Lively discussions and inspiration at the annual conference of the Västra Götaland Forest Program

In December, actors from the forest industry gathered at Naturbruksgymnasiet in Svenljunga to discuss forest-related issues at the annual conference of the Västra Götaland Forestry Program. With a well-filled program, inspiring presentations and engaged roundtable discussions, the day was an opportunity for both learning and networking.

Interesting and engaging presentations

The morning program offered an inspiring range of topics and insights from several prominent speakers, who in different ways touched on resource efficiency with forest raw material.

Dan Oscarsson, Head of Process and Product Development at Södra, shared Södra's investments in innovations such as biomethanol, tannin and lignin - solutions that contribute to the transition to a sustainable future based on the forest. Anders Breitholtz, founder and CEO of PaperShell, presented a high-performance biomaterial that can replace carbon-intensive materials such as aluminum and hard plastics. He emphasized the importance of creating circular systems to ensure that materials - like PaperShell, can return to nature as nutrient-rich soil.

Jeanette Lindh Svanqvist from Bengtsfors municipality showed how circular transition creates new business opportunities, with examples from RiK Symbios Bengtsfors where residual materials are transformed into innovative products through collaboration between industry and design.

Kirsi Jarnerö from RISE rounded off the morning with a deep dive into the wood industry's value chain and biogenic carbon flows, focusing on the opportunities for circular wood construction and bio-based plastics.

-"Such a nice and good program. Not so forestry - like cubic meters and thinning - but more overall and inspiring, really fun says Henrik Böhlenius, associate professor at SLU and steering group member of the Forest Program Västra Götaland.

All presenters engaged the audience, many questions and reflections from the participants contributed to a lively dialog that showed that the topics are highly topical.

Roundtables with breadth and depth

After a joint lunch, the conference continued with roundtable discussions on four different themes: How do we facilitate business development for the many values of the forest? Increased construction in wood - how do we take the step? Possible commercial drivers for growing more leaves? and How will industries supply themselves with sustainable carbon atoms?

All tables offered lively discussions where participants shared their perspectives and experiences. It emerged that there is frustration with barriers such as ignorance or lack of coordination in wood construction, but also that there is great potential to solve these challenges by working together. Many participants expressed the hope that the discussions will lead to concrete collaborations in the future.

Elin Svensson, project manager and associate professor at Chalmers Industrial Engineering, participated and thought that the conversations around her table had a good flow with balanced discussions.

Despite the great breadth of the discussion, there was a good balance between different voices and different perspectives, such as small-scale and large-scale, innovation in the short term and long-term visions.

I take with me insights that some of the conditions and connections that I myself see as obvious are not at all the same for other types of actors, and that it is valuable to meet in this way to create understanding of different approaches and needs.

A platform for collaboration and development

The day showed the importance of bringing together actors from different parts of the forest sector. This year's conference showed that the Västra Götaland Forest Program is not only an arena for discussion, but also a catalyst for action.

-"It says something that many people wanted to come a long way to participate in the talks, the issues are really engaging ," says Jenny Sjöstedt from Region Västra Götaland.

We look forward to seeing how the ideas from the conference are transformed into reality and hope for continued collaboration and dialogue within the forest program.

Thank you to everyone who participated and helped make this such a successful day!