Opportunity

To build a house is a significant investment. Any investor wants their investment to last long. Any moisture, structural, or other problem will shorten the life of a building. Could these problems be predicted? And the information collected by sensors? What if those sensors could be embedded into our wooden elements?

Opportunity overview

Buildings should be made to last long. Private or public investors want their facilities to bring good value for their money even after decades. They would like to know beforehand if, e.g., a moisture problem might become severe pain. This would save them money.

Sensors that could be embedded in wooden building elements already at the mill could measure different types of information from wood, and this information could be collected, stored, and analyzed so that problems could be predicted before they get too serious (and expensive).

We are looking for ideas for the measuring device (sensor itself) that could be embedded in our elements, as well as the methods of how those devices could measure different fundamental properties of wood.

Examples we're looking for

Moisture of wood

Timber is excellent as a structural material as long as it is kept dry. The problem is that surface moisture content does not tell how dry/wet the wood is in the middle of the element. In all, we could follow up on the moisture content inside of the container during the whole delivery process. We are looking for moisture sensor solutions that could be embedded into wooden elements already at our factory. We are keen to find sensors that have many functionalities.

Safety of structures

Buildings need to be safe even after decades of hard use. Structures are designed for much more stressful conditions, which facilities typically face, but we want to measure and ensure safety digitally. If any problems should occur, we would like the occupants to be alarmed before anything serious happens. Many things are affecting structural safety. I.e., moisture, strength, warps, cracks, etc. Do you have new technology for ensuring the safety of structures in (timber) buildings?

Natural durability

Thousands of timber buildings have lasted hundreds of years in demanding conditions. Those buildings were designed and maintained well. Exposure to changing weather conditions affects the wooden façade’s lifecycle, resulting in surface cracks, molds, changes of color, deformations, etc. These problems could be predicted by utilizing digital solutions and informing building owners or occupants when they should act. Do you have ideas and solutions for improving the durability of wooden facades?

Part of the global bioeconomy, Stora Enso is a leading provider of renewable products in packaging, biomaterials, and wooden construction and one of the largest private forest owners in the world. We believe that everything that is made from fossil-based materials today can be made from a tree tomorrow.