INESC TEC organises an event in order to discuss innovative solutions for the forest management
The main goal of the BIOTECFOR - Machines and Forestry Workshop, which was held on 13 March at the auditorium of WOW – Work On Wood, was to discuss innovative solutions in the short, medium and long-term for the forest cleaning.
This initiative, which was organised by INESC TEC, brought together Portugal and Galicia and had the presence of the manufacturers of agricultural tools and forestry machinery, suppliers of forestry services and sector associations, while aiming to promote the innovation in forestry machines and agricultural tools.
According to declarations made by Filipe Neves dos Santos, one of the people responsible for the organisation of this event, “the INESC TEC’s team that participates in the BIOTECFOR project aims to promote the innovation of the agricultural tools/forestry machines in the Portuguese agricultural tools industry in order to improve the forest management and to increase the competitiveness of the suppliers of forestry services and the Portuguese manufacturers. From this ambition and the preliminary results, we gathered the suppliers of forestry services and the manufacturers in order to discuss the priorities of the innovation in terms of the forestry machines and the best strategy for promoting this innovation”.
The approximately 50 participants had the opportunity to participate in the presentations about the innovation needs and desires for the machines and agricultural tools dedicated to forest cleaning and biomass collection in order to develop innovative tools and technologies for new uses and enhancement of forest resources, as well as a sustainable management of forest areas, leading to a greater profitability of the forestry activity and a reduction of associated fire risks.
Needs, desires and solutions
After the welcome session by the organisation and the hosts, the agenda started with the presentation of the BIOTECFOR project, which was led by Luís Braga da Cruz from Forestis; Francisco Dans from the Galician Forestry Association (AFG) and from INESC TEC’s researchers Jorge Cunha and Filipe Neves do Santos, collaborators of the Centre for Enterprise Systems Engineering (CESE) and the Centre for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIIS), respectively.
Then, and in order to present the “Needs and desires of the forestry service providers”, Pedro Serra Ramos from the National Association of Forestry, Agriculture and Environment (ANEFA) was invited to participate, who focused his presentation on the topic of biomass and on two main solutions: the incorporation or the collection and treatment.
On the other hand, and complemented by this perspective, it was also possible to get to know some “Solutions by the manufacturers”, which were presented by the companies Cutplant, Herculano, Forestcorte, Agriduarte, Seppi and Fravizel, that together highlighted the fact that the solutions will increasingly have to be unique and individualised, thus looking for a way to adapt technology to the customer’s reality and not the other way around.
Before the final debate, there was also the opportunity to present information on the “Sources of funding and innovation roadmaps”, presented by INESC TEC’s Funding Opportunities Office (SAAF), with particular attention to the programmes under the Portugal 2020, INTERREG Portugal-Spain, INTERREG Sudoé and Horizonte 2020.
The BIOTECFOR project
The BIOTECFOR project - Biobusiness and Technology for the efficient valorisation of endogenous forest resources in the North of Portugal and Galicia - aims to increase the efficiency levels in the use of forest resources through the implementation of Intelligent Robotic Systems in its collection and processing, as well as in the search for applications for new materials, thus contributing to the development of the bioeconomy and the circular economy in the cross-border area of Galicia and North of Portugal. A prototype of this robot was also on display during the workshop.
The partnership is led by Forestis – Forest Association of Portugal, having INESC TEC, the Galician Forestry Association (AFG) and the Automotive Technology Centre of Galicia (CTAG) as partners.
Innovation in the Agricultural, Agri-food and Forest sectors
BIOTECFOR is one of the projects developed by INESC TEC under one of its areas of innovation called TEC4AGRO-FOOD, whose goal is to develop and to promote research and technology in Agri-Food and Forestry, in order to meet the needs and the expectations of the end users, also collaborating with "Technology Holders" capable of “endogenising" technologies and creating innovative products and services.
In the Agricultural and Forest sectors, the focus is based on the technology for the precision agriculture and forest while in the Agri-food sector, the importance is based on the technology for the Industry 4.0. for Agri-food.
TEC4AGRO-FOOD brings together teams of different areas from INESC TEC and external partners focusing on a set of research lines in order to develop innovative responses to real challenges, through a structured vision of these areas.
The researchers mentioned in this news piece are associated with INESC TEC.
