In the global context, water is no longer just an environmental variable; it’s a central economic, industrial, and strategic enabler. The entire Green Transition is fundamentally dependent on water: the hydrogen economy, battery manufacturing, industrial decarbonization, and tightening ESG requirements. The key challenge is no longer just scarcity, but efficiency, circularity, and resilience.
Why Finland? Finnish expertise was born not from abundance, but from a paradox: We host some of the world’s most water-intensive industries (pulp & paper, mining, chemicals) while simultaneously adhering to Europe’s strictest environmental legislation. We were forced to innovate.
This necessity drove the development of advanced solutions to treat complex industrial wastewater, including online monitoring and metals recovery. Concurrently, large investments in municipal treatment, such as the new HSY Blominmäki plant, created expertise that often exceeds EU regulations. This is complemented by high-tech leadership in digital smart water management. Reducing non-revenue water, for instance, is accomplished with digital modelling and GIS-based asset management. These smart solutions enhance energy efficiency, continuity management, and overall resilience.
The greatest growth potential for Finland’s water sector is not in technology alone; the future of export lies in integrated service models and knowledge transfer. International clients no longer seek just a treatment plant; they demand a guaranteed outcome.
The Finnish Water Forum (FWF) is addressing this shift by embedding capacity building into its solutions. This includes developing continuous education modules with Finnish universities of applied sciences (successfully piloted in Egypt this year) and building an online learning platform to scale this training globally. These holistic elements, from operator training to operational support and good governance models, are crucial. Ultimately, Finland is not just exporting technology; we are exporting reliability and long-term partnership.
This concept extends far beyond training. In the EU-LIFE-SPRINGBOARD project, FWF is collecting European best practices across managerial, financial, and technical dimensions to support Ukraine in its reconstruction. This vital project was born from a cross-Baltic initiative to update wastewater treatment facilities on riverbanks running into the Baltic Sea.
The challenges facing the Baltic Sea, from impacts of climate change to the cumulative effects of industrial and agricultural runoff, are becoming increasingly complex. Tackling this requires a new level of predictive and analytic power. This is the goal of Finland’s ambitious Digital Waters Flagship, which aims to secure water resources by creating digital twins of real-world water systems. These advanced models allow researchers and policymakers to simulate scenarios and test new management strategies in a virtual environment, enabling smarter, data-driven decisions to protect the Baltic ecosystem.
Within this high-tech context, the Finnish Water Forum (FWF) is an active partner in developing and applying practical R&D solutions. The Y-MAX project, for example, optimizes wastewater sludge treatment to maximize nutrient recovery and energy production while minimizing consumption. FWF also addresses the critical link between food production and environmental concerns. The Water Smart Food Systems project led by Invenire analyzed water treatment in food production facilities in Åland, identifying new technological solutions to improve water use and recycling.
Beyond these R&D projects, FWF facilitates vital cross-sectoral collaboration to solve emerging industrial challenges. The rapid rise in demand for European-produced battery materials and changing regulations has created pressure to develop new separation technologies. In the AKVE project, FWF acted as a key facilitator, kickstarting the dialogue between regulators, research institutes, and the private sector.
These solutions, tested and proven in the challenging Baltic environment, are directly scalable to tackle complex water challenges globally.
Aku Suoknuuti
Project Advisor
Finnish Water Forum
Finland
aku.suoknuuti@fwf.fi
Inkeri Kollmann
Project Advisor
Finnish Water Forum
Finland
Tommi Peho
Project Advisor
Finnish Water Forum
Finland
Topi Helle
CEO
Finnish Water Forum
Finland
