Ponadnarodowy

The efficiency, security and inviolability of the blockchain system support forest certification and the forest-wood supply chain with a view to "ensuring certainty and informing according to truth". The Woodchain project involves, together with PEFC Italy and PEFC France, various Turin and Val di Susa realities: Replant Srl, Foodchain spa, La Foresta, Alta Val Susa forest consortium, F. Roche sas, Silva cooperative company and Kaboom Srl.
The purpose of the study is to test the application of blockchain technology as an innovative IT (information technology) solution for forestry and wood applications. This technology allows you to create and manage a large distributed database for managing transactions shared between multiple nodes on a network. The nodes represent the users or entities participating in the network, which contribute to the constitution of the actual blocks, each containing multiple transactions, connected together in the network, which allow decentralization and participation in the management of information and data.
Specifically, the project's objective is to strengthen trust and traceability along value chains, create an efficient and accessible sustainable forest management certification, and encourage the evolution of certification, data collection and impact measurement processes.

Scanner is under constant development. A measuring device, mounted at the towing hitch of a car. Sensors collect values, to assess the road quality of unpaved, single lane roads. The system consists of ultrasonic sensors to scan the cross section of a road segment, acceleration sensors to get information about the longitudinal roughness and a GPS sensor for locating the information. After data collection, an open configurable software bundle (implemented as GUI modules in iFOS) allows individual settings for the single sensor thresholds and algorithms to adopt the system to the own road maintenance concept. Mounted at the car of the forest ranger an easy and frequent data collection is possible and provides an early and objective knowledge about the constructional decline of road segments. Maintenance costs can  be reduced and reconstruction measures get execute mor accurate.  A logical data interpretation of the sensor values is possible. The assignment of the sensors towards different decay expressions on the road surface was conducted and semi- automatically related to road quality segment classification. Results show, that a single manual optical assessment of road segments miss first phases of road decay and underlines the potential of such systems. Tests and calibrations of the road-scanner allows a good data interpretation for the set task. Many degrees of freedom of the scanner and the data interpretation still leaves some open research questions.

woodpassage - from tree to house!
An installation consisting of four wooden gates makes the transformation from tree to house a sensual experience. It tells the story of the contribution of modern timber construction to climate- and resource-friendly cities of the future.
The tree grows in the forest - the tree becomes wood - the wood becomes the house. With simple pictogrammatic signs in forty steps, slice by slice cut out of large blocks of wood, the "wood passage" conveys the transformation from tree to house. When walking through the archways, each with their imposing size of 4.3 by 4.3 metres, the special materiality of wood can be experienced. At the same time, the walk-in installation is a playful mouthpiece for the ecological advantages of building with wood.
13 cubic metres of wood are used in the installation. This amount grows back in Austria's forests in 13 seconds. 13 tonnes of CO2 are permanently bound in the wood of the four gates. This is equivalent to the pollutant emissions of a passenger car in 8 years. 
Wood is constantly growing back in the forest and is available. 30 million cubic metres of wood are produced in Austria's forests every year, only about 26 million cubic metres of which are harvested. The rest remains in the forest and steadily increases the wood supply.
40 percent of all resources consumed go into the construction sector, and globally this sector is also responsible for 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Wood replaces building materials from finite resources. Houses made of wood bind CO2 in the long term and thus are gentle on the climate. The increased use of wood in construction is creating a second forest in our cities. 

Objectives. To meet the global and European challenges of reducing the GHG emissions from the construction sector, Build-in-Wood will develop a sustainable and innovative wood value chain for the construction of multi-storey wood buildings. The ambition of the project is to make optimised and cost effective wood construction methods common practice in the European construction sector. The objectives include: 1) To make wood a natural choice of building material for the construction of multi-storey buildings, 2) To decrease GHG-emissions of the European building sector, 3) To establish an innovative and sustainable European value chain for multi-storey wood buildings, 4) To improve the connection between rural and urban areas and to contribute to sustainable urbanisation, 5) To increase productivity of the European building sector.

Build-in-Wood will address this challenge through innovative development of materials and components as well as structural systems and façade elements for multi-storey wood buildings fit for both new construction and retrofitting. Developments will be tested, piloted and fully documented for immediate market uptake. Active engagement of selected cities will strengthen the urban-rural connections. The project aims to lay the foundation for the solutions developed to be usable upon its completion for full scale construction projects. 

What is an Early Adopter City? To understand and overcome individual barriers implementing Build-in-Wood solutions, seven very different European cities have been selected as Early Adopter Cities. They range from capital metropoles to mid-size and small mountain cities, making one thing clear: Any city can decide to build in wood and benefit from it. The Early Adopter Cities take a leading role in the project, receiving detailed context analyses, workshops and implementation support from the Consortium and Advisory Board. Their stories shall inspire cities around the world to rethink construction and social responsibility. They include: Brasov, Romania; Trento, Italy; Innsbruck, Austria; Copenhagen, Denmark; Trondheim, Norway; London, United Kingdom; Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Results, outcomes and impacts. 1) Optimised materials (resource-efficient, enhanced qualities), 2) Development of a structural, customisable building system platform as well as guidelines for incorporation of ICT tools in the design process, 3) Performance and environmental documentation of developed materials, systems and solutions (e.g. LCA, LCC, S-LCA), 4) Demonstration projects, 5) Stakeholder co-creation and scenario building workshops in selected European cities, 6) Training for entrepreneurs, SMEs and researchers, 7) An open source design guide (for private clients and local/ national authorities), 8) Overview and evaluation of relevant legislation, public regulations and standards, 9) Model for enhancement of rural-urban connection.

The project thus foster the following impacts: 1) Reduction of GHG emissions through increased use of the sustainable, resource- and energy-efficient material wood, 2) A rising demand for forest-based construction products will provide incentives for expanding and maintaining forests, 3) Creating economic opportunities and new ways of using wood and nature-based materials in construction sector, 4) Increase of innovation in the building industry (materials, building systems and processes), 5) Higher quality of buildings (including health and indoor climate​, 6) Green and decent jobs in rural and urban areas through a sustainable wood value chain.

The Build-in-Wood consortium, coordinated by the Danish Technological Institute, consists of 21 partners from 11 different countries, covering the entire wood value chain from factory to final construction. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 862820.

Production of paper from fallen leaves.
RE-leaf scales the process of pulp production, which is based on the use of fibre from fallen leaves and in the future other types of fibre from agricultural waste. RE-leaf significantly reduced energy consumption due to a simplified method of fibre extraction, water consumption was reduced by 15 times and all processes are based on the use of chemical reagents free of sulfates, sulfites and chlorine, compared to conventional pulp production processes. The product created brings what was once considered waste back into the economic cycle and is itself recyclable. This provides RE-leaf customers with a guarantee that the company is not sourcing from controversial sources.
RE-leaf PAPER is made of fallen leaves coming to the enterprise from cities. This makes it possible to solve the problem of the utilization of plant waste in the urban ecosystem and preserve the integrity of forest ecosystems.
Started in 2017 as idea of the Ukrainian school pupil Valentyn Frechka, in 2019 a patent was obtained for the technology of recycling leaves with the subsequent production of paper. In 2020 RE-Leaf PAPER Research and Production Enterprise Limited Liability Company was set up, it moved from the laboratory to an industrial enterprise. The company was included in the list of members of the Enterprise Europe Network.
The products include:
- Re-leaf paper
- Re-leaf bag - leaf fibre combined with waste paper
- Re-leaf trays for packaging of food

Agricultural residues such as straw, bank canes and trees pruning constitute a significant load of green waste in rural areas from both sides of the borders. Those wastes are poorly managed causing severe environmental impacts. At the same time local authorities use expensive fossil fuel for space heating of public buildings, and due to the current economic recession, very often the amount of heat generated cannot satisfy the real needs of the building users. The sustainable management of the green waste can offer a real solution in both of the above problems. There is available technology that can utilize agrowastes as fuel for space heating under the only condition that a reliable supply chain is established.

Scope of this project is to establish a supply chain for green wastes, combined with the relevant business model, which will secure its sustainability. The supply chain will be customized according to the wastes that are available from both sides of the border and the business model will be adapted to the specific local conditions. The supply chain will serve selected end users in each country, therefore its operability will be tested and possible problems and barriers will be resolved.

Cross-Forest está desarrollando una plataforma común de datos forestales abiertos y un modelo de datos transfronterizo (ontología) compartido entre Portugal y España, para la publicación de inventarios forestales, mapas y otras bases de datos forestales en formato Linked Open Data (LOD). Cross-Forest proporcionará un repositorio público (endpoint) de publicación de Datos Forestales según el modelo producido. El objetivo principal se centra en mantener la información forestal siempre disponible y actualizada para facilitar su explotación a todos los agentes implicados en la gestión e investigación forestal.

Se están desarrollando dos casos de uso:
CAMBRIC - orientado a simular la evolución de las masas forestales y la calidad de la madera en distintos escenarios de gestión forestal.
FRAME – enfocado a la predicción del comportamiento y propagación de los incendios forestales a través de información precisa sobre materiales combustibles, mapas forestales y modelos de propagación.

Se emplean recursos de computación de alto rendimiento (HPC) debido a la cantidad de datos generados y gestionados, y a la complejidad de los modelos.

Los resultados obtenidos hasta ahora demuestran la utilidad y versatilidad que proporciona la tecnología LOD, ya que permite a los usuarios acceder y gestionar libremente datos actualizados para desarrollar herramientas adaptadas a sus necesidades y propósitos. La publicación de datos como LOD permite a las Administraciones Públicas cumplir fácilmente con sus requisitos de transparencia y publicidad, optimizar recursos y llevar un control estadístico del uso de los datos públicos.

Cross-Forest is developing a common platform for open forest data, and a cross-border data model (ontology) shared between Portugal and Spain, for the publication of forest inventories, maps and other forest databases in Linked Open Data format (LOD). Cross-Forest will provide a public endpoint exposing Forest Data, according to the produced model. The main goal is focused on keeping forest information always available and updated, to make exploitation easier for all stakeholders involved in forest management and research.
Two use cases are being developed:
CAMBRIC - to estimate the evolution of forests and wood quality, under different management scenarios
FRAME - to predict forest fires behavior and spreading through precise information on combustible materials, forestry maps and propagation models.
High Performance Computing (HPC) resources are employed due to the amount of data generated and managed, and to the complexity of the models.
Results so far show the usefulness and versatility provided by LOD technology, as It allows users to freely access and manage updated data to develop tools adapted to their needs and purposes. Publishing data as LOD allows Public Administrations to easily fulfil their requirements of transparence and publicity, optimize resources and keep a statistic control of the use of public data.

The COOPWOOD project aims to foster cross-border cooperation between actors involved in vocational training in the field of wood and its business, allowing a substantial improvement of contents, methods, tools and training offerings that respond more to the demand of its value chain. The objective is simply to improve the qualification levels and skills of the different agents in the wood sector, mainly trainers, students and technicians, in order to facilitate a new revival for a sector in decline, unable to adapt to the new market trends and to the society in general.
Also, the project aims to improve the mobility of students and workers. The improvement of the labor market access, on both border sides, will enable new business, taking advantage of the potential of both sides of the border, creating the most competitive work teams. Another purpose of the COOPWOOD is to generate systems of equivalence between competencies and qualifications and generate tools to direct access the information on employment, the legislation and the relevant sector information; this helps to eliminate the existing barriers and facilitate the mobility of the stakeholders and the collaboration between companies in the cross-border space.

The first training methodology has been developed in the wood sector based on collaborative challenges.
The first transboundary working group on wood training has been established.

The main results will be :
Formation of cross-border network of key actors in wood training for the exchange of potentials.
-Development of new training methodology for Professional Training, 5 training courses on innovative topics, 4 new wood products and 5 software supporting industrial management, in addition to 1 platform on wood and training and 1 employment observatory.
All this aims to promote and facilitate the mobility of at least 580 people.

With two newly developed forwarder prototypes, five new and different modules were implemented and tested in the fields under varying production conditions within Europe. These modules are developed towards raising the productivity of the machine, improving the working conditions and lowering the ecological impact of the forwarding process. The modules contain a hydrostatic-mechanical transmission system (HVT, M1), a suspended cabin (M2), an energy regenerating and recuperating hydraulic crane (M3), a triple bogie axle for wet terrain, that can be used with or without tracks (M4) and a monitoring system to surveil and document the machine status to derive further information of production and environment (M5).

With the tests of prototype machines, the aims of development could be proven by the field tests, that were executed within the study. Especially the effect on the soils on sensitive areas, also without the use of bogie tracks, as it was tested on distributed bark beetle infested stands in Saxony, was one field of application where the advantages of tire-based working, longer bogie axle and high contact surface were positively assessed. With more experiences, the revelation of further advantages or limitations are expected.

Within the field tests, all modules of the “Triple Bogie Prototype” (M3, M4, M5) were assessed with a positive effect. For wetland (Saxony) or even peatland working conditions (Scotland, Lithuania), the triple bogie showed advantages in technical accessibility but also the lower environmental impact on sensitive areas. Without the use of tracks, especially under varying, partly sensitive soil conditions the system has advantages towards other systems as the machine was able to relocate itself on own axle for long distances and provide the protection effect. The protection of ditches while entering forest stands was a positive additional effect of the system that could be observed as it acts like a built- in bridge. Due to potential high load capacity of both base machines, also a high productivity was recorded that fit or exceeded literature findings. The crane system (M3) which has also a high positive influence on the fuel consumption could withstand a fuel consumption reduction effect on its own, at is was proven under laboratory conditions.

• With higher productivity, now due to higher driving speeds and in course of a lowered fuel consumption, the second, “HVT- Prototype” (M1, M2, M5) setup presented its advantages especially under longer hauling distances with high possible driving speeds. This machine can be especially be efficiently used in regions with low road densities.
• With the monitoring system (M5), the environmental impact and the machine behavior was actively observed and evaluated. As the here implemented iFOS system is freely configurable, it was successfully implemented in the project and could for instance be further introduced as modular environmental documentation system by forest enterprises or in public services. The separately developed data-based crane scale as stand-alone or industry 4.0 service, makes it possible to use the forwarding information in logistic applications like the energy wood supply in the wood chip logistic (Geiger et al. 2019).