Sustainable wood construction value chains: Linking product innovations and regional stakeholders in the Basajaun project

BASAJAUN is a major European innovation project about sustainability of building with wood. The main objective of the project is to demonstrate how wood construction chains can be optimized to foster both rural development and urban transformation whilst being connected with sustainable forest management in Europe. A full-scale medium-sized demo building will be constructed in New Aquitaine, France, which includes a series of innovative materials, products and construction solutions.

The presentation introduces the concept of an open innovation platform for the wood construction ecosystem, which can foster dialogue and co-creation between European regions. The platform shall showcase innovations, demo buildings and other solutions, and support their exploitation in the regional forest-based sector. A competitive assessment of five pilot regions has been accomplished, which is the starting point to set up regional innovation roadmaps together with interested stakeholders. 

The first accomplishment is the foundation of the Wood Sector Alliance for the New European Bauhaus (Wood4Bauhaus), a coalition of the main EU wood sector umbrella organisations, connecting research, industry and trade unions, which was launched in response to the European Commission’s New European Bauhaus movement.