News
February 5, 2026
Representatives of science, businesses, and authorities discuss the prospects of introducing green chemistry technologies at the Kondopoga pulp-and-paper mill

A meeting has been organized at KarRC RAS Institute of Economics, gathering representatives of the business community (management of JSC Kondopoga Pulp and Paper Mill), science, and Government of the Republic of Karelia. The discussion centered around potential cooperation and introduction of emerging green chemistry technologies for the deep processing of wood in Karelia.
On February 3, representatives of the business community, scientists, and regional government officials met at the Institute of Economics KarRC RAS. Participants included Svetlana Astakhova, Minister of Industry and Commerce of the Republic of Karelia; Andrey Reutov, Kondopoga PPM Executive Director; Andrey Lobov, Kondopoga PPM Operations Director; Andrey Yarygin, Head of the Karelian Branch of the All-Russian Society of Inventors and Innovators; Sergey Tishkov, Secretary for Science of the Institute of Economics KarRC RAS; and Nikolai Kolesnikov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics KarRC RAS.



The discussion centered around potential cooperation and introduction of emerging green chemistry technologies for the deep processing of wood in Karelia. It is a good example of collaboration between stakeholders in implementing priority sci-tech developments endorsed by Russian Presidential Decree No. 529 of June 18, 2024.

A technology for electrochemical processing of wood wastes into microcrystalline cellulose and new wood chemicals was presented at the meeting. It was developed by LLC Tekhnologii Vtorichnogo Syr’ya (Secondary Raw Materials Technologies) in partnership with the KarRC RAS Institute of Economics, which prepared the feasibility study, conducted the market analysis, and provides expert serves.

The new development could evolve into a pilot project in the framework of the national project "Technological Support for the Bioeconomy". The discussion participants agreed to conduct initial testing of the technology. This could become the first practical step from concept to industrial implementation.

– The project’s key potential outcomes could be an expanded product range of JSC Kondopoga PPM, a unique applied technology designed jointly by inventors from the All-Russian Society of Inventors and Innovators and KarRC RAS scientific divisions, and ties established with the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Industrial Development Fund of the Republic of Karelia, – noted Doctor of Economics Sergey Tishkov.



Following the meeting, the parties agreed to continue negotiations on setting up laboratory-based R&D work, designing pilot-scale equipment, and developing a feasibility study for rolling out the technology.

The participants expressed the opinion that such meetings are crucial for consolidating expertise and strengthening the region's potential.

See also:

August 19, 2026
The seventh issue of the journal Transactions of KarRC RAS, ecological studies, released

The 2026 seventh issue of the journal Transactions of the Karelian Research Centre RAS (Ecological Studies series) has been released. The issue contains 16 original articles covering a wide range of scientific topics, such as modeling under-canopy radiation regime, diversity of coastal plant communities in the estuaries of the White and Barents Seas, Sphagnum productivity dynamics in mid-boreal mires of Karelia, etc. The Bereavements feature commemorates the outstanding Russian geobotanist and mire scientist, Tatyana Yurkovskaya.
August 14, 2026
Unique expedition to Balto-Finnic peoples of Siberia

Senior Researcher Alexey Blandov of NORDICA Interdisciplinary Research & Education Center, KarRC RAS, has conducted a unique expedition to Siberia. The key objective of the expedition was to document the current state of idioms and traditional culture among Balto-Finnic ethnics who, during the 19th and 20th centuries, found themselves thousands of kilometers away from their historical homeland
August 12, 2026
Young geologist from Karelia awarded a medal from the Russian Academy of Sciences for research on geochronometer minerals

In July, the Russian Academy of Sciences announced the winners of the competition among scientific works by young scientists and students across 21 research fields. A RAS medal was awarded to Maria Sukhanova, doctoral student at the Institute of Geology KarRC RAS and Junior Researcher at the Institute of Precambrian Geology and Geochronology RAS. Maria engages in dating and determining the formation environments of geochronometer minerals, which help geologists to pinpoint the time and reconstruct the conditions under which rocks and ores formed. We congratulate Maria Sukhanova on this well-deserved award
!