Revolutionizing the European forestry and wood sector

The Knowledge Platform for Regional Forest Innovation, a new open portal that collects best practices and digital innovations in the European forestry sector, is now available as a result of the ROSEWOOD4.0 EU project. This initiative, funded by Horizon 2020, aims to harness digital solutions and boosts knowledge transfer connecting multiple actors along the forest value chain to reinforce the sustainability of forest resilience and wood mobilization in Europe.

The platform is a "one-stop-shop" that simplifies sharing knowledge about sustainable, efficient, and data-driven management of Europe's forests. It is free to use for any forestry practitioner or other interested user, from the public and private sectors to policymakers and researchers to any individual interested in forestry. The main objective of the Knowledge Platform for Regional Forest Innovation is to provide easy access to usable information in the form of 260 factsheets highlighting outstanding practices and innovations in forestry from more than 15 European countries. With a user-friendly interface and a multilingual search option, the online repository helps direct sharing and transfer of these practices and innovations to practitioners in forestry and wood industries all over Europe.

The open-access repository contains factsheets, videos, additional materials, and the contact details of the organizations that have developed these solutions. With this new tool, ROSEWOOD4.0 seeks to connect and facilitate exchange between the different regions for wider replication and uptake of practices across Europe: a best practice in forest management from one country can be useful and applicable in another country, and vice versa.

A European-wide collaborative effort

The Knowledge Platform for Regional Forest Innovation has been developed by the ROSEWOOD4.0 project consortium, which aims to bridge the gap between innovators, scientists, technology providers and professionals, landowners, and other stakeholders in forestry and related sectors who can benefit from learning new ways of managing forests towards resilience, sustainability, and socio-economic impacts.

The platform was developed by Steinbeis Innovation gGmbH (Germany), InnovaWood (Belgium), CESEFOR Foundation (Spain) and the European Forest Institute (Finland), with contributions from 17 consortium partners: the National Forest Centre (Slovakia); Cluster of Bioeconomy and Environment of Western Macedonia – CluBE (Greece); Agency for Sustainable Development of the Carpathian Region – FORZA (Ukraine); Tretorget Ltd (Norway); Łukasiewicz Research Network - Wood Technology Institute (Poland); Competence Centre Ltd. for Research and Development - CEKOM (Croatia); Bern University of Applied Sciences (Switzerland); Italian Agroforestry Energy Association – AIEL (Italy); Lapland University of Applied Sciences (Finland); Paper Province (Sweden); Slovenian Forestry institute (Slovenia); State Enterprise for Forestry and Timber North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany); Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon (Portugal); Natural Resources Institute Finland – LUKE (Finland); Wood Cluster Styria ltd – HCS (Austria); Centre National de la Propriété Forestière – CNPF (France) and the PRO WOOD Regional Wood Cluster (Romania).

Northern Hub includes Lapland University of Applied Sciences and Natural Resources Institute Finland from Finland, Tretorget from Norway, and Paper Province from Sweden. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Access to the platform: https://www.forestinnovationhubs.rosewood-network.eu/

Visit ROSEWOOD4.0 project website: https://rosewood-network.eu/

For more information and press inquiries, please contact:
Anthony Salingre – ROSEWOOD4.0 Project Coordinator
Anthony.Salingre(a)steinbeis-europa.de

Northern Hub
Anne Saloniemi – Project manager, Lapland University of Applied Science
anne.saloniemi(a)lapinamk.fi