COMET tender - Wood K plus prevails!
Award of ~€23 million for research on sustainable materials and process technology for the circular economy and bioeconomy
The Kompetenzzentrum Holz GmbH - Wood K plus has been conducting excellent research in the field of sustainable materials and process technologies for companies in cooperation with universities for over 20 years. With key topics such as renewable raw materials, circular economy and bioeconomy, Wood K plus makes a decisive contribution towards the ecological transformation of industry. Wood K plus was once again able to assert this pioneering role by winning the tender for COMET K1 Centers carried out by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in a competitive procedure. The proposed projects and measures received top marks from international and national experts.
The sustainable use of bio-based raw materials, energy-optimised manufacturing processes and a continuous circular bioeconomy are the central focal points of the research programme "WOOD - Transition to a sustainable bioeconomy". To this end, the programme focuses on efficient biorefinery solutions such as the recycling of by-products and residual flows as well as the production of bio-based chemicals, solvents and basic components.
Around 120 researchers at Wood K plus develop bio-based functionalised materials - such as new wood-based materials for furniture and construction, high-performance carbon materials, sustainable packaging, high-quality fibres, thermal insulation and natural composite materials for many applications, e.g. vehicles and wind power plants. There is also a focus on improving the carbon footprint of the construction sector. One hundred percent bio-based composite and wood-based materials are to further massively increase durability and functionality in timber construction. Using raw materials efficiently, protecting the environment and increasing productivity - digitalisation is playing an increasingly important role in this. To link bio-based materials with digitalisation, Wood K plus relies on the use of new technologies such as Big Data, Data Driven Modelling & Simulation.
Research is carried out together with 34 company partners and 15 scientific partners - including many well-known Austrian and international partners - at three locations in Linz (headquarters), Tulln and St. Veit an der Glan. One half of the funding for the center, with a total volume of 22.7 million euros over the next four-year funding period, will come from the public sector, with the federal ministries BMK and BMDW (30%), the provinces of Carinthia, Lower Austria and Upper Austria (15%) and the universities (5%). The other half is financed by the participating partner companies. In addition, Wood K plus participates in many national and international tenders - last month alone, three EU projects were acquired in the Horizon Europe programme with a total volume of over 1 million.