On 12th and 13th November 2025, the Final Conference of the FOREST4EU (funded by Horizon Europe) and ResAlliance (funded by Horizon Europe and the Swiss Confederation) projects was held in Vinkovci. The two-day event was organized by the Competence Centre for Research and Development. The conference was a unique opportunity to meet more than 70 leading European experts, stakeholders and innovators in the forestry and bioeconomy sectors, and presented key results and innovations from both projects dedicated to strengthening the resilience and sustainability of European forests.
The Conference highlighted the importance of joint association and networking as an important prerequisite for achieving a smart solutions in facing climate challenges in forestry. Emphasis was placed on synergy, cross-sectoral cooperation, interdisciplinary and holistic approaches in creating future solutions within forestry and agroforestry.
The conference was a great way for participants to intensively exchange research results, the latest scientific knowledge, practical experiences and innovative ideas related to the sustainability of forest ecosystems. Vinkovci was chosen as the venue for the Final Conference because of the Spačva Basin, a unique and ecologically invaluable complex of oak forests in Europe with the world-famous Slavonian oak, the pedunculate oak.
During the 2 days of the Conference, the participants visited the special forest vegetation reservate Lože, the Forestry Museum in Bošnjaci, the research center in Gradište, the Papak Winery in Ilok and OPG Ferbežar in Otok. Field activities connected scientific discussions with examples of good practice in the field.
FOREST4EU will promote the sustainability of forestry and agroforestry (and rural areas in general) through new business models, social innovation, and climate change resilience measures funded through operational groups. FOREST4EU provides intensive knowledge transfer activities to guide the formation of new alliances of farmers, foresters, policy makers and other stakeholders in Europe to demonstrate the feasibility of alternative strategies and systems that are or could be funded at the local/national level by EIP-AGRI OGs. Total budget of the Project is over 2 million euros and duration is 36 months. Competence Centre Ltd was one of 16 project partners that conducted activities during the implementation.
