6th Edition of the Forest Innovation Workshop
and OptFor-EU Mid-Term Conference
INFORM-PRIORITIZE-COLLABORATE: Building a Sustainable Forest Future
through Regional Cooperation and Innovation
11-12 February 2025
Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU
Rue Wiertz 77, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
PROGRAMME
draft 20250116
DAY 1 : 11 February
8.30 Registration
9:00 Welcoming speeches and opening remarks
- Armin HARTMUTH (Head of the Representation of the Free State of Bavaria to the EU)
- Juan Carlos SUAREZ-QUINONES (Minister for the Environment, Housing and Landscape Planning,
Castile and Leon) - Dorota DOBROWOLSKA (Polish EU Presidency, Deputy Director Forest Research Institute, Poland)
- George PREDOIU (European Research Executive Agency, OptFor-EU Project Officer)
- Elisabetta CECCHI (European Regions for Innovation in Agriculture, Food and Forestry – ERIAFF)
9:30 European framework for innovation in the forest-based sector
- The role of EIP in supporting innovation in the forest sector – Pedro Miguel NAVES (European CAP Network, Innovation and Knowledge exchange including-EIPAGRI)
- EU Framework for forestry related research – Laura LIEPINA (DG AGRI, Research and Innovation unit)
- Overview on Operational Groups on forest-related topics – Francesca GIANNETTI (project coordinator FOREST4EU, UNI Florence)
- Q&A
10:30 Coffee break
11:00 OptFor-EU project: Presentation of preliminary results
Moderator : Sorin CHEVAL (Coordinator OptFor-EU)
11:00 – OPTimising FORest management decisions for a low-carbon, climate resilient future in Europe:
a brief introduction about the project – Sorin CHEVAL (Meteo Romania)
11:05 – Co-creation of Forest-Climate nexus data – Nicu Constantin TUDOSE (National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Drăcea”)
11:15 – Innovativeness of Essential Forest Mitigation Indicators – Stefanie LINSER (BOKU University)
11:25 – From science to practice: the Decision Support System (DSS) for forest managers – Harald VACIK (BOKU University)
11:30 OptFor-EU project: Panel 1-Science point of view
Moderators : Francesca GIANNETTI (BlueBiloba, UNI Florence) and Mauro MORICHETTI (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)
- Francesca GIANNETTI (BlueBiloba, UNI Florence)
- Mauro MORICHETTI (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)
- Razvan PURCAREA (Simavi)
- Razvan PURCAREA (Simavi)
- Marcus LINDNER (EFI) RESONATE project
- Aleksi LEHTONEN (LUKE) HoliSoil project
- Visnja KOSCAK (Holzcluster Steiermark) FOREE project
- Rebecca HOLLIDAY (Met Office Hadley Centre)
12:15 OptFor-EU project: Panel 2-Policy making challenges and opportunities
Moderator : Alice LUDVIG (BOKU University) and Nicu Constantin TUDOSE (National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Drăcea”)
- Giuseppe CARDELLINI (VITO) ForestPaths project
- Laure-Lou TREMBLAY (IEEP) ForestNavigator project
- Elisabeth SCHATZDORFER (EFI) SUPERB project
- Hardo BECKER (Estonian State Forest Management Centre)
13:00 Introduction to the breakout sessions
13:15 Lunch break
14:15 Breakout Session 1: Presentation and discussion on innovation initiatives
Four main topics will be discussed in parallel in two rounds to allow rotation of participants between two main topics. For each main topic, Operational Groups and research projects will present innovation cases and discus with the audience.
Topic A – Adopting decision support tools for small-scale forestry
Chair : Danijela Šarić BARTOLOVIC (CEKOM)
Project : SMURF – Alvaro PICARDO (CESEFOR)
Operational Groups:
GO SURF (Italy) – Francesca GIANNETTI (UNI Florence)
eGOZD (Slovenia) – Matvez TRIPLAT (Slovenian Forestry Institute)
PRI.FOR.MAN (Italy) – Luca CADEZ (UNI Udine)
Topic B – Forest restoration in a changing climate
Co-Chairs : Benjamin CHAPELET (CNPF), MORNEAU Francois (CNPF-IDF)
Project: SUPERB – Elisabeth SCHATZDORFER (EFI)
Operational Groups:
BIOSEIFORTE – SlideforMap (Italy) – Illenia MURGIA (UNI Florence), Alessandro VITALI, Carlo URBINATI (UNIVPM)
EUROFORM (France) – Eric HINCELIN
Bee forest (Germany) – Judith TREIS
Topic C – Valorizing non-wood forest products for healthy consumption patterns
Chair : Aida RODRIGUEZ (CESEFOR)
Project: INCREDIBILE – Inazio MARTINEZ (EFI Bioregions Facility)
Operational Groups:
EU Bibionet Operational Groups overview – Patrizia BORSOTTO (CREA)
ResinLAB (Spain) – Blanca VALVERDE (COSE)
Platisor (Portugal) – Luis BONIFACIO (INIAV)
Topic D – Agroforestry innovations
Chair : Rosa Maria MOSQUERA-LOSADA (USC)
Project: AF4EU – Rosa Maria MOSQUERA-LOSADA (USC)
Operational Groups:
FORESTCELTA and ASOPORCEL (Spain) – Ivan RODRIGUEZ PAZ
NEWTON CREDIT FOR AGROFORESTRY (Italy) – Jacopo GORACCI, Antonio BRUNORI & Francesco MARINI (PEFC Italy)
Fertipinea (Portugal) – Pedro SILVEIRA (ANSUB)
ECOMONTDAO XXI (Portugal) – Antonio REIS PEREIRA (UNAC)
15:45 Coffee Break and Rotation between Breakout tables
16:15 Breakout Session 2: Presentation and discussion on innovation initiatives
Participants can rotate to another room to learn about other cases/another topic (same presentations as in breakout session 1)
17:45 End of Day 1
DAY 2 : 12 February
8:30 Check in day 2
09:00 Plenary Session-Reports from the breakout sessions
Table 1 : Adopting decision support tools for small-scale forestry – Daniele SARIC BARTOLOVIC
Table 2 : Forest restoration in a changing climate – Benjamin CHAPELET, Francois MORNEAU
Table 3 : Valorizing non-wood forest products for healthy consumption patterns – Aida RODRIGUEZ
Table 4 : Agroforestry innovations – Rosa Maria MOSQUERA-LOSADA
Q&A
09:30 Driving Innovation in Forestry: Barriers, Solutions, and Future Opportunities – EUFORE project and future European Partnership on Forests and Forestry
Moderator : Ivana ZIVOJINOVIC (EUFORE project)
This session will explore ways to collectively advance innovation in forestry and the forest-based sector. It will contribute to the outputs of the EUFORE project (A future research and innovation agenda for the forest-based sector) and the future European Partnership on Forests and Forestry.
Block 1 : Unlocking Forest Innovation in Europe: factors, barriers and solutions
- Introduction to the EUFORE project and the applied methods in the innovation review
- Audience Engagement
Block 2 : Exploring Opportunities Through the Open Innovation Ecosystem
- Introduction to the Open Innovation Ecosystem activities within EUFORE
- Audience Engagement
10:45 Coffee break
11:15 Introduction to the Regional Authorities Roundtable Discussion on priorities for innovation and a supportive framework
Administration of innovation in Forestry and Agroforestry: Enabler, barrier or both? – Kathrin BÖHLING (Forest4EU, StMELF-LWF)
11:30 Regional Authorities Roundtable Discussion on priorities for innovation and a supportive framework
Moderator : Fabio BOSCALERI
The inputs provided by previous sessions are discussed regarding consequences for regional administrations and their activities to support innovation for forests of the future.
Bavaria – Maximilian MUNINGER (Bavarian Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Forest, Germany)
Castile and Leon – JEZQUERRA Javier (Deputy Director on Natural Heritage and Forest Policy in Junta de
Castilla y León, Spain)
Croatia – BOGOVIC Zdenko (President of Croatian Union of Private Forest Owners’ Associations)
Region XX – tbc
Region YY – tbc
Elin JOHNSSON (Policy Officer on Rural areas & networks, DG AGRI)
12:30 Conclusions and next steps
12:45 End of conference
The workshop is moderated by Harald Mauser, European Forest Institute
The working language is English
The event is cost-free
Event Organised by
These projects have received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation Programme under grant agreement No 101086216 and No 101060554.