Background
The transformation of the European economy must be supported by digitalisation and decarbonisation of its industry. The twin transition (green and digital) will make an essential and significant contribution to achieving climate neutrality in the European Union by 2050. Wood is renewable, sustainable and can be used, re-used and recycled. It is a model product for Europe’s twin transition. Timber industries include the production of sawn wood, wood-based panels, wooden construction materials and products, and furniture. Because they provide renewable alternatives to fossil-based and carbon-intensive materials, timber industries are a building block of the European circular bioeconomy, a smart industrial ecosystem where materials, by-products and residues are supplied across the various parts of the value chain, to make the most efficient use of resources and bring jobs in urban and rural areas.
Timber industries face several challenges that will require new technologies, with investment and innovation to match. To ensure their competitiveness, they must adapt to the Industry 4.0 transformation and continuously develop and optimise wood based solutions. Digitalization has a lot of potential mainly in the interconnection of processes along the value chain, but also in increasing productivity, prefabrication and wood-based products recycling.
Timber Helix
The Timber Helix is an international open innovation community of specialists in the area of wood and timber engineering, manufacturing, advanced production & process technologies, industry 4.0 and related disciplines. It was launched to accelerate the twin transition by sharing innovative ideas and opportunities, improving commercial and scientific exploitation of projects results and partnering for new projects that could benefit the timber industries.
Key Project: 5G-Timber
5G-Timber: Secure 5G-Enabled Twin Transition for Europe's Timber Industry Sector is a 36-months research and innovation project that aims to support the rapid uptake of 5G technologies, considering real industrial practices and constraints in the EU timber industries over the wood value chain. Edge-computing, AI and other technologies are rarely implemented by small and medium-size manufacturers due to high cost, technological risks and lack of best practice that discourage adoption. In these industries, small-volume machinery, hand-assembly and construction often present challenges in achieving efficient, green production, sustainability and zero-waste. 5G-TIMBER will conduct advanced, large-scale field trials on 5G deployments in energy-intensive scenarios. The project will specifically address the environmental and social sustainability of industrial production in the EU, by focusing on wood chain and timber construction.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Grant Agreement 101058505.
Funded by
the European Union
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Marco Lopes
"Connecting research and innovation in the wood sector across disciplines is InnovaWood’s mission. We’re proud to lead the Timber Helix and support the wood industries as a building block of the European circular bioeconomy."
