Spinnova, a sustainable fibre company, has announced the appointment of Pia Qvintus as the new Business Development Director as of 1 October. With her extensive background in fostering and promoting biotech innovation, Ms Qvintus is a great choice to join Spinnova on the verge of its commercialisation phase, the company reports.

“We are very happy to welcome Pia into the company. She is a key person in our upcoming commercialisation steps, with the ideal experience for the job,” commented Spinnova’s CEO Janne Poranen.

Pia Qvintus is a pioneer in technological innovation management and enablement. She has spent most of her career on heading research organizations of the VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, dealing with the development of new biobased applications of forest biomass since 1994.

Her most recent position with the VTT was Technology Manager for commercialisation of biobased materials and technologies. A chemist and MSc (Eng) by education, Ms Qvintus’ most familiar research topics have been nanocellulose development and design driven applications of cellulose based materials.

Since 2016, she has been working for Business Finland’s Bio and Circular Economy programmes, supporting international growth of Finnish startups and SMEs in the bioeconomy space. At Spinnova, Ms Qvintus’ main objective will be to support and develop Spinnova’s current brand partnerships and ensuring future customers for the commercial production of the world’s most sustainable fibre.

 “I’m very familiar with Spinnova’s team and journey, yet this path to commercial phase will be a new and extremely interesting experience for me personally. Getting involved in an innovation born out of the VTT is a natural and a very desired move for me,” she commented.

After successfully starting its test facility production line last spring, Spinnova now focuses on end product development with partnering brands, while starting to plan for the commercial phase of the sustainable fibre production.

Spinnova’s patented technology includes 0% harmful chemicals and 0% waste or side streams. Its raw material commitment is to only use FSC certified wood or waste streams.

www.spinnova.fi