The Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences has gained the opportunity to work with the Austrian Universität für Bodenkultur Wien to implement the FORSCEE project, which has succeeded in a grant competition organized by the European Forestry Institute (EFI).
FORSCEE strives to activate the potential of the Central-Eastern and South-Eastern European region to develop towards a forest-based bioeconomy. There is a central notion that this region is lagging behind in the development of bioeconomy strategies, and there is still a deficit in the connectivity of the research community. FORSCEE wants to overcome both aspects: stipulate a high-level policy support activity for forest-based bioeconomy, and engaging the research network in the region to work in a proven EFI context.
The goals of the project are
- to initiate a discourse on a forest-based bioeconomy in the CEE and SEE regions,
- to connect science and policy in a tailor-made form for the region,
- to mobilise the EFI network to provide sound policy support for bioeconomy development in the region and
- to encourage exchange on experiences and obstacles for further pursuing bioeconomy strategies from science to policy.
The 18-month project will be attended by the BOKU University in Vienna and, in addition to the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, CZU, other major universities or scientific institutions from Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy and Finland will participate in the project.