Some people believe that the Nordic region plays an oversized role in the international cleanroom industry, but it aspires to play an even larger global role in the future, thanks to collaborative efforts like the Alliance for Sustainable Cleanrooms (ASC).
The ASC was founded to represent Nordic cleanroom companies providing sustainable solutions.
The Nordics are relatively small, yet in some industries – like cleanrooms – they plan to perform extremely well
The Nordics are relatively small, making up only about 4% of Europe’s population and 9% of its economy. Yet in some industries – like cleanrooms – they plan to perform extremely well.
For cleanrooms specifically, historically, the Nordics have a strong record due to high-value manufacturing processes in industries like pharmaceuticals, biotech, electronics, optics and semiconductors.
Hot ideas from a cold land
The cold climate has forced Nordic organisations to be smart and efficient with buildings and ventilation systems. This has been drilled into generations of architects and design students – so much so that energy efficiency is second nature.
Most of the region has poor natural resources, so society is focused on human capital, investing in education as well as research and development.
The Alliance for Sustainable Cleanrooms is currently developing a pilot project to test proactive control systems in cleanrooms
For example, Granlund invests about 6% of its net sales in innovation, and Vaisala invests 12%.
National governments, universities, and industry groups also invest heavily into R&D. Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are among the top twelve R&D nations in the world, when measuring investments as a percent of GDP
Going global by necessity
In some countries, a company can focus solely on their domestic market, but as small countries, the Nordics need to consider global markets.
The ASC, for example, has been active in creating global standards that help develop cleanrooms and their energy efficiency.
Spectral.blue was able to reduce manual cleaning by almost 80% in an ISO Class 8 cleanroom
The Nordic industry hosts some key players in the global cleanroom chain, such as companies like environmental monitoring expert Vaisala. "Even though Vaisala has been serving the global cleanroom market with measurement instruments and monitoring systems for decades, we see value in this form of cooperation enabling us to support clients as part of a team providing the complete solution, not only the measurement part of it,” says Pekka Ravila, VP of Vaisala’s Industrial Measurements business area for the EMEA region.
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