SoluCel is a biotech

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

 company located in Espoo

Espoo

Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. The company provides services to the pharmaceutical, fine chemical and biotech industries for discovery and production of plant based small molecules.

History

The company is a spin-off

Spin out

A spin-out, also known as a spin-off or a starburst, refers to a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" sections of itself as a separate business....

 from the Department of Plant Systems Biology of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). The company founders are Dirk Inzé

Dirk Inzé

Dirk Inzé is a Belgian molecular biologist and professor at Ghent University . In 2002, he succeeded Marc Zabeau as head of the VIB Department of Plant Systems Biology, UGent of VIB. His research interest is on oxidative stress and the cell cycle. He is a member of the European Molecular Biology...

 from VIB and the University of Ghent and Kirsi-Marja Oksman-Caldentey of the Cell Factory Research Centre (VTT).