The workshop participants, including project representatives and stakeholders, established a preliminary overview of the current situation of wood-based value chain management in the EU13 countries. The starting point is perceived as highly fragmented and heterogenous, differences lying especially in regulations and level of technical advancement between the EU13 countries or regions. Low awareness of circular bioeconomy and consumers’ unfavorable perceptions of wood-based products, besides modest visibility and acknowledgement are stated as common problems of the forestry sector. Whereas some of the existing regulations are still in the implementation phase, the data collection, classification, standardization and labelling activities would profit from more transparency and less red tape.

It would be crucial to promote mutual understanding between different stakeholders (industry – end users – policy makers – RTDI) as well as B2B collaboration in order to raise awareness, create market demand and increase forestry sector’s visibility and social approval of wood-based products. The sector would profit from a more systematic and strategic approach, competence transfer and policy incentives when it comes to value chain optimization and implementing bioeconomy principles.

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