FTP is delighted to report another good example of the uptake of building with wood. EIT Climate KIC, EU’s largest public-private partnership addressing climate change through innovation, together with the Nordic Council of Ministers, plans to open a new office dedicated to wood construction, in Copenhagen in 2018. 

Mads Fischer, senior adviser in the Nordic Council says: “We need to promote the bioeconomy and use innovation to push all ambitions from the industry in the right place”. In this respect Nordic stakeholders in forestry and the forest-based bioeconomy were invited to the workshop “Wood in Construction”, held on December 5 in Copenhagen, to strengthen the Nordic forest-based bioeconomy network and to explore opportunities on how to cooperatively push this agenda forward.

The Nordic countries have untapped opportunities in the forest-based bioeconomy. Implementing a cascade use of raw materials and a focus on the long-term substitution of materials, such as concrete and fossil fuels, promises significant reductions in GHG emissions, while increasing social and economic value. At the same time, the Nordic countries have an unparalleled innovation and business ecosystem in and around the forestry sector. EIT Climate KIC and the Nordic Council of Ministers, therefore, wish to support the further development of the use of wood in construction and see this as an important factor in achieving future goals regarding sustainable cities, production and consumption.

The secretariat of the new office will aim to increase Nordic cooperation between cities, academic institutions and the private sector. It will promote the use of wood in construction through innovation, development, digitalization, demonstration, new design and export.