EU project Forest4EUBest Practice Network Forestry - Steinbeis Europa Zentrum developed knowledge transfer methodology

Around Europe, there are hundreds of small projects promoted by small groups of farmers, researchers, forest managers, environmental associations and local communities, that all share the same goal; advancing innovation and good practices in forestry and agroforestry sectors.

These initiatives are known as “Operational Groups” (OG) and are usually financed by regional and European funding, in the context of the EIP-AGRI platform. However, the innovations and best practices developed, tend to remain in the local environments and do not reach other European communities or OGs beyond the national borders, losing in turn precious know-how and experiences.

The partners of the EU project FOREST4EU are strengthening the Europe-wide exchange of innovations in forestry and agroforestry. Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, as a strategic partner developed a knowledge transfer methodology and implemented communication measures. It contributed its experience from the previous two forestry cluster projects Rosewood and Rosewood 2.0. It established a knowledge transfer system that connected 86 OGs, 329 stakeholders and 25 countries, thus enabling the mobility of knowledge beyond regional and national levels. Five transnational innovation topic hubs systematically structured the innovations and resulted in 175 extended summaries and 176 practical examples, which are accessible throughout Europe via the EU-CAP platform.

FOREST4EU also produced 58 capacity-building materials, which were translated into 219 multilingual products. These are available long-term via platforms such as EU FarmBook, Zenodo and Climate ADAPT, providing support particularly to regions with less experience.

At the political level, the project partners developed new mechanisms for integrating practical knowledge into political processes. Three macro-regional policy focus groups with 184 participants produced analyses of barriers to innovation and success factors, which resulted in six policy briefs, a booklet of recommendations and a benchmarking report.

FOREST4EU thus offers a transferable EU model for structured knowledge transfer that strengthens innovation, cooperation and evidence-based policy advice.

EU-funding: 2 million Euro, 01/2023 – 12/2025

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