Introduction

The forest sector of the EU is extremely diversified. Regional and local variability is due to geo-physical conditions (terrain), climate, tree species, management regimes, industrial infrastructures, legal frame and land ownership structure. The latter is particularly relevant as property fragmentation is a major economic hindrance to wood mobilization and a reason for lack of management at the local level in several EU countries. These differences are also reflected in the uptake of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) innovations. In fact, the implementation of digital technologies is extremely low in areas where the forest-based value chain is poorly developed, while some EU regions/countries already implement digital systems in forest inventory, harvest operations and industrial transformation (sawmill).

At present, the data provided by these sensors on forest stands, trees, logs and sawnwood cannot be interrelated as these items are transformed and handled several times by different machines/operators along the forest value chain. Yet, in any productive process, the capacity to interconnect the data provided at the different steps of the value chain is essential to identify bottlenecks and relevant factors, enhancing the efficiency and yield of the value chain. Additionally, in the case of forestry, the possibility to relate highly detailed inventory and timber data to climate and forest management records would also allow to better understand the results of silviculture treatments on timber quality, forest health, and ecosystem services.

Objectives

The ambition of SINTETIC is to define, prototype and demonstrate a complete solution for a digital platform dedicated to comprehensive forest value chain data management. The platform consists of multiple data providers representing all actors and components of the value chain. Several hardware and software prototypes, optimized solutions for data transmission protocols, a centralized cloud Geodatabase and a variety of services designed to explore collected datasets will proof the concept and allow further upscaling of the platform. The core of the proposed system is a ground-breaking solution for the complete traceability of forest products based on five state-of-the-art technologies that are all integrated here for the first time. The SINTETIC platform’s feasibility will be proven with demonstration campaigns conducted in eight sites representing diverse technological advancement scenarios typical for European forests.

Financing

EU contribution (Horizon Europe, Innovation Action): 7 547 650 EUR

Grant Agreement: 101082051

Programme/Topic: Horizon Europe — Cluster 6, HORIZON-CL6-2022-CIRCBIO-02-06 (two-stage): Harnessing the digital revolution in the forest-based sector

Duration: 1 June 2023 – 31 May 2027

UEF funding: 701 250 EUR (Blas Mola, Frank Berninger)