The annual meeting of the DigiMedfor international project, which has been recently held in Barcelona, brought together all the partners involved, including the Institute of Bioeconomy (IBE) of the National Research Council (CNR), to discuss the technical details of the advances made and to share ideas and suggestions to address future challenges in a sustainable, competitive and technologically advanced way.
With over 25 million hectares of forests and approximately 50 million hectares of other wooded lands in the Mediterranean region, climate changes and socio-economic factors can have far-reaching consequences for forests and the forest-wood supply chain, potentially leading to the loss of vital ecosystem services. These changes pose challenges to forest managers and industries, mainly due to limited access to modern digital technologies that fail to address emergent industry needs and innovations expected in the coming decades.
In alignment with the EU digital strategy, the DigiMedfor project aims to modernize the forest-wood supply chain of Mediterranean countries, by focusing on enhancing competitiveness and sustainable management by ensuring the traceability of wood resources from the forest to end-users. To reach this goal, the project integrates various technologies, including geospatial analysis, artificial intelligence (AI), and digital twin modeling technologies with information and communication technology (ICT).
Coordinated by the Department of Agricultural Sciences – FEDERICO II University of Naples, the DigiMedFor consortium includes 21 beneficiaries from EU and non-EU countries, with diverse expertise covering the entire value chain from research to operations. The consortium includes representatives from the forest industry, forest owners, academic and research institutes, and SMEs.
