The ForestValue ERA-NET Cofund action builds on the success of three previous forest-based ERA-NETs: WoodWisdom-Net, SUMFOREST and FORESTERRA, and brings together funding and program management organizations from Europe and beyond to jointly contribute to the increased innovation and competitiveness of the forest-based sector in Europe and to support its transformation from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-intensive, productive, resource-efficient and resilient sector.
ForestValue aims to do so through the implementation of a transnational call for research proposals, which it launched in October 2017. The selection of the best projects out of the initial 114 pre-proposals submitted is well underway, with the final results expected by the end of October of this year. The total call volume, including industrial co-funding, is estimated to be over EUR 30 million (of which EUR 25 million including a EUR 5 million top-up from the EU is public funding).
The experts are currently busy evaluating 50 proposals invited into the second stage of the call based on three basic criteria, i.e. excellence, impact and quality and efficiency of implementation, to select the best projects in two areas: a) Innovative sustainable management of multifunctional forests and b) Innovative industrial production and processing technologies, products, concepts and services. As we all wait for the final selection of approximately 20 projects, which are to start in the first months of 2019, we invite you to visit our website (forestvalue.org), where you can learn more about ForestValue and our activities. Please stay tuned also by subscribing to our newsletter and/or following our LinkedIn Group (ForestValue ERA-NET Cofund) and Twitter account (@ForestValue2017).
