SCA has become a partner in the SE-technology and in the pilot plant developed and operated by SweTree Technologies. With SE-technology, more seedlings can be quickly and efficiently produced from the best seed material from forest breeding.

SweTree Technologies is running a pilot project to develop automated seedling production via Somatic Embryogenesis (SE) together with the forest companies Stora Enso, Sveaskog, Södra and Holmen. SCA has now also entered the project and become a partner in the SE-technology and in the pilot plant developed and operated by SweTree Technologies.

So far, development has focused on spruce seedlings, but with SCA's involvement, SweTree has also started the development of SE-technology for pine. This is done jointly with all participating companies, in parallel with the development that is underway for spruce.

"We are very pleased to have SCA on board with the SE-project. SweTree is now bringing together the five major Swedish forest industry companies in the development of this important and revolutionary technology. This means that we are well equipped to take our SE-technology all the way to a commercial facility for production of SE seedlings on an industrial scale," says Christofer Rhén, CEO of SweTree Technologies.

"We have collaborated with SweTree for a long time and now it was time to take the next step. This is an exciting development project with great potential, and which is at the forefront of research in terms of the production of the best forest seedlings. With an increased degree of breeding, we can produce seedlings that grow even better and thus capture more carbon dioxide. We also get access to more renewable raw materials to replace fossil products with. In this way, our forests can contribute with even greater climate benefit," says Thomas Vestman, Head of SCA's seedling business NorrPlant.

SweTree Technologies has been working for several years to develop the automated SE-technology. SE is a vegetative propagation method, with which seedlings based on the best seed material from forest breeding can be quickly and efficiently produced in large quantities. This technological leap enables commercial seedlings with higher growth and resistance to diseases and pests, which is positive for both the forest economy and the environment.

SCA har gått in som delägare i SE-teknologin och i den pilotanläggning som utvecklats och drivs av SweTree Technologies. Med SE-teknologin kan fler plantor snabbt och effektivt produceras av det bästa frömaterialet från skogsförädling.

SweTree Technologies driver ett pilotprojekt för att utveckla automatiserad plantproduktion via Somatisk Embryogenes (SE) tillsammans med skogsbolagen Stora Enso, Sveaskog, Södra och Holmen. Nu har även SCA gått in i projektet och blivit delägare i SE-teknologin samt i pilotanläggningen som utvecklats och drivs av SweTree Technologies.

Hittills har utvecklingen fokuserat på granplantor, men i och med SCAs engagemang har SweTree även startat utveckling av SE-teknologi för tall. Detta görs gemensamt med alla deltagande bolag, parallellt med utvecklingen som pågår för gran.

– Vi är mycket glada att få med SCA i SE-projektet. SweTree samlar nu de fem stora svenska skogsindustribolagen i utvecklingen av denna viktiga och revolutionerande teknologi. Detta gör att vi står väl rustade att ta SE-teknologin hela vägen till en kommersiell anläggning för produktion av SE-plantor i industriell skala, säger Christofer Rhén, vd för SweTree Technologies.

– Vi har samarbetat med SweTree en längre tid och nu var det läge att ta nästa steg. Det här är ett spännande utvecklingsprojekt med stor potential och som ligger i framkant av forskningen vad gäller produktion av de bästa skogsplantorna. Med en ökad förädlingsgrad kan vi få fram plantor som växer ännu bättre och därmed fånga upp mer koldioxid. Vi får också tillgång till mer förnyelsebar råvara att ersätta fossila produkter med. På så vis kan våra skogar bidra med ännu större klimatnytta, säger Thomas Vestman, chef för SCAs plantverksamhet NorrPlant.

SweTree Technologies har under flera år arbetat med att utveckla den automatiserade SE-teknologin. SE är en vegetativ förökningsmetod, med vilken plantor baserade på det bästa frömaterialet från skogsförädling, snabbt och effektivt kan produceras i stor mängd. Detta tekniksprång möjliggör kommersiella plantor med högre tillväxt och resistens mot sjukdomar och skadegörare, vilket är positivt för både skogsekonomin och miljön.

SweTrees utveckling av storskalig industriell produktion av SE-plantor fortsätter och nu förbereds för en fullskalig fabrik

SweTree Technologies has entered into a collaboration with Austrian Research Centre for Forests (BFW) and the forest plant producer LIECO. The new pilot project “SpruceSEA” aims to transfer forest SE seedlings adapted to climate change more quickly to forest companies than traditional breeding approaches.

SweTree's pilot plant for the tree plants of the future will soon be ready for launch. 45% higher growth and root rot resistance in spruce!

Genetics is the key to a productive and healthy forest in the new climate changed environment. Tree plants with improved genetics can rapidly be produced and amplified in large industrial scale by using SweTree´s automated Somatic Embryogenesis (SE) technology. SweTree works closely together with Umeå Plant Science Centre (UPSC) and Skogforsk for development of this area and bring commercial solutions to the market.

SweTree develops trees for the future using biotechnology. SweTree´s newly developed automated Somatic Embryogenesis (SE) technology enables substantially improved tree growth as well as trees with resistance to deceases, pests and fungus.

SweTree´s novel automated Somatic Embryogenesis (SE) technology gives tree plants substantially increased growth.
Together with the forest companies Stora Enso, Sveaskog, Södra and Holmen, SweTree invest 50 milj SEK in a pilot SE facility. Next phase is a full-scale commercial SE facility of 20 milj tree plants annually.

SweTree Technologies AB has completed a rights issue, where the subscription period of the preferential rights issue was completed on November 30, 2019. Including shareholder contributions, the company will receive a total of SEK 15 million.

When the rights issue has been registered with the Swedish Companies Registration Office, the total number of shares in SweTree Technologies amounts to 3,085,791. The share capital is increased by SEK 125,000 and, after the rights issue, amounts to SEK 3,085,791.

The rights issue is being implemented to strengthen the company, among other things, for the large investment that is now being made in the development and construction of a pilot plant for industrially automated production of forest plants, based on somatic embryogenesis. “The goal of the pilot plant is to obtain decision basis for a first full-scale commercial plant with a capacity of 20 million spruce plants per year”, says Christofer Rhén, CEO of SweTree Technologies.

For further information, please contact: Christofer Rhén, CEO of SweTree Technologies, phone +46 (0)90-695 8901

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About SweTree Technologies SweTree Technologies is a forest biotech company that develops and sells technology for productivity and performance improvement of trees. Customers are both forest companies and biomass-related industries. The vision is to be a world-leading developer of new technology based on biological excellence with customers all over the world. swetree.com

Umeå, February 24, 2020