Innovative wood technologies

Problem Statement

Although forestry and wood processing are important parts of the bioeconomy, the sector has limited capacity to innovate and to develop and scale up new higher added-value wood products. In particular, hardwood processing requires better technologies to boost the value of both higher and lower-quality timber and ensure alignment with suitable silvicultural methods. Moreover, re-used wood offers major environmental and economic benefits, but the absence of clear standards and tools for safety and performance assessment limits its wider adoption in construction and interior design.

Key issues to be addressed

Promote innovation uptake in the forestry and wood-processing sector.
Support actors in the hardwood value chain to support data-driven decisions about the future of their business and resources.
Align silviculture methods with the requirements of hardwood processing technologies.
Develop higher added-value products from hardwood.
Improve the use and new applications for logs scanning and other log quality assessment tools.
Improve the assessment of safety in the use of re-used wood.
Improve traceability, quality assurance and certification of re-used wood.
Develop regional re-used wood value chains.

Type of solutions we are looking for

We are looking for ideas, concepts or prototypes at different stages of development, close-to-market or market-ready solutions, to address –but not limited to– the following areas:

Innovative small-scale business models and circular solutions for locally rooted wood value chains.
Improved processes for automated detection and classification of hardwood log defects and material structures from computed tomography log scanning.
Cost-effective foresight tools (multi-decade) or methods for monitoring and forecasting market trends and emerging technologies in the hardwood value chain.
Indicator sets, testing protocols and monitoring tools for structural and toxicological assessment of re-used wood.
Screening and detection methods for harmful substances (e.g. formaldehyde, solvents, toxic coatings) in re-used wood
Digital platforms for mapping re-used wood sources, their properties and certification status.
Business models or business plans for circular procurement, traceability and quality assurance of re-used wood.
Guidelines for integrating re-used wood into public procurement and construction standards.