On November 10 and 11, ICSuro participated in Vienna (Austria) in the workshop "New value chains of a multifunctional forest" organized by EIP-AGRI (The Agricultural European Innovation Partnership) with the assistance of 80 people from 19 European countries, representatives of technological research centers, forest owners and managers, livestock farmers and farmers, and government representatives in agroforestry matters.

The main objective of this workshop was to bring together experts in agroforestry in order to find new ideas and overcome the gap between research and practice. At the same time, also get to know the agroforestry reality of the member countries and share the management of their forests.

The strategic lines of the ICSuro 2014-2020 are to promote, develop and increase the entire value chain of the Catalan cork sector. The aim of ICSuro is to increase the value of cork territories by working to develop new cork applications. In this direction, Maria Verdum from the R+D+i department presented in this workshop a case study in the form of a poster explaining the use of the by-product of the cork industry as raw material for 3D printing"High value 3D printed products from low quality cork raw materials".

Over the last few years, Catalan forests have been the protagonists of large forest fires, such as the one in 2013 in Alt Empordà or in 2014 in the municipalities of Calonge, Palamós and Vall-llobrega. These fires have left large masses of burnt cork that needs to be valued so that forest managers can extract a yield from it and manage it again. Because of this, this cork could be used in new applications such as 3D printing.

During the workshop, 20 case studies were presented in the categories of food, non-food, agroforestry and leisure products. The posters presented defined innovative ideas in traditional forest management. In this sense, the ICSuro exposed the use of additive technology linked to valorizing the cork by-product.

The studies presented served to show some of the concerns of the European forestry sector and were the basis of work for the new common challenges in the agroforestry field. This workshop served to connect people of different nationalities who work in the same field, sharing their knowledge to achieve new goals for the future.

From here, EIP-AGRI will promote the creation of European operational groups in order to work on innovation in the agroforestry sector. ICSuro currently participates in several operational groups at the national and international level in the field of research and innovation.

Photo: EIP-AGRI workshop 'New value chains from multifunctional forests' – copyright European Commission.