The European Regions Network for Innovation in Agriculture, Forestry and Food (ERIAFF), of which Thuringia is a member, organizes an innovation workshop for the forest-based sector every two years. This year's workshop in Brussels was themed on the role of innovation in addressing forestry challenges at the regional level.
Fig. 1: Prof. Findeisen and project members Patrick Voigt and Sascha Lummitsch at the Forest Innovation Workshop in Brussels (Copyright Sven Bermig)
As one of the current research projects along the value chain forest-wood-society, the WIR! project "Holz-21-regio" coordinated by Prof. Findeisen (FH Erfurt) was presented. Holz-21-regio is a longterm strategic partner of SpectroNet. This involves the development of regional value chains and the implementation of a modern bioeconomy in Thuringia on the basis of wood produced locally in sustainable, multifunctional forestry.
A positive structural change as well as a future-oriented identity formation in rural regions, such as the Thuringian Forest, can be combined with the achievement of ambitious climate goals. In the WIR! project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the WIR! alliance initiates and supports research projects that focus on climate-sensitive forest transformation, optimization of the raw wood value chain, innovative use of wood as a building material of the future to enable the urgently needed turnaround in the construction sector, and the involvement and education of the population.
Alliance partners are educational and research institutions, companies (e.g. SpectroNet), social organizations and administrative units of the Thuringian Forest region as well as from surrounding regions. The regional deepening of value chains based on the primary raw material wood can only succeed through innovations involving automation, sensor technology, optics, vehicle and special machine construction as well as social development models.
In these areas, the alliance networks regional with supraregional competencies. There is increased international interest in the complex approach of the WIR! alliance "Holz-21-regio" for immediately effective climate protection, economic transformation and sustainable structural development. The forest innovation workshop in Brussels offered the best opportunities for networking the Thuringian model region with European partners.
For more information visit our partner website.