Focus on Austrian damaged timber - OptiForValue Kick-off meeting in Finland

The kick-off meeting of the HORIZON-JU-RIA project OptiForValue funded by the European Commission took place in Joensuu, Finland, from 24^th – 26^th September 2024. Wood K plus, represented by the team “Functional Wood & Biobased Materials” from Tulln, is one of 17 project partners in the international project consortium and is responsible for the Austrian case study with a focus on damaged timber.

The primary objective of OptiForValue is to develop, test and demonstrate high-quality forest-based value chains based on efficient forest management, wood production and utilisation, supporting the principles of economic, ecological and socio-economic sustainability. In addition, the project aims to increase the value, competitiveness and sustainability of existing forest-based value chains, particularly in the regional forest-based value chains that are affected or likely to be severely affected by climate change in the coming decades. The OptiForValue consortium, consisting of seven companies and twelve research and development organisations, will accelerate the creation of at least four resilient, sustainable and high-value forest-based regional value chains that will provide the basis for the transformation of other forest-based supply chains across Europe. The design and implementation of these high-value forest-based regional value chains will be based on the latest scientific knowledge and the participatory involvement of relevant stakeholders in each region. These transformed high-value value chains will accelerate the transition to a more sustainable bioeconomy.

Wood K plus is leading the Austrian Use Case with focus on damaged timber. Together with scientific partners LUKE (Finland) and BOKU, the aim is to analyse and evaluate damaged timber towards its material utilisation to find pathways ensuring material availability especially for wooden building materials in future.