In 2020 Metsä Group, Fortum and Business Finland launched an extensive R&D programme, the project ExpandFibre. Its goal was to accelerate the research and development of wood- and straw-based bioproducts. The programme lasted four years and ended last August. During its active phase, the programme created an innovation ecosystem of more than a hundred partners. 

The programme’s positive effects are now visible at Metsä Group. ExpandFibre involved a total of 35 publicly funded projects and 108 organisational members, including both large and small companies from industry and service production, universities, research institutes, associations, and venture capitalists. Just under a fifth of the organisations come from outside of Finland. The programme’s main goal was to bring together operators in the sector to generate innovations. 

Research carried out within the program's scope has advanced the expertise of the fibre and bioproduct sector in universities and research institutions, as well as in companies cooperating with them. The prediction is that new commercial products will be on the market within 5–10 years. Metsä Group operated in the ExpandFibre project as a frontline company operating in the global market. 

The ExpandFibre programme has brought to Metsä Group not only valuable lessons about the ecosystem but also tangible results: The development of Kuura textile fibre, Muoto fibre-based packaging products, and paperboard and other fibre products has progressed significantly during the project. New bio-based barrier paperboards are closer to adoption, and several new packaging designs that save natural resources have been introduced. The Kuura and Muoto projects have moved from laboratory, pilot, and demo plant phases to the pre-engineering phase of a commercial mill. Future investments in commercial factories manufacturing new bioproducts are already on the horizon, although there is still work to be done.