Mistra Digital Forest Annual Report 2021 1
MISTRADIGITALFOREST SOME THOUGHTS AHEAD OF PHASE
2 In 2022, Mistra Digital Forest will enter its fourth year and the last in phase 1 of the programme. Before the next phase begins it is useful to reflect, and determine the direction going forward into phase 2. We posed three questions to three people with a strong connection to Mistra Digital Forest, asking how they view the work so far and their thoughts before the second phase of the programme begins – Malin Lindgren, programme manager at Mistra, Torgny Persson, director of research and innovation at the Swedish Forest Industries Federation, and Per Edström, the deputy programme director who led the work with the programme application from the start. Do you feel that the first three years of Mistra Digital Forest have gone as expected? Malin Lindgren, Mistra – The programme seems to be well on its way to becoming the hub for forestry issues, digitalisation and the research that is necessary for results to be quickly useful, and consequently accelerating the transition to a circular bioeconomy. I also feel that cooperation and collaborations have exceeded expectations, which is fantastic, especially considering that the pandemic has obviously affected the business. Torgny Persson, Swedish Forest Industries Federation – I think the collaboration between the industry and the active researchers works better than expected. Their mutual discussions are very rewarding, and the number of academic publications is also greater than expected, which is most satisfying. The programme meets the goals both in terms of implementation of results and academic publications - that is fantastic! Per Edström, Mistra Digital Forest – Better! We have more results and deliverables than originally planned, and there is a very substantial industrial commitment to take the results further, into implementation. What do you consider important to include in phase 2 of the programme? Malin Lindgren, Mistra – Continuing a good balance between utilisation and scientific deliveries is very important, of course. The thorough planning work the programme did before the start of phase 1 seems to be paying off now, so continued good planning is often a success factor. In terms of utilisation, it will be interesting to follow the Digital Forest Academy as a way of getting results, as well as knowledge about the potential of digitalisation in forest companies, out more quickly. Torgny Persson, Swedish Forest Industries Federation – Collaboration between companies and research performers will continue to develop in the same way it has so far, and that we invest extra resources in those areas that can be implemented in the future work of the companies. Per Edström, Mistra Digital Forest – We see that we have continued high-quality research, and currently a prioritisation of research specialisations for phase 2 is underway. In that process, I believe it is important to increase the focus on utilising research results, so that the opportunities of digitalisation are really made use of in practice. 24