Paper and pulp
Nowhere else in the world will you find as much knowledge and experience collated on paper and pulp technology as you'll find in Värmland. Almost half of Sweden's packaging materials are manufactured here. 2.2 million cows would be needed to fill the cartons made by the biggest carton machine at Stora Enso each year - equivalent to 13 billion litres of milk!
Värmland is home to players at all stages of the value chain. We have forests, research into plants and seeds, a number of paper pulp factories, and also we can handle the design, printing and manufacture of packaging. Besides the major world-leading companies, there are lots of consultants in the industry here as well, some 400 of them.
The Paper Province
The Paper Province is a cooperative society which coordinates and develops partnerships between paper and pulp organisations in Värmland, northern Dalsland and the county of Örebro. The activities of this cluster organisation are focused on marketing, project development, skills supply, growth and development cooperation with trade and industry, schools, universities and the general public - regionally, nationally and internationally.
The Paper Province has some 90 member companies, representing the entire value chain, with research and development, consultants, equipment and process suppliers, and paper and pulp mills. The network includes more than 230 places of work with more than 12 500 employees.
The European Cluster Observatory describes The Paper Province as "A world-class European cluster".
The Energy Square (E²)
The Paper Province runs The Energy Square, an international centre for energy streamlining in the paper and pulp industry. The most important job of the centre is to act as a meeting place for companies that work with energy issues. This is the first centre in the world to focus solely on products and services for the pulp and paper industry.
The Energy Square's job is to facilitate the process of developing new products and services to reduce energy consumption in the global pulp and paper industry. The centre acts as a link and meeting place between universities, research institutes and trade and industry, bringing together knowledge, infrastructure and capital.
The Packaging Greenhouse AB
The Paper Province also owns The Packaging Greenhouse AB, which is one of Scandinavia's leading independent environments for industrial research, development and training in the field of paper and pulp technology. Here, customers can test various base materials in a pilot machine, for example, or sharpen up their skills by means of customised, process-specific courses.
