Birch bark is a side stream of the Nordic forest industry. At Innomost, we use it to make biobased ingredients for cosmetics, coatings, adhesives and packaging. We already supply birch bark derived betulin to the cosmetics industry, and some of the strongest interest we see today comes from companies developing protective coatings for fibre packaging.
In his 2026 Metsä360 finalist interview, Innomost founder and CTO Sami Selkälä discusses what it will take to meet that demand. Building industrial production capacity requires long-term financing. Where that investment comes from can also influence where the next generation of Finnish material technologies grows.
What makes birch bark a useful industrial raw material?
Birch bark contains compounds that help protect the tree from moisture and environmental stress. Our patented process separates and refines these compounds from certified Nordic birch bark side streams. Two of the resulting ingredients, betulin and suberin, offer different properties to formulators.
Betuinno™ Betulin is a birch bark derived ingredient already supplied to cosmetics manufacturers. Its water-repellent properties are useful in formulation development, where ingredient choice can also affect product texture and feel.
Suberinno™ Suberin is a mixture of suberin acids. It can be incorporated into coatings to help resist moisture and grease. Its flexibility and adhesion properties also make it relevant to adhesive and coating formulations.
Where birch bark can add value to fibre packaging
Paper and board provide the structure of fibre packaging. The coating helps determine what the pack can hold and how well it protects the contents. A greasy product and a product sensitive to oxygen pose different challenges. Some applications require a combination of resistance to moisture, grease and oxygen transmission.
That is where we see an opportunity for birch bark ingredients in biobased barrier coatings. For packaging developers evaluating a new coating, a practical starting point is to define the barrier the application needs and test the formulation on the intended paper or board. The choice of substrate, coating formulation and finished pack all matter when evaluating performance.
As the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) shapes material choices, customers in Europe and beyond are asking more questions about recyclability and material composition. A biobased ingredient can help meet a formulation objective. Recyclability and suitability for food contact depend on the finished packaging and its intended use.
What it takes to scale Finnish biobased materials
Packaging offers a route to much larger production volumes than cosmetics. That opportunity comes with a practical question. How do we finance the industrial capacity needed to supply packaging manufacturers consistently and at the volumes they need?
In the Metsä360 interview, Sami points to a gap in long-term growth financing for Finnish material technologies. When that capital is hard to find, promising companies can face pressure to move abroad or leave industrial opportunities unrealised. Established forest industry companies can play a role by investing in new technologies and working with developers to bring them into industrial use.
For Finland, the opportunity is to build more of the value chain here. Refining forest industry side streams into functional ingredients can create business for material producers and for the companies that formulate coatings, adhesives and cosmetics with them.
Innomost was named a finalist for the 2026 Metsä360 Award, presented by LUT University and the Marjatta and Eino Kolli Foundation.
Read Sami Selkälä’s full interview in Finnish.
Developing a barrier coating or evaluating a birch bark ingredient for another application? Tell us what you’re working on and discuss samples with our team.
