Today is the final day of implementation of the FOREST4EU project – the European Innovation Partnership network promoting Operational Groups dedicated to forestry and agroforestry, funded under the Horizon Europe programme (2023-2025).
During its implementation period, the FOREST4EU project successfully connected Operational Groups, experts, and stakeholders from across Europe with the aim of strengthening innovation in forestry and agroforestry. Through a strong collaborative network, the project enabled the exchange of knowledge, experience, and examples of good practice, and contributed to a better understanding of challenges and solutions in the field of sustainable forest management.
The project’s added value was particularly achieved through the work of the Innovation Thematic Hubs (ITHubs), which addressed key topics such as:
- forest adaptation to climate change
- improved sustainable forest management tools
- wood mobilisation and valorization
- non-wood forest products
- agroforestry
During the project implementation, important study visits were organised in Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, France, and Italy. A total of nine national workshops were also organised and held, during which ten local innovations were selected and evaluated in each country, resulting in the identification of 59 highly relevant innovations for capacity building.
The objective of the FOREST4EU project was to promote the sustainability of forestry and agroforestry (as well as rural areas) through new business models, social innovations, and climate change resilience measures financed through Operational Groups. The FOREST4EU project provided intensive knowledge transfer activities to foster new alliances among farmers, foresters, policymakers, and other stakeholders across Europe, with the aim of demonstrating the feasibility of alternative strategies and systems that are, or could be, funded at local or national level by EIP-AGRI Operational Groups. The total project budget exceeded EUR 2 million, and the project duration was 36 months.
