This December, the Catalan Cork Institute Foundation (ICSuro) successfully celebrated the entrepreneurship day “Discover how to get the most out of your forest”The event, framed within the bioeconomy project FUTURECORK, brought together 33 attendees from 25 different entities and stood out for its focus on innovation and sustainability of the forestry and cork sector.

Different profiles with the same mission

The participants, with a wide diversity of profiles, included forest owners, owner groups, designers, companies, entrepreneurs, individuals and wineries. The majority of attendees (61%) were over 45 years old, followed by 24% between 35 and 45 years old, and 15% under 35 years old.

An inspiring program

The day, lasting three hours, was structured into three parts: presentation of success stories, a round table with debate and a networking session.

Success stories: inspiring stories

The first part featured four speakers who shared successful experiences:

• Paul Frigola (Mooma) presented “How to turn your local product into a global business?”, highlighting this family business's commitment to innovation and sustainability.
• Martin Rios (Girona NEXT) offered a vision on the “Corkwood beyond cork”, emphasizing promoting creativity and entrepreneurship within the forest ecosystem.
• Stripboard Frame (Pau Costa Foundation) explained the initiative "Herds of fire”, which uses silvopasture with animals for forest management and fire prevention.
• Laia Muns (Sèlvans) highlighted the benefits of making ecosystem services profitable with activities that connect forest, health and nature.

Round table: challenges and opportunities

The second half was energized by Quim Gudayol (Nexes Viver d'Empreses) and had speakers from different fields: Louis Llenas (NaturCork sheets), Xavier Mora (BAG Design), George Guell (Bay Güell) and Ricardo Mayor (IAAC). Participants discussed the benefits and challenges of the cork sector, and a participatory dynamic highlighted both the needs and opportunities for collaboration between the different agents present.

Conclusions and next steps

The conference served as a platform to highlight the potential of the cork sector and explore new avenues of collaboration. The Attendees' commitment to sustainability, innovation and economic profitabilityAmong the opportunities identified are initiatives such as silvopasture, ecosystem services and the transformation of waste into high-value products.

However, the disconnection between the different agents in the sector was also highlighted, a challenge that ICSuro will take on as a priority for lead initiatives that foster dialogue and collaborations.

With this conference, ICSuro reaffirms its commitment to working for a more solid, innovative and sustainable bioeconomy.