InnovaWood and the European Forest Institute are calling upon forest-based stakeholders in research and industry to develop a European Innovation and Research Program (EIRP) dedicated to the sustainable and added-value use of hardwood species in Europe. Respondents to the online questionnaire can share their innovative ideas on a variety of themes that cover both forestry and wood-based value chains.

This action kicks off the activities of the European Hardwoods Innovation Alliance (EHIA), a trans-national and multi-actor collaboration in Europe focused exclusively on hardwood species as a complementary potential field for innovations. EHIA will coordinate the know-how and the critical mass leading to breakthroughs in innovation, research and education and will create new qualified employment in smart rural regions within Europe. The initiative has been accepted already as a commitment under the European Innovation Partnership for Raw Materials (EIP RM).

 For additional support to respond the questionnaire, please contact directly Robert Mavsar (forestry themes) and Gus Verhaeghe (wood-based technology themes). The questionnaire will remain open until 13 October 2016.