Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ROSEWOOD (European Network of Regions On SustainablE WOOD mobilisation)

Teaser

ROSEWOOD’s long-term objective is to close the knowledge gap and support sustainable wood mobilization in EU-Regions by establishing multi-actors Wood Mobilization Regional Hubs that will support sustainable economic development of forest sector for the benefit of rural...

Summary

ROSEWOOD’s long-term objective is to close the knowledge gap and support sustainable wood mobilization in EU-Regions by establishing multi-actors Wood Mobilization Regional Hubs that will support sustainable economic development of forest sector for the benefit of rural areas, regions and communities. There is a need in Europe (piloted at the 4 hubs) to intensively exploit existing innovations, best-practices and synergies between EU-Regions and at the same time take up innovation ideas from grass-root level as well as to better understand the regional/European framework in terms of education, funding possibilities and policy measures and to align these across the EU-regions to better exploit synergies among them. ROSEWOOD is offering intense knowledge transfer activities and considers training and education services to achieve its objectives, that are:
1) Develop and implement 4 multi-actor Wood Mobilization Regional Hubs in main European regions (North, South, Central and East of Europe) as cooperation and innovation platforms for knowledge transfer
2) Transfer and communicate knowledge on key R&I results, innovations, and best practice in sustainable wood mobilization. Provide easy accessible material feeding EIP-AGRI and EIP-Raw Materials and supporting also other networks and platforms such as the Forest Technology Platform or the ERIAFF.
3) Identify and develop cooperation between multi-players in the network as well as exploiting synergies between EU-Regions
4) Support the Design of new business opportunities for sustainable wood mobilization through support, training and knowledge resources available at the Hubs
5) Support the full exploitation of actual funding, educational and regulatory policies in and across the regions
During this first project period, the main objectives were particularly:
1) Kick-off the project and make partners aware on their activities and aims
2) Kick-off the 4 regional Wood Mobilisation Hubs by organising launch events and inform and collect memberships from European stakeholders
3) Collect Best practices and Innovations in the partnership regions and describe them
4) Analyse the wood mobilisation value-chain to prepare a database of associations linking all stakeholders and support them in finding partnerships
5) Analyse stakeholders\' needs, especially forest owners, contractors and wood-using industry, in regards to Wood mobilisation (competences, financing, policies, best practices) by implementing questionnaires and analysis of existing studies
6) Develop 4 Hubs roadmaps to favour targeted knowledge transfer between hubs according to their needs
7) Communicate the projects objectives, activities and results using multi-platform approach: website, flyers, social medias, workshops, conferences, etc.

Work performed

Results in the differents workpackages are explained below:
• WP1 aims at analyzing the potential of wood mobilisation in EU regions. Project partners focused on the identification of innovative solutions and best practices in wood mobilisation. Partners conducted to this end interviews with 74 experts (17 in Central Hub, 41 in Southern, 8 in Northern and 9 in Eastern Hub). Altogether, more than 100 best-practices and 30 innovations were collected and described. Analysis of best practices together with first results of the SWOTs analysis has been presented in a report (D1.3, to be made public). The Wood Mobilization Regional Hubs in the 4 EU regions were launched and selected best practices presented at the events. A framework for the SWOT analyses was developed and partners prepared the interregional Roadmaps. These roadmaps, designated to facilitate best practice transfer among EU regions, were prepared with the support of 61 experts (through expert panels). Roadmaps were summarised and presented in D1.4 that will be made public. A tool is under development to present the best practices, innovations and roadmaps on the ROSEWOOD website. Last but not least, first though on coaching methodologies were implemented, even if these activities will be delayed to end of September 2019.
• WP2 aims at developing and unlocking new business opportunities along the wood value chain. Activities conducted concentrated mainly on the Forestry value-chain and collection of (users’) needs. ROSEWOOD adapted an existing wood mobilisation value-chain, considering mainly the wood transformations rather than the sources of Wood and covering all sections of the wood LifeCycle. This was used for the regional mapping of value chain stakeholders, mainly associations. Altogether, 210 institutions were identified as relay for partnership finding. Furthermore, stakeholders’ needs (forest owners, contractors and wood-using industry) were analysed by implementing an on-line questionnaire (234 answers in total) and analysing existing studies (more than 100 covered). Results were used to map best practices with the Needs in the roadmaps.
• Collection of best practices in WP1 took also into account the education, financing and political measures level. In addition, some questions asked in the needs analysis in WP2 concerned also WP3 relevant aspects, beginning thus slowly the activities.
• WP4 focuses on project communication, dissemination and collaboration with other initiatives. A Corporate Identity and a communication strategy were elaborated. Core promotion materials such as a project brochure plus complementary inlays in consortium\'s national languages, a project Website, public presentations, press releases, project’s promotion through dedicated social media accounts (twitter + LinkedIN) as well as presentation of the project at (inter-)national Events were established.
• WP5 addresses the administrative management of the project.
• WP6 concerns the ethical guidance of the project. The partners outlined here how the project ensure the protection of data from stakeholders collected within ROSEWOOD, the appropriate consideration of ecological sustainability and biodiversity.

Final results

ROSEWOOD seeks to enhance sustainable wood mobilization throughout Europe by initiating a lasting exchange of knowledge between forestry stakeholders through its network of EU regions.
The ROSEWOOD network on sustainable wood mobilization has for mission to:
• Open up new avenues of stakeholder cooperation at the regional and European level (joint workshops, brokerage events and databases)
• Advance sustainable forestry development by fostering exchange of innovative solutions and technologies for e.g. land management, infrastructure or forest ownership structure
• Initiate 4 inter-regional projects that will follow-up on the ROSEWOOD recommendations
Furthermore, the information and instruments provided and distributed through the ROSEWOOD network will:
• Enhance capitalisation of the wood mobilisation potential in each region involved in the project
• Deliver recommendations for an improved EU wood mobilisation framework
• Enable stakeholders of the value chain to access private and public funding
Altogether, the exchange of best practices and innovations among regions and stakeholders initiated by ROSEWOOD will:
• Strengthen the European wood sector’s competitiveness and innovation capacity
• Contribute to an increased supply of primary and secondary wood raw materials to the forest-based bio economy (taking also into account the cascading use of wood), whilst preserving the EU forest ecosystems and forests‘ capacity to deliver all its functions

Website & more info

More info: https://rosewood-network.eu/.