Study visits support knowledge transfer in ROSEWOOD4.0-project

Anne Saloniemi, Bachelor of Natural Resources (Forestry) works as a Project Manager in the Future Bioeconomy Expertise group at Lapland University of Applied Sciences and Kari Mäkitalo, D.Sc. (Agriculture & Forestry), works as a Senior Scientist at Natural Resources Institute Finland in Rovaniemi.

ROSEWOOD4.0-project has organized study visits to share experience
and support interregional knowledge transfer. Due to Covid-19, almost
all face-to-face visits turned into online seminars. For this reason,
study visits were also online between five hubs; Northern, Central-West,
Central-East, Southern-West, and Southern-East Europe.

Stakeholders and partners were invited to join these study visits to
hear more about chosen best practices. Suitable best practices shall be
transferred to other regions to turn weaknesses into opportunities or
strengths. Social acceptance of forestry is a hot topic at the moment
because of planned EU politics concerning forests, biodiversity, and
climate change.

In Finland, the online study visit, entitled “Forest Finland – Forest’s
role in everything we have in Finland ” took place in September 2021.

Forests´ role in Finland

Forest Finland, the joint communication project of the Finnish forest
sector, was introduced by Ms. Kirsi Joensuu, Executive Director, and
Mr. Kai Lintunen, Head of International Communications of the FinnishForest Association. The campaign will awaken and raise people’s interest
and encourage discussion about the forests’ role in everything we have
in Finland.

The aim of the Forest Finland campaign is firstly to awaken emotions
related to forests and secondly to update Finns’ perception of what
modern forest use comprises. Did you know that more than half of
Europe´s protected forests are in Finland?

Picture 1:Forest Finland logo

Picture 2: Core Team, Forest Finland -project. Kai Lintunen, Head of
International Communications; Hannes Mäntyranta, Communication Officer,
Domestic Communications; Kaarina Aro, Project Manager, Forest Finland;
Anna Kauppi, Senior Specialist, Communication.

Social acceptance of forestry

The audience was very interested in the best practice and lively
discussions were raised after presentations. The Forest Finland campaign
started in 2020 and will last until the end of 2023.

Although the target group is adult Finns, most of the material can be
found also in English. The campaign has used different types of media:
web pages, roadshow, seed disc campaigns, TV campaigns, radio campaigns,
outdoor advertising, social media/influencers, cross-marketing, and
various cooperation campaigns.

The survey of the effectiveness of the campaign showed that it was
rated as a very positive one: reliable, convincing, interesting,
informative, and non-irritating. It contacted audiences 74 million times
in 2020 and 92 million times in 2021. This means that every Finn was
reached 16 – 20 times on average.

Dissemination of knowledge like the Finnish Forest Association does,
to both big audiences and authorities, on practical forestry and its
determined development work is an excellent way to affect the social
acceptance of forestry. A lot of actions are going on to develop
renewable products and to renew the forestry practices to be more
ecological. Sustainable and efficient silviculture is also an important
tool in the fight against climate change.

The Forest Finland campaign has a great potential to be benchmarked
in Rosewood Network and Europe generally. The campaign has already been
introduced in the workshop of southwest Europe in October 2021 to share
the experience with the members of the operational group for best
practice implementation.

Project details

ROSEWOOD4.0 harnesses digital solutions and boosts knowledge transfer
to connect multiple actors along the forest value chain to reinforce
the sustainability of wood mobilization in Europe. ROSEWOOD4.0 focuses
on digitalization and digital tools for knowledge transfer, training,
and coaching, enabling practitioners to share know-how with a much wider
impact.

Northern Hub includes Lapland University of Applied Sciences and
Natural Resources Institute from Finland, Tretorget from Norway, and
Paperprovince from Sweden. The project has received funding from the
European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

References:

European Commission 2021. Eu network of regions on sustainable wood
mobilisation ready for digitalisation.
https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/862681

Forest Finland 2021. Metsien Suomi. https://metsiensuomi.fi/in-english/

Rosewood4.0 2020. Sustainable Wood for Europe. https://rosewood-network.eu/

Rosewood4.0 2021. Cross-Regional Roadmap. https://rosewood-network.eu/resources/roadmaps/

Rosewood4.0 Study Visit 17.9.2021. Forest Finland – Forest’s role in
everything we have in Finland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_2SISY-t9M.