The European forest-wood value chain can improve significantly

Wood and woody biomass will be very important for the European bio-economy. Important for traditional products, but also for new products and for energy. Demand for wood is expected to rise substantial by 2030-2050. In this trend towards the bio-economy, insight in availability of European forest resources, desired qualities and prices will be crucial, but is lacking now. This Climate KIC pathfinder has developed the initial stage and feasibility of an innovative tool to take stock of regionally available assortments and qualities of wood in the forest based on latest remote sensing and ground truth data.

As a first step, this Pathfinder explored the information needs of key players in the forest timber chain on present and desired future forest data. Together with key players, availability and gaps of existing data was surveyed and data requirements on future timber volumes and qualities were explored.

On the base of these data needs, an accelerator project will be performed for the development of a supporting tool to gather and to present these data as well as a businessplan. The business case of the tool will explore possible (funding) commitments of (key) stakeholders.