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Grow21 Festival

Three days of inspiring talks, exciting insights and future innovations. This is the online event for  the green industry to come together to discuss and develop horticulture and gardening towards a more sustainable future.

Grow21 Festival took place on 9th, 10th and 11th of February 2021.

Grow21 agenda Grow21 video lounge Grow21 speakers Grow21 Digital Magazine

 

editable an beautyfull plants

35 expert talks

We want to thank all 30 experts from different organisations in the green industry weinvited to talk about hot topics including the future of growing, green urban areas, green consumers, gardening trends, innovations in the green industry, securing biodiversity, food production in the future and many more.

Another 20 webinars were organised by Kekkilä-BVB experts together with our partners for local audiences in local languages. These local markets are the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Latin America and the USA.

How to watch Grow21 recordings

You can register for watch the recordings most interest to you by clicking the titles on the video lounge.

Recordings of the local webinars in local languages will be available later on the video lounge as well. 

Pick your favourites and watch the recordings for the sessions you want.

Visit Grow21 video lounge

Agenda

The key themes for the Grow21 festival will be the future of sustainable growing, biodiversity in urban areas, Covid-19 changing consumer behaviour and Gardening trends 2021. The language of the main session will be English and the local webinars will be held in local languages.

De lokale webinars / paikalliset webinaarit / de lokala webbseminarierna – nederlands / suomeksi / svenska.

9.2.2021 Day 1 focused on securing green areas and biodiversity in urban environments.

Securing biodiversity, building green areas, and recycling are more important topics than ever to take into account when designing the future urban areas. We will discuss green cities of the future, and friendly microbes that ensure biodiversity underground and within the soil. Roof gardens will be a big add-on in securing the biodiversity above the ground. We will not only see the traditional meadows, but more and more green patches attached to houses and other buildings on roofs and walls as well as riverbanks.

Our host Nina Kinnunen, Director, Sustainability, Brand & Communications, Kekkilä-BVB takes the festival participants to an exciting tour around the green industry during the three Grow21 festival days. Participants are welcome to ask questions and share their experiences via Grow21 Festival chat.

Watch the recordings of the presentations on Grow21 video lounge

NOTE: Agenda 9.00 – 12.45  – all times in the main session are Central European Time CET

9:00   Welcome & opening remarks

  • Juha Mäkinen, CEO Kekkilä-BVB and Tiia Kujanpää, Director BU Retail and BU Landscaping & Recycling, Kekkilä-BVB, will set the scene for the Grow21 Festival. The first day will focus on the Green environments and securing biodiversity in urban environments.

9.10   Keynote: The future of green urban areas

  • The importance of urban green is huge. Laura Gatti (Bosco Verticale agronomist) will provide us with an inspirational speech about the past, present and future of our green cities. What are the most eye catching developments and why should we expand our green journey.
  • Laura Gatti, Renown Agriculturist and Landscape Consultant

9.40  Innovations update: Opportunities for green quay walls

  • A short documentary about the use of substrate as a greening of the quay walls in city centers and the benefits that come with it. This innovation is a perfect example of how cities can green themselves. You will see how to build the quay walls. After the document there will be an opportunity to ask questions via the live QA.
  • Jarno van Veelen, Advisor landscaping, European Tree Technician, Kekkilä-BVB

9.50   Innovations update: Compost and recycling

  • In his presentation Adrie will take you on a trip in the world of compost. He will explain how the material enters Attero and what it takes to produce compost that is suitable for use in the growing media sector. All pros and cons will be discussed, with particular emphasis on how to deal with the cons. Adrie will also elaborate on the joint projects that Attero has with Kekkilä-BVB to use compost more often as a growing medium. Are you curious about the possibilities of compost and which advantages and disadvantages the material has and how these are dealt with, register now for this presentation!
  • Dr. Adrie Veeken, Attero, Research & Business Developer Bio-based products

10.15  Keynote: Biodiversity within the soil / substrate

  • The soil is an ecosystem filled with life. Most of the organisms are not visible by the naked eye and therefore tends to be overlooked or ignored. But a healthy soil with a diversity of organisms is a foundation to grow healthy plants, to create resilient landscapes and can also contribute to the mitigation of climate change. This talk will be an introduction to some of the most common organisms in the soil. It will also cover how grower and gardeners can promote the presence of these vital organisms.
  • Hanna Williams, Agronomist with focus on soil health, Splendor Plant

10.45 Keynote: Biodiversity above ground – Roof gardens and urbanscapes

  • Environmental biologist and Landscape designer Taina Suonio presents fresh University of Helsinki research on the use of policy instruments in Finland to promote vegetated roofs with their numerous benefits; supporting biodiversity, managing urban runoff and offering recreation for inhabitants.
  • Taina Suonio, Environmental biologist and Landscape designer

11.15  Break

11.55  Innovations update: Worms – The future star players

  • Dr. Wieger Wamelink will guide you through the wonderful world of worms and the possibilities to grow food on Mars. In the presentation he will provide insights on the use of ‘the future star players’ of the soil and how the worms can help in the cultivation of food and plants on our planet and on Mars. Worms play an important role within the soil and their presence comes along with many benefits and possibilities. Wieger’s presentation is a great eye-opener for everyone and is super interesting to attend!
  • Wieger Wamelink, Senior Ecologist, Wageningen University & Research

13.15 Interview: Urban green design book by Municipality Amsterdam, including a multilingual Q&A in English / Nederlands / Suomeksi / Svenska

  • In a city like Amsterdam, the biggest challenge is that we integrally combine the trees with underground and above-ground infrastructure and other aspects such as groundwater and the intensive use of public space. That is actually the biggest challenge we face: how do we ensure that we can preserve old valuable trees and how do we design new growing-sites so that the trees will grow fast, old and big in the highly densified city. Herman Best of Municipality Amsterdam is interviewed by Jarno van Veelen on the best practices on a urban greening project.
  • Herman Best, Urban green advisor, Engineering department city of Amsterdam
  • Jarno Van Veelen, Advisor landscaping, European Tree Technician, Kekkilä-BVB

Multilingual Q&A:

  • Herman Best, Municipality Amsterdam
  • Jarno Van Veelen, Advisor landscaping, European Tree Technician, Kekkilä-BVB
  • Paulina Nyberg, Viherrakentamisen tuotepäällikkö, Kekkilä
  • Katja Börjesson, Portfolio Manager, Hasselfors Garden

Starting times are estimates.

Watch the recordings of the presentations on Grow21 video lounge

 

Local webinars – stay tuned for updates

14.00 (EET ) Erilaiset niittykohteet kaupunkiympäristössä ja Kekkilän tuoteuutuudet niityille 

  • Niittyjä tarvitaan eri puolille kaupunkiympäristöä, myös keskeisille paikoille. Niittyjen perustamisesta viheralueille on useita etuja. Sen lisäksi, että luomme ympäristön pölyttäjille, niityt vaativat vähemmän hoitoa kuin esimerkiksi nurmialueet.  Tässä webinaarissa asiantuntijat keskustelevat pääasiassa kolmesta eri niittytyypistä: kuivista, tuoreista ja tulvaniityistä. Mitä ominaisuuksia niillä on, millaisiin kohteisiin ne sopivat ja mitä huomioida niiden suunnittelussa, perustamisessa ja hoidossa? Esittelemme webinaarissa myös uudistuneen niittymultatuoteperheen. Jussi Kankaisen vieraina ProAgrian maisema-asiantuntija Riikka Söyrinki, viherrakentamisen asiantuntija Paulina Nyberg ja viherrakentamisen aluemyyntipäälikkö Mika Valkila.
  • Riikka Söyrinki, Maisema-asiantuntija, Etelä-Suomen Maa- ja kotitalousnaiset, ProAgria
  • Paulina Nyberg, Viherrakentamisen tuotepäällikkö, Kekkilä
  • Mika Valkila, Viherrakentamisen aluemyyntipäällikkö, Kekkilä
  • Jussi Kankainen, Liiketoimintapäällikkö, Viherrakentaminen ja Kierrätyspalvelut, Kekkilä

13.00 (CET Swedish Flag Emoji - About Flag Collections)  Hasselfors Garden Landscaping Produktnyhet: Fallskyddsflis 

  • Hasselfors Garden Landscaping presenterar en av årets produktnyheter: Fallskyddsflis. Vi delar med oss av fördelarna och fakta kring detta miljövänligt material som kan användas som ett naturligt underlag vid lekplatser eller till mulchning av planteringar.

14.00 (CET Swedish Flag Emoji - About Flag Collections)  Biokol i städer – kolsänka och jordförbättrande medel 

  • I urbana miljöer används biokol i dag i vissa applikationer som trädplanteringar med kolmakadam, regnbäddar och på gröna tak. Andra tillämpningar har testats men används ännu inte i någon stor skala. Detta föredrag ska visa exempel på hur biokol används och vad det gör för nytta i olika tillämpningar. Biokol har olika egenskaper beroende på vad det tillverkats av och hur tillverkningsprocessen gått till. Dessa resultat har främst tagits fram i projektet Rest till Bäst (biokol.org).
  • Ann-Mari Fransson, Föreläsare, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet

14.00  (CET ) BVB Landscaping, Daktuinconcept met watermanagement 

  • We zien daktuinen de laatste jaren behoorlijk veranderen. In deze Webinar bespreken we voornamelijk groenblauwe daken met een slim watermanagement systeem. Substraat zorgt niet alleen voor een groen dak, maar is geïntegreerds en afgestemd op het concept.
  • Henk Vlijm, Directeur, Optigrün International AG.
  • Jarno Van Veelen, Advisor landscaping, European Tree Technician, BVB Landsaping

15.30  (CET ) BVB Landscaping, Vaste planten concept met garantie 

  • Deze Webinar gaat over het vaste planten concept van Griffioen. Ook wel bekend als Green to Colour. We bespreken de diverse mogelijkheden, werkwijze en geven daarbij achtergrondinformatie. Ook gaan we wat dieper in op biodiversiteit en watermanagement. Natuurlijk wordt ook de rol van substraten besproken.
  • Stefan Verbunt, Directeur, Griffioen vaste planten / Green to Colour
  • Jarno Van Veelen, Advisor landscaping, European Tree Technician, BVB Landsaping

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