ROSEWOOD B2B Event at Expobiomasa in Valladolid discussed the state-of-art of forestry and wood industry in the region

About 50 SMEs and other stakeholders of the forestry and wood sector participated at the ROSEWOOD B2B event, dedicated to discuss current affairs, shortcomings and opportunities for the sector on the basis of the Best Practices and Innovations for Sustainable Wood Mobilisation identified by ROSEWOOD. The event also allowed to network and “talk business” with other participants in short bilateral meetings.

Cesefor, partner of the ROSEWOOD project and coordinator of the Southern Europe Hub within this Horizon 2020 project, held on September 24th in Valladolid (Spain) the VI Workshop of the Southern Europe Hub addressed to all the agents involved in the wood value chain, and especially interesting for SMEs.

This meeting, which was attended by about 50 people, was structured in two sessions, one technical and one B2B (Business to Business). In the first one, the ROSEWOOD project was presented and, specifically, the operation and actions of the Southern Hub, as well as its main results in the medium term in terms of good practices, innovation and business ideas already identified. The second session, B2B, consisted of a round of bilateral meetings in which participants had the opportunity to expand their network of contacts, exchange views and establish a professional portfolio of potential allies.

The participants had the opportunity to attend, depending on their business interests, two different working groups. One of them on mobilization of the firewood and biomass market in Castilla y León (the host region) and the other on the present and future challenges of timber for construction.

With respect to the first of the working groups (firewood), the conclusions include evidence that there are sufficient resources to meet current market demand, a shortage of workers, excessive public intervention in the sector and, among other issues detected, the virtual absence of a business network for hardwoods, in terms of firewood.

With regard to the working group on wood for construction, the participants agreed on the need to define an action plan for the promotion of this material among prescribers from the world of construction and the university sector. It also highlighted the common interest in improving technical skills in companies and builders and, in terms of resources, the need to promote for structural use more common species in Castile and Leon such as Scots pine and poplar, and the suitability of carrying out a silviculture oriented to new industrialized products, such as glued laminated wood or laminated wood.

Among other objectives, the aim of this conference was to stimulate market and technology trends, search for possible financing opportunities, promote private enterprise, contact with suitable partners for customer needs, obtain information directly from experts and visit relevant companies and institutes in the wood sector.