The Kemira Technical Conference 2024, held in September in Helsinki, Finland, was a landmark event that celebrated innovation and technical excellence within Kemira. This flagship internal event drew significant attention, highlighting Kemira’s top-tier technical expertise and fostering collaboration across the organization. Under the theme “Technical Excellence and Collaboration,” the conference united Kemira’s bright minds to showcase their cutting-edge work, spanning core business areas and strategic growth fields, including renewable solutions (biobased barriers, biobased polymers, and others), new concepts for water treatment (micropollutant removal and others), textiles, molded fiber products, digital services, among others.

Covering the latest advancements and breakthroughs across a variety of technical fields, the event featured 23 oral presentations and an impressive 113 poster presentations. By highlighting innovation in action and encouraging knowledge exchange, the conference reinforced Kemira’s commitment to leadership in the technical landscape, while offering employees from different sectors a chance to network, and share insights and expertise.

Throughout the event, the collaborative and high energy could be felt by all participants as they connected to discuss ideas that will help shape the future of Kemira’s technological and scientific direction.  Kemira’s Marko Kolari, Research Fellow, R&D, and Virpi Tognetty , Director, IP Management from the organizing group share insights about the conference.

Driving innovation and collaboration at the Kemira Technical Conference

The Kemira Technical Conference plays a critical role in advancing not only technical knowledge but also fostering collaboration across the company. As Marko explains, “This event served as a powerful venue to share vast amounts of technical information.” However, its real strength lies beyond mere information exchange—it’s a catalyst for idea generation. “Technical updates continuously sparked ideas on how to improve existing work or apply it in new ways,” Marko notes. The presence of such a diverse range of expertise in one room created a fertile ground for brainstorming and innovation.

This event served as a powerful venue to share vast amounts of technical information. However, its real strength lies beyond mere information exchange—it’s a catalyst for idea generation.

The conference also provided invaluable networking opportunities, particularly for newer employees, offering them direct contact with executive leadership and colleagues from different functions. A special focus was placed on sharing best practices, such as efficient project execution and delivering clear customer value, providing participants with key insights to apply in their own work.

Marko highlights how the event embodied Kemira’s core value, “We succeed together.” “While some might view a large internal event as an unnecessary cost, we see it differently,” Marko emphasizes. “Even though virtual tools are essential, true collaboration thrives when employees are given opportunities to connect in person. The conference created a safe space for everyone to build new relationships, exchange ideas, and learn from one another.” This commitment to collaboration and shared success ensures that the technical excellence fostered at the conference continues to drive innovation within Kemira, and investment benefiting both the company and its stakeholders.

Celebrating excellence and collaboration in R&D

A key highlight of the Kemira Technical Conference was the recognition of outstanding R&D work across multiple categories. As Virpi Tognetty  explains, these awards were designed to celebrate not only technical achievements but also the collaborative spirit that drives success at Kemira. Categories included Best R&D Project, Best Technical Customer Service Contributor, and Best Cross-Team Collaboration, all chosen based on stakeholder feedback. “By recognizing these categories, we aimed to showcase the power of collaboration—among R&D centers, technology teams, and other stakeholders,” Virpi shares. The winning projects demonstrated how leveraging global resources and working across functions and business units lead to significant success.

In addition to these pre-selected awards, conference participants had a direct voice in selecting the best posters from the 113 presented. The voting criteria were stringent: participants evaluated the clarity of communication, visual impact, content accuracy, originality, and creativity of each submission. This process emphasized the importance of clear and engaging scientific communication, even within technical fields.

Similarly, the best presentation was chosen from 23 compelling talks, with a particular focus on storytelling. “We wanted to highlight the importance of a good story in conveying a message—even a technical one,” Virpi notes. This approach underscores the value of making complex ideas accessible and impactful, reinforcing Kemira’s commitment to both technical excellence and effective communication across its global operations.

Embracing a growth mindset at Kemira

At the Kemira Technical Conference 2024, Saku Tuominen, serial entrepreneur, author and speaker, delivered a keynote speech on fostering a growth mindset, which is becoming increasingly important for Kemira. As Marko Kolari explained, while the company has long focused on profitability improvement, growth in new areas demands a shift in culture. “We’ve been excellent at optimizing profitability, but growth requires a different approach—one that encourages experimentation and accepts some level of risk,” Marko noted. Changing the mindset of a large, global company is a gradual process, much like changing a personal habit.

The conference, and Saku’s keynote, are part of Kemira’s broader efforts to promote this mindset shift. “This is one of the many tools we use to encourage a growth mindset across the company,” Marko added. By offering platforms like the conference, Kemira is providing its employees with the support and inspiration needed to take risks and innovate as the company expands into new strategic areas.

Overcoming challenges and reaping rewards

Organizing the Kemira Technical Conference came with its challenges, particularly the short six-month timeline from decision to execution. As Marko Kolari explains, “The announcement triggered the submission of around 150 abstracts, all of which needed thorough review and finalization.” The Technical Advisory Board (TAB) worked tirelessly to select presentations and ensure all materials, including printed posters, were ready on time.

However, the real reward was seeing the spirit of Kemira’s core value, “We succeed together,” in action. “The commitment from the TAB and the organizing committee was outstanding. The planning was meticulous, and thanks to everyone’s dedication, the final week before the event was surprisingly calm,” Marko noted. The success of the conference truly reflected how collaboration and teamwork drive excellence at Kemira.