SWEDEN (News release) -- Södra is forming the Innovation business area. The initiative will involve a stronger focus on new, profitable business, while the other business areas will gain more traction for the development of their existing operations. Catrin Gustavsson, who is currently Senior Vice President Innovation and New Business at Södra, is to become the new Business Area President.
Södra's Group strategy involves creating profitable and sustainable growth in an ever-changing world. It will guide the work going forward to maximise the value of the raw material from the members' forests and to adopt a more prominent position in the bio-economy.
To live up to this Group strategy, strategic shifts and adaptations of Södra's structure are required. For this reason, the Södra Innovation business area is now being formed. It will strengthen activities aimed at both improving the existing business and developing new business. Södra already has the Forest, Wood and Cell business areas.
"Södra will grow sustainably and generate more value from each cubic metre of our members' forests. To succeed in this, we will need to work from a short and long-term perspective. We have two important tasks ahead of us: To constantly improve our current core business and to cultivate new business toward profitability. The Innovation business area is a part of this effort. It will shine a light on the commercialisation of new business and on forging partnerships and collaborations," said Lotta Lyrå, Södra's President and CEO.
Creates conditions for profitable growth
The new business area will lead Södra's work on commercialisation and business development. Efforts will focus on such aspects as promoting innovation within growth initiatives, developing Södra's subsidiaries and building new partnerships.
The development of two of Södra's major investments in liquid biofuel, Silva Green Fuel and Sunpine, will be conducted within the business area, for example. This also applies to Södra Building Systems, which is under development and offers system solutions for solid construction in wood, and OnceMore, which is dissolving pulp for textile production based on recycled textiles and wood.
This will not entail any direct changes in, for example, the collaboration with customers or business partners. The central feature of the change is that it will generate more drive and improved conditions for the existing core activities and new business.
"We will assume a more prominent position in the bio-economy supported by a developed innovation programme and more partnerships. We will commercialise more products with distinct market potential, such as timber construction solutions and biorefinery products. This will raise the value for members and build an operation that can meet customers, suppliers and a business environment under change," says Catrin Gustavsson, new Business Area President for Innovation as of 10 March.
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