International Forest Bioeconomy Foresight Symposium

The Symposium takes a multidisciplinary futures view on forests and their use as well as bioeconomy policies and businesses, featuring high-quality presentations from Europe, North America and South America as well as insightful moderated panel discussions.

Please register in the symposium (free of charge) by 15 June 2021. Participation link will be delivered by email to those who have registered.

Schedule, 22 June 2021

13:00    Opening and objectives,  Jyrki Kangas, University of Eastern Finland (UEF)
13:10    Multiple aims of forest bioeconomy futures studies, Teppo Hujala, UEF
13:40    Strengthening the relation between modelling and forecasting, Andreas Pyka, University of Hohenheim, Germany
14:10    (Circular) Biobreak    
14:30    Forest industry – the role in sustainability transition?  Anne Toppinen, University of Helsinki
15:00    Non-wood forest products and ecosystems services: options for diversifying European bioeconomy, Harald Vacik, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, BOKU, Austria
15:30    Panel discussion: How to understand bioeconomy futures? Moderator: Nataša Lovrić, European Forest Institute (EFI)
16:00    Bio (Circular) Break    
16:30    Cascading implications of a wild card: Accelerating climate change and social forest futures,    David N. Bengston, USDA Forest Service, MN, USA
17:00    Uruguayan forest bioeconomy in transition, Lucía Pittaluga Fonseca, UdelaR, Uruguay
17:30    Future-Fittest: A concept for forest sector firms, Eric Hansen, OSU, OR, USA
18:00    Presenter dialogue: Keys to novel bioeconomy anticipation  Moderator: Nataša Lovrić, EFI
18:30    Closing of the Symposium,  Jyrki Kangas, UEF

The Symposium is organized within UNITE Flagship, which is a competence centre focusing on human-forest-machine interactions, funded by the Academy of Finland’s Flagship Programme. Moreover, the Symposium is made possible via funding from Saastamoinen Foundation and belongs to 2021 activities of UEF’s Research Community “Forests and Bioeconomy”. Welcome to the Symposium!

Speakers (in order of appearance in the programme):

Jyrki Kangas is a Professor of forest bioeconomy at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), School of Forest Sciences in Joensuu, Finland, and the Director of Academy of Finland’s UNITE Flagship.

Teppo Hujala is a Professor of forest bioeconomy foresight at the University of Eastern Finland (UEF), School of Forest Sciences in Joensuu, Finland.

Andreas Pyka is a Professor and Chair in innovation economics at the University of Hohenheim (UHOH) in Stuttgart, Germany.

Anne Toppinen is the Director of the Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) and a Professor and Chair in markets and marketing for forest products, roundwood and services at the University of Helsinki (UH), Department of Forest Sciences in Helsinki, Finland.

Harald Vacik is an Associate Professor at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Institute of Silviculture at the Department of Forest and Soil Sciences in Vienna, Austria.

Nataša Lovrić is a Research Support Officer at the European Forest Institute (EFI), Headquarters in Joensuu, Finland.

David N. Bengston is a Research Forester and environmental futurist at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service at the Northern Research Station in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.

Lucía Pittaluga Fonseca is an Associate Professor at the Universidad de la República (UdelaR), Economic Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Eric Hansen is a Professor of forest products marketing at the Oregon State University (OSU), College of Forestry in Corvallis, Oregon, USA.