European innovation partnership network promoting operational groups dedicated to forestry and agroforestry

Project Information

FOREST4EU

Grant agreement ID: 101086216

DOI

10.3030/101086216

Project closed

EC signature date 25 October 2022

Start date 1 January 2023

End date 31 December 2025

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 2 006 668,75

EU contribution

€ 2 006 668,50

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - FOREST4EU (European innovation partnership network promoting operational groups dedicated to forestry and agroforestry)

Reporting period: 2024-07-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Forests and agroforestry systems cover over 47% of EU land and are essential for climate mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection, ecosystem services, and rural development. Despite their strategic importance for the European Green Deal and EU Forest Strategy, the sectors face structural challenges: fragmented ownership (16 million landowners managing around 60% of forest land), uneven innovation uptake, administrative complexity, and limited cross-border knowledge transfer.

EIP-AGRI Operational Groups (OGs) provide an effective bottom-up innovation model, bringing together farmers, foresters, researchers and advisors. However, their results often remain regionally confined, and OG distribution across Member States is uneven.

FOREST4EU addressed this gap by building a European multi-actor network structured around five cross-country Innovation Topic Hubs (ITHubs): Wood Mobilization; Forest Adaptation to Climate Change; Sustainable Forest Management and Ecosystem Services; Non-Wood Forest Products; and Agroforestry.

The project strengthened knowledge transfer, cross-regional cooperation, and science–policy integration through structured innovation collection, multilingual capacity-building materials, study visits, and policy dialogue. Social sciences contributed through governance analysis, identification of policy barriers, and stakeholder engagement processes.

FOREST4EU contributes to a more cohesive European innovation ecosystem, supports climate resilience and rural sustainability, and enhances the scalability of forestry and agroforestry innovations.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

FOREST4EU implemented a structured methodology to collect, analyse, and scale innovations from EIP-AGRI Operational Groups.

Five cross-country ITHubs and one transversal hub were established, engaging 329 stakeholders from 25 countries and connecting 86 OGs. A harmonised methodological framework ensured systematic knowledge collection and prioritisation.

The project produced:

176 extended summaries

175 Practice Abstracts (multilingual)

173 factsheets

57 original capacity-building materials (reports, videos, articles)
These were translated into multiple languages, resulting in 219 multilingual products.

Five international study visits (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia) involved 135 stakeholders, enabling cross-regional, in situ learning.

Drivers and barriers to innovation were analysed, leading to the development of an Innovation–Policy matrix. Three regional Policy Focus Groups (184 participants) strengthened the science–policy interface. Six policy briefs and a booklet on effective knowledge transfer synthesised findings.

Outcomes

Structured EU-wide innovation network (329 stakeholders; 86 OGs)

Standardised and multilingual systematisation of 175+ innovations

Strengthened cross-border learning and benchmarking

Evidence-based identification of governance and policy barriers

Contribution to new OG establishment in underrepresented regions

FOREST4EU transformed dispersed local innovations into a coordinated European knowledge framework.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

FOREST4EU moved beyond isolated OG experiences by creating a structured, multilingual, cross-border innovation system for forestry and agroforestry.

Through standardisation and translation of 175+ innovations and the creation of five ITHubs, the project improved comparability, transferability, and scalability of practice-based solutions at EU level.

The Innovation–Policy matrix and Policy Focus Groups strengthened governance coherence and linked innovation practice with regulatory frameworks.

Potential Impacts

Systemic innovation impact: Increased cross-border scalability of 86 OG innovations.

Climate and environmental impact: Wider uptake of adaptive silviculture, ecosystem services, agroforestry and digital tools.

Economic impact: Strengthened rural value chains (wood mobilization, NWFPs, ecosystem services).

Governance impact: Improved evidence base for CAP and forest-related policy design.

Key Needs for Further Uptake

Long-term research and field validation

Stable and simplified CAP funding mechanisms

Regulatory coherence across climate, biodiversity and forest policies

Continued transnational exchange mechanisms

Strong advisory and innovation brokerage systems

Overview of Results

FOREST4EU delivered:

5 Innovation Topic Hubs

329 stakeholders from 25 countries

86 connected OGs

176 extended summaries

175 Practice Abstracts

173 factsheets

219 multilingual capacity-building materials

5 international study visits

6 policy briefs and governance analysis tools

The project established a scalable European framework for forestry and agroforestry innovation.

Multi-actor Approch Forest4Eu

ITHubs of Forest4EU

FOREST4Eu at ERIAFF conference in Finland

National Prioritization Workshop in Italy

FOREST4EU consortium

National Prioritization Workshop in Spain