Rosewood 4.0

e-drewno system was created to enable customers to take part in a wood sale auction in a forest district without necessity of physical attendance. Currently, about 20% of all wood sold to enterprises by State Forests in Poland is offered on auctions on e-drewno.pl. After registration in the system and providing forest district nname the customer gets individual access, enabling participation in the auction. For practical reasons it is recommended to indicate the forest district which is located closest to the place of residence / running business activity. All the information exchanged online between the customer's computer and the server operating the auction is coded. When placing the offer it is registered and given position in the ranking, which depends on the proposed price. If the prices given are the same, the position is determined by an order of placing the offers registered by www.e-drewno.pl portal.  During the auction each customer can place unlimited number of offers and modify earlier offers. Winning offers can be only modified to the following extent: wood weight, minimum wood weight, price (up only). In order to protect business data, participants in the auction cannot see the names of other companies taking part in the auction. The system is easy to use and administrate, includes a price calculator and offers access to reports.

The aim of the project was to work out the complex method of defining selected forest stand descriptions as well as aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration, based on the use of remote sensing for the purposes of forest management planning.

Among main goals were:

• acquisition and processing of remote sensing, laboratory and field data,
• determining the amount of biomass and carbon in the forest based on radar data,
• development of methods for the inventory of selected stand descriptions, growing stock and biomass with the use of active remote sensing techniques,
• local correction of dendrometric volume equations based on terrestrial laser scanning data (TLS),
• development of the merchantable volume conversion factors into biomass and carbon.

Results of the project allow to: reduce time needed to carry out the work of the forest management, especially inventory of growing stock; obtain higher accuracy of the CO₂ balance, biomass and annual allowable cut calculations; determine growing stock for any forest area; reduce cost of field work in forest management.

Virtual forest 2.0 is a research and development project that has developed a digital application to enable the visualization of forest resources and spatial data in 3D. A virtual forest is software that can be utilized in participatory land use planning, advising forest owners, and taking into account the goals of user and interest groups in the areas.The virtual forest can be used to increase citizens' understanding of different forest management options and to illustrate the landscape effects of a forest plan. The virtual forest can be used to visualize the holdings of any forest owner, and the application is compatible with various information systems in the forest industry.The virtual forest 2.0 uses open QGIS geographic information system to generate changes in forest patterns or tree data, habitat data and terrain data in a virtual 3D-visualization.  The free downloadable Virtual Forest 2.0 application was released in October 2020.

Forestry crane work is often an isolated and rugged business carried out in challenging temperatures and harsh environments. Hiab’s HiVision™is transforming the working conditions and productivity using virtual reality technology, goggles, external cameras. Precision  and efficient log lifting every time - all from the safety and comfort of the crane cabin. HiVision™ is the first fully digitalised solution that gives a 270 degree view horizontally and 130 degree view vertically using external cameras mounted to the body of the equipment. The virtual reality technology assesses the external working conditions so the operator can stay safely within the truck cabin. Once the ‘target’ has been identified, the system allows the operator to guide the crane using an electronic joystick mounted on each armrest of the truck’s passenger seat. 

The Center of Excellence for Forestry 4.0 is developing Industry 4.0 digitalization concepts for the forest and wood cluster. The driving force behind this approach is a closely cooperating working group of companies, research centers and the Forestry Education Center  North-Rhine Westphalia as a practical testbed.New, intelligent and decentrally acting machines, devices, services and people, will enable the cluster to optimize its complex value-added networks, develop new business models and meet current challenges from ecology, economy and climate change. Existing approaches address the complexity of structures and processes, and the conflicting demands on forest management only insufficiently. To "smartify" the forest and wood cluster, existing competencies from industry, science and administration must be bundled: The goal of KWH4.0 is to create a know-how base and infrastructures, and to implement forest and wood 4.0 components via innovative Smart Forest Labs. The Smart Forest Labs serve as experimental forestry laboratories in which developed components, systems and processes are tested, standardization advanced, concepts disseminated, and actors trained. Developed concepts and standards are continuously published as practical recommendations, a first version of the communication infrastructure S3I (Internet of Things application) has been established. In addition, there is an increasingly smart fleet: forestry machines have been upgraded to retrieve digital information (GPS position, fuel consumption, production data, etc.) and at the same time networked via alternative radio standards with machines in regions where mobile communication is not possible.

Production of paper from fallen leaves.
RE-leaf scales the process of pulp production, which is based on the use of fibre from fallen leaves and in the future other types of fibre from agricultural waste. RE-leaf significantly reduced energy consumption due to a simplified method of fibre extraction, water consumption was reduced by 15 times and all processes are based on the use of chemical reagents free of sulfates, sulfites and chlorine, compared to conventional pulp production processes. The product created brings what was once considered waste back into the economic cycle and is itself recyclable. This provides RE-leaf customers with a guarantee that the company is not sourcing from controversial sources.
RE-leaf PAPER is made of fallen leaves coming to the enterprise from cities. This makes it possible to solve the problem of the utilization of plant waste in the urban ecosystem and preserve the integrity of forest ecosystems.
Started in 2017 as idea of the Ukrainian school pupil Valentyn Frechka, in 2019 a patent was obtained for the technology of recycling leaves with the subsequent production of paper. In 2020 RE-Leaf PAPER Research and Production Enterprise Limited Liability Company was set up, it moved from the laboratory to an industrial enterprise. The company was included in the list of members of the Enterprise Europe Network.
The products include:
- Re-leaf paper
- Re-leaf bag - leaf fibre combined with waste paper
- Re-leaf trays for packaging of food

Small-size private-owned forest areas are common in Portugal in particular North of the Tagus River. Small patches of forest hinder proper forest management, often leading to increased unmanaged areas more prone to wildfires, pests and diseases. The Baixo Vouga Forest owners association has developed a program of forest area aggregation to tackle this problem by grouping of contiguous areas with the overall aim of facilitating management operations. This will consequently reduce the occurrence of hazards, improve and increase well-managed areas, increase return and motivate investment. To implement the program, at least 5 forest owners with at least 5 properties, summing-up no less than 10 hectares are rquired. Then a GPS-based inventory is carried out and a forest management plan is developed. The program is based on quota-based investments and revenues that will be distributed among those involved with the aim of increasing the engagement, motivation and appreciation of all the agents involved. So far, several areas have been aggregated covering different number of forest owners (e.g. Panasqueira, Águeda, 15 properties belonging to 12 forest owners were aggregated resulting in c.a. 11 thousand ha of forest planted and managed under the same forest management plan) and there are other, more ambitious, still ongoing (e.g. in Lavandeira, Vagos, 211 properties belonging to 138 forest owners were aggregated resulting in c.a. 73 thousand ha).

Taking into account the carbon issue in forest management is becoming more and more important in France, giving rise to research and development projects. The Climafor software responds to a challenge: to make carbon calculations easier to access and less time consuming. The data sources used (production tables, calculation coefficients) are now well known. Climafor integrates them into a single tool, which does not require any special training. The calculations are instantaneous and the results can be used directly in a forest carbon project. The calculations made by the software are based on production tables for each species and different coefficients from research. The software will be continuously improved by updating the different parameters and adding new tables. For the moment, it is being developed by the IDF (Institute of Forestry Development), the R&D branch of the CNPF.

Agricultural residues such as straw, bank canes and trees pruning constitute a significant load of green waste in rural areas from both sides of the borders. Those wastes are poorly managed causing severe environmental impacts. At the same time local authorities use expensive fossil fuel for space heating of public buildings, and due to the current economic recession, very often the amount of heat generated cannot satisfy the real needs of the building users. The sustainable management of the green waste can offer a real solution in both of the above problems. There is available technology that can utilize agrowastes as fuel for space heating under the only condition that a reliable supply chain is established.

Scope of this project is to establish a supply chain for green wastes, combined with the relevant business model, which will secure its sustainability. The supply chain will be customized according to the wastes that are available from both sides of the border and the business model will be adapted to the specific local conditions. The supply chain will serve selected end users in each country, therefore its operability will be tested and possible problems and barriers will be resolved.