Betolar builds product development with long-term thinking, data, and practical pilots

Betolar’s product development combines technology, data, piloting, and the ability to view products as part of a broader industrial transformation. The company develops solutions with the potential to scale internationally and to be applied across a wide range of use cases — from paving stones to apartment buildings and infrastructure solutions. This kind of practical yet ambitious approach makes Betolar a strong example of the spirit of the PDPM award.

Betolar’s product development is long-term and impactful

At Betolar, product development is built on persistence, teamwork, and hands-on implementation. The Product Development Path Makers 2025 award feels like a meaningful recognition precisely because development work is rarely fast or straightforward.

At Betolar, product development is not just about refining individual solutions but about influencing the entire value chain. Project Manager Matias Heinänen summarizes this thinking: “I see it as influencing the entire value chain and bringing in innovations — introducing new, more environmentally friendly technologies and raw materials throughout the chain.”

The PDPM award had great significance for the team: “Product development is a long journey. Having something like this emerge along the way has great personal meaning,” says Business Development Director Harri Bergholm.

AI and data accelerate development

Artificial intelligence and data play an increasingly important role in Betolar’s daily work. They help plan activities, uncover new perspectives, and reduce unnecessary laboratory work.

AI expertise has become an integral part of the company’s operations. Matias Heinänen explains this concretely: “Through AI models, we can generate a much better starting point. We have parameterized our recipes, which allows us to create search spaces from which we can identify the most suitable solution. This significantly reduces the amount of hands-on laboratory work.”

This is also reflected in how Betolar approaches different phases of product development. Heinänen notes that laboratory results only provide initial indications: “At that stage, we are only talking about indicative results, because the real functionality is proven during the pilot phase.”

Impact across the entire value chain

Betolar views impact broadly, from the perspective of transforming the entire industry.

Harri Bergholm puts it directly: “Overall, it’s not just about low carbon — it’s about the efficient use of natural resources in general.” At the same time, he emphasizes that Betolar aims to identify new raw materials from industrial side streams and bring them into construction use across a wide range of applications.

This way of thinking makes Betolar an interesting example of how product development can create value for both customers and society. At the same time, the company aims to build solutions that can scale more broadly, including for export.

Product development requires resilience

The Betolar team also openly discusses the challenges of product development. The COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in raw material prices, and a difficult market situation in the construction sector have all forced the company to adapt quickly.

According to Matias Heinänen, this is an essential part of development work: “It’s always part of product development. It requires persistence and sometimes pushing through difficulties.” Harri Bergholm adds: “The market has driven a situation where even in global politics, green values have taken a back seat. Still, it is often in the middle of difficulties that the greatest sense of success is born.”

At Betolar, product development is ultimately seen as a shared effort where persistence is rewarded.

Advice for future applicants

Betolar’s advice for future PDPM candidates is very practical: problems must be carefully defined before starting development work. Matias Heinänen summarizes: “Strive to define as precisely and multidimensionally as possible the problems that product development aims to solve before starting the work.”

Another key piece of advice is to involve people early on: “Bring stakeholders in early enough to understand the customer interface and the real problems of end users,” Heinänen says. According to him, good product development is not a solo effort but a shared success: “At its best, product development is about successful teamwork through collaboration!”