Business from Fungi in Kanta-Häme

Project information

Project	Business from Fungi in Kanta-Häme
Duration	1.4.2025-31.3.2027
Partners	Häme Universitys of Applied Sciences, HAMK
Funders	European Union
Budget	248 180 €

Our goal is to establish a fungi biorefinery within HAMK’s SmartBio education and research centre, serving as a centre of expertise for the development and testing of new composite materials containing fungal mycelium. Fungi materials are utilised in packaging, construction materials, and the textile industry.

The project is driven by the need to develop sustainable and innovative materials that meet the demands of both domestic and international markets. We are developing an operational model that puts bio-circular economy expertise into practice by enabling the cultivation of fungi on growth substrates based on waste and side streams.

Target group

Industrial and rural companies in Kanta-Häme that generate bio-based side and waste streams, which can serve as growth substrates for fungi materials.

Industrial operators in Kanta-Häme that produce and develop materials for the construction, packaging, and textile industries.

Operating area

Kanta-Häme. Forssa, Hämeenlinna, Riihimäki ja Hattula.

Fungi biofoundry

In the first phase of the fungi biofoundry, a fungi library will be established to store and maintain the fungi strains tested and tailored for the project, along with the accumulated expertise. In the future, the fungi library will serve regional actors, enabling the rapid further development of fungi-based applications utilising HAMK’s biotechnology expertise.

As part of the fungi library, the following will also be produced in this project:

1 ) Fungi Materials Cookbook, which includes the cultivation recipes developed in this project for producing mushroom materials based on the selected side and waste streams.

2 ) Mushroom Information Portal, which is a more general information package about fungi-based applications, research data, and industry actors. The Fungi Information Portal will collect basic information about fungi and their applications, industry research data, development needs, and actor information. Additionally, it will highlight concrete fungi-based circular economy solutions already implemented worldwide and opportunities to produce high-value bio-based materials and products.

Fungi roadmap

The Fungi Roadmap for Kanta-Häme outlines the actions needed to develop the region into a leading circular economy area in Finland for producing fungi-based materials and providing related RDI (research, development, and innovation) resources.

Based on the knowledge generated in the project, we will define the prerequisites for developing a fungi-based bio-circular economy in Kanta-Häme. The Fungi Roadmap addresses the following questions:

How can we develop regional circular economy business using fungi-based materials that are refined utilising local side streams and biotechnological expertise, and for which there is also demand in international markets?
What supporting activities are already underway in the Kanta-Häme region?
What actions are required to achieve these goals?

We will advance the development of the Fungi Roadmap in co-creation workshops held with local businesses and stakeholders.