Starting the activities for the ForestValue2 Project, recently launched, with the participation of MASAF and CREA
ForestValue2 - Innovating forest-based economy project has just kicked-off and will run from January 2023 until December 2027. In continuity with ForestValue, the main aim of the new Project -of which MASAF and CREA are partners- is the implementation of at least one joint call for RDI proposals dedicated to forest-based sector: indicatively the first call will be launched at May 2023. Another important output will be the strengthening of the collaboration of the future European Research and Innovation Partnership on Forests and Forestry.
General context
In 2019, the Member States and their research funding organisations decided to propose a co‑funded European Research and Innovation Partnership on Forests and Forestry. This was also highlighted in the EU Forest Strategy for 2030, which calls for a research and innovation partnership on forestry “to overcome the fragmentation of public research efforts in the EU and to reinforce work on research priorities that call for a stronger coordination”. Various discussions and negotiations led to the application for a European Partnership on Forests and Forestry: a draft version of the fiche has been developing by the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research Strategic Working Group on Forests and Forestry Research and Innovation (SCAR Forest SWG), coordinator of the partnership. Further discussions with the European Commission and Member States will continue to align the partnership on their priorities. An important future step will be the submission of the partnership idea to the Horizon Europe Strategic Plan 2025-2027 in June 2023.
The development of the fiche related to the European Partnership of Forests and Forestry will benefit from the activities implemented in two important Horizon projects: (i) EUFORE (European Forest Research and Innovation Ecosystem) started in November 2022 and coordinated by the European Forest Institute (EFI) which main aim is to develop the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) of the Partnership; (ii) ForestValue2 (Innovating forest-based economy), started on January 2023 and coordinated by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Finland. the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests (MASAF), involved in both the projects and CREA, involved in particular in Forestvalue2 with three Research Centres (Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy, Forestry and Wood and Agriculture and Environment), will work in synergy in different activities. The Research Centre for Agricultural Policies and Bioeconomy supports MASAF also in the SCAR Forest WG.
Actions
The most important contribution of ForestValue2 is the coordination of the fragmented public research efforts in forest-based sector and the reinforcement of work on research priorities that call for a stronger collaboration. All the activities are organized in continuity with the previous ForestValue project, encouraging a wide engagement, in particular early-stage researchers and EU widening countries.
ForestValue2 is organized in the following WP: Management; Call Preparation; Call Implementation; Follow-up and monitoring of project resulting from the joint call; Communication, dissemination and exploitation; Other joint activities.
Specifically, CREA is mainly involved in the implementation of other joint actions such as summer schools, breakfast clubs for early‑stage researchers and industry, workshops/webinars/scientific cafés for the general public to meet researchers and experts to discuss scientific topics and ongoing and future projects.