Forest Bioeconomy in action
Treemetrics is a software-based company focused on sustainable forest management technology. The ForestHQ Climate-Smart Platform provides precise carbon quantification, forest carbon monitoring and digital reporting.
Content: Treemetrics factsheet from Unlocking Forest Carbon Markets – Event 1 of the Forestry Speed Dating 3rd Series
Publisher: Bioregions Facility
Year: 2023
Skoog is a company that uses remote sensing and computer vision to offer carbon credits to the forestry and agriculture industries. They make it easier for landowners, regardless of size, to access carbon markets and provide incentives to preserve and restore forests while improving agricultural practices.
Content: Skoog factsheet from Unlocking Forest Carbon Markets – Event 1 of the Forestry Speed Dating 3rd Series
Publisher: Bioregions Facility
Year: 2023
Europe is facing an increasing number of extreme wildfires, often with devastating consequences for people and the environment. These fires affect southern Europe as well as central European and Nordic countries.
As the limits of fire suppression-centred strategies become evident, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers increasingly recognise the need to develop novel approaches that expand the scope of work in this field, including the root causes and the impacts of Extreme Wildfires.
Working towards greater resilience to such extreme fires, FIRE-RES and its partners launched the FIRE-RES Open Innovation Challenge for applications aiming to address the most important challenges faced in the prevention of and preparation for, in response to, and enabling recovery after extreme wildfires.
The 11 Living Labs of FIRE-RES were assigned to identify these most pressing challenges, grouped into seven themes and 17 challenges: ‘Risk Communication and Awareness’, ‘Engagement and Empowerment’, ‘Training and Education’, ‘Management Before, During and After Extreme Wildfire Events’, ‘Monitoring’, ‘Forecasting and Decision Support’, ‘Policy and Governance’. Explore all themes and challenges here.
The Open Innovation Challenge is open to innovators, entrepreneurs, technologists, researchers, businesses of all sizes, experts, and all forward-thinking minds to step up and submit cutting-edge solutions addressing the challenges experienced by different stakeholders coping with the risks of extreme wildfires.
It is seeking innovative solutions of all kinds, for instance, technological, social or business-related: products, services, platforms, processes, procedures, best practices, etc. Solutions at all development stages are welcome, from early ideas, methods, and prototypes to close-to-market or market-ready services and products.
Successful applicants with early-stage solutions, such as ideas, will be supported to develop their solutions. Later-stage solutions, such as prototypes, close-to-market, or market-ready solutions, will be supported to demonstrate, pilot and upscale their solutions. This will include brokerage of on-the-ground contacts and testing of their solutions’ feasibility in the realistic contexts of the Living Labs. Successful applicants will receive mentoring and in-kind support as well as, in selected cases, financial support. For the latter, a total of €168.000 is available for this Open Innovation Challenge, with individual entries being eligible for up to €5.000 for demonstration activities and up to €16.000 for piloting activities.
The FIRE-RES Open Innovation Challenge is open until 19 November 2023 (23:59 CET). For full details, please visit the website here.
Sign up for the FIRE-RES Newsletter and receive the latest updates about our activities and the Open Innovation Challenge here.
For questions about applications, please contact: oic@fire-res.eu
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 | The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101037419. |
Arbonaut offers various web, desktop, and cloud-based software solutions and mobile applications. Arbonaut Fire Risk Management (ArboFiRM) uses information based on remote sensing data (mainly LiDAR) to support decision-making for the prevention and extinction of forest fires in natural areas and wildland-urban interface.
Zerti Carbon, a company that offers certified carbon sink solutions using blockchain technology, is dedicated to advancing climate-smart forestry solutions, connecting forest owners with companies interested in neutralising carbon emissions. Working with forest owners to restore and keep forests healthy and to help them connect with companies and individuals.
Life Bioreformed is a project that strives to advance the field of bioremediation and environmental restoration. Their primary goal is to enhance sustainable Mediterranean forest management by upgrading an existing biorefinery through torrefaction and pyrolysis (TP) to produce renewable fuels and chemicals from forest biomass.
Axalko Bikes designs and produces lightweight, high-quality, and eco-friendly electric bicycles using natural fibres and wood as raw frame materials. With a fusion of innovative engineering and eco-conscious principles, their bikes blend style, functionality, and environmental responsibility.
Evolgene is a biotechnology company that applies advanced genetic research and innovative technologies to develop solutions for various industries.
The company has created a process to produce cellulose nanocrystals that could be used in healthcare, agriculture, and environmental sustainability sectors. This biomaterial is obtained from various cellulose sources using ancestral enzymes.
On 31 August 2023, a delegation from the Basque Country, Spain, visited the European Forest Institute (EFI) headquarters and the Bioregions Facility in Joensuu, Finland. The visit was part of a trip the delegation made to Helsinki and Joensuu to strengthen their relations and seek collaboration opportunities with different institutions working on the bioeconomy.
Robert Mavsar, interim director of EFI, introduced EFI’s work and strategic role in research and innovation, followed by Diana Tuomasjukka, who highlighted the ongoing projects and activities done in the Bioeconomy Programme to Estibaliz Hernáez, vice-minister of Technology, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Bittor Oroz, vice-minister of Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Policy, Leire Barañano, general director of Neiker, and Imanol Goenaga, advisor for environment and sustainability.
The Basque government has an ambitious bioeconomy roadmap. It aims to make the region a reference in the bioeconomy, promoting the generation and consolidation of high-value economic activities based on the optimal exploitation of regional resources.
Presentations were followed by vivid discussions on the challenges that developing a sustainable bioeconomy has in the Basque Country and the rest of Europe, such as including biodiversity and social responsibility in industries, the role that perceptions and beliefs play in forest planning and management, and the need of models and tools that analyse ecological, economic and social aspects.
“The Basque Country counts with a lot of research information; what we need to develop further are models that can make information useable in a practical way. Effectively communicating the findings is also crucial to move from a traditional mindset to a more science-based one,” said Leire Barañano.
The work of EFI in providing tools that link knowledge to action and in communicating science to the population and industries is crucial in this scenario.
Lauri Sikanen, principal scientist and group manager of Luke—an organisation expert in the sustainable use of renewable natural resources—presented Luke’s research programmes and how they foster the forest-based bioeconomy in Finland.
The Basque delegation was received by Seppo Tossavainen, Business Specialist, and Kirsi Svard, Business Coach, at Business Joensuu, where they had the opportunity to learn more about the organisation’s development services and Forest Joensuu Innovation Ecosystems.
Companies supported by Business Joensuu—Hiil and WoodSense from Mielikki Nordic—pitched their solutions. They discussed the favourable conditions that Business Joensuu and the bioeconomy ecosystem in North Karelia provide for the development of forest-based companies.
During the afternoon, they met Pekka Äänismaa, director and stakeholder relations at Metsäkeskus – Finnish Forest Centre, who presented the Centre’s work. Tuomo Kauranne, president of Arbonaut, gave a presentation on Living with fire: How to mitigate forest fires with digital twins of the forest.
Bittor Oroz, vice-minister of Fisheries, Agriculture and Food Policy, expressed his gratitude for the satisfactory relations that the Basque Country has with EFI as well as the membership of the region in the Bioregions Facility.
Featured image: Minna Korhonen by EFI
The English-language Master’s programme Tropical Forestry qualifies future decision-makers and change agents to develop sustainable forest management strategies and implement development-relevant measures in rural and peri-urban areas. The programme provides expert knowledge on how to deal with diverse human-forest interactions and sustainable development issues.
M.Sc. Tropical Forestry programme has a study start only in the winter semester, with classes starting in October. Interested applicants may apply to the programme through the study options listed below. Each study option comes with a unique set of requirements and application procedures, further elaborated below. Depending on the chosen study option and individual cases, the process from application to admission may take six months to a year to complete. So, please be advised to prepare your application documents and plan your arrival well.
Deadline for DAAD EPOS scholarship is 30 October 2023.
Photo by Anderson Schmig on Unsplash
