The Institute of Paper Science and Technology (IPST) was founded in 1929 to provide science, technology and education supporting the paper industry. It is an industrial research and development consortium which has since been integrated into the substantial resources of the Georgia Institute of Technology. IPST offers graduate programmes in Paper Science and Engineering (IPST, 2011a).

IPST claims to have three strategic initiatives (IPST, 2011a):

• Development of renewable, sustainable new products from forest biomass
• Bio-refining, to enhance the current portfolio of products to increase the contributions to global markets
• Operational excellence, to improve capital effectiveness, to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

IPST has been involved in the research and development of breakthrough manufacturing technology for the paper and pulp industry at competitive costs. IPST also address challenges in the development and deployment of biofuels (IPST, 2011b).