The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Finnish: Metsäntutkimuslaitos, Swedish: Skogsforskningsinstitutet), known as Metla, is a subordinate agency to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry of the Government of Finland. The Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla) is a specialist research organisation which develops solutions to the challenges and questions posed by the care, utilisation, products, services and intangible value of forests. It has statutory duties to promote, through research, the economical, ecological, and socially sustainable
management and use of forests. Metla is one of Europes largest forestry research institutes, with an annual
budget of around €40 million and 9 main research units. Metla was established in 1917, and started its activities in July 1918. Since then Metla has grown considerably; the current network of research units covers the whole country. The areas of strategic influence of Melta are: Entrepreneurial and
business activity based on forests; Forests and the community; Sustainable silvicultural chains and a forest economy- and forest environment -based knowledge pool.
The present organisation of Metla is transformed into a functions-based organisation consisting of core and support processes. The core processes are Research & development services and knowledge and technology transfer, providing public services. The support processes are strategic management, internal services and support services for research.
There are 260 researchers working at Metla, of whom about two thirds hold a degree in forestry. Other fields of expertise cover e.g., general and
business economics, social sciences, natural sciences, and technology. The supporting staff, i.e. technical staff and those working in administrative and other expert tasks, have a level of qualifications, motivation and wide range of skills. Approximately half of the staff is working in the Greater-Helsinki area and the other half at the other research units. From the beginning of 2010 there are four regional units in Metla, Southern, Western, Eastern and Northern Regional Unit. The regional units are responsible for the research projects and information services managed by the unit, local administrative services, and
management of the research forests in their region.
Research programmes are set up to produce information about broad areas of current interest or other major topics. The research programmes usually include 10 to 20 research projects. Metla conducts research and generates research information about the forest nature and environment, the different uses of forests, and about forestry and the forest cluster. Research is organised into problem-oriented projects and multi-disciplinary research programmes. Metla also carries out commissioned projects to meet the information requirements of its customers. In recent years, the overall
budget of the Finnish Forest Research Institute has been about 53 million €, of which about 70% has been direct government funding from the Ministry of
Agriculture and Forestry. The funding from other ministries and foundations, private organisations etc., as well as from commissioned services, has been about 30%.
Last Updated on: Nov 27, 2024