OptiForValue project Kick-off
The Kick-off of OptiForValue project took place at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) Metla House in picturesque Joensuu, Finland on 24-26th September 2024. This was a vibrant ‘show and tell’ session led by the coordinator and work-package leads, to mark the start of this collaborative 4-year project focused on optimising forest operations for sustainable forest management and high-value applications.
Day 1 open and welcome was by Executive Vice President for Research Antti Asikainen (Luke), followed by Project Coordinator welcome from Mauricio Acuna (Luke) and then an overview and tips on successful CBE JU project implementation from Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) Project Officer Oliver Zobell.
On day 2, the WP leads each led a workshop with their WP team. With plenty of energy, discussions and enthusiasm in the room –strengthening teamwork for groundbreaking advancements contributing to the Circular Bio-based Europe call for optimised forest-based value chains for high-value applications and improved forest management!
Day 3, had the team on a field trip, which included a visit to a harvesting operation and to Koli National Park! Where the team had plenty of opportunity to observe a harvest in progress, talk to the harvesting team, examine the equipment, see snow and insect damaged forest and discuss the project ahead of us.
It is hard to beat the strong connections and side conversations possible at an in-person meeting, and this gave us a great foundation for kicking-off the project work. (See also Related post).
