Award: Quality Innovation Award 2023 by Excellence Finland
Winner: Metsä Group and CollectiveCrunch Oy, Artificial intelligence application against forest insect damage
The AI-based application identifies starting bark beetle-caused damage in the forest, and so helps to combat forest infestations already at an early stage. Insect damage in trees can be identified by analysing satellite images provided by ESA’s Copernicus service. The superiority of the solution is primarily based on its very good interpretation accuracy and on the customization of the solution to meet the exact customer needs. Based on the information provided by the system, it is possible to react quickly to insect damage and thus limit both the decrease value of the standing stock and further the spread of the insect damage.
“Global warming has rapidly increased the risks to the health of Finland’s forests. In 2022, there were more bark beetle damages than ever before and further north than ever. We decided then that we need a real-time method for detecting insect damages so that we and forest owners can take actions to preserve the health of the forests and carbon sinks in a changing climate. The artificial intelligence application developed with CollectiveCrunch helps us and the forest owners together to take care of the health of our forests and carbon sinks. I am really proud of the recognition we have received from Excellence Finland,” says Olli Leino, Director of Digitalization at Metsä Group.
“CollectiveCrunch delivers AI based forest analytics solutions for monitoring of forest inventory, carbon storage and biodiversity in the Nordic and Baltic countries, and increasingly elsewhere in the world too. As bark beetle spreads northward, we set out to explore how our technology could detect bark beetle damage in real time, and as early as possible. We are grateful that we found Metsä Group as our partner to test the solution and bring it to their end customers, thus helping to develop the solution in practice. We highly appreciate the recognition given by Excellence Finland, highlighting our way of innovating based on real needs”, said Juha Koponen, CEO of CollectiveCrunch
The Quality Awards are awarded by the Excellence Finland Association. Metsä Group and CollectiveCrunch also won its sub-category for Sustainability Innovation. In addition the companies were granted €5000 for its innovation by The Finnish Fair Foundation.
