to Lithuania

https://kauppayhdistys.fi/interview-with-h-e-ms-arja-makkonen-ambassador-of-finland-to-lithuania/