LIGNOVATION ? Sustainable Cross-Sectoral Value Chain Innovation around Wood

The LIGNOVATION project aims at fostering the further transformation of traditional forest-based industrial areas into innovative, modern and sustainable manufacturing areas, by developing new cross-sectoral industrial value chains building upon the strengths of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project partners will: · generate, identify and validate cross-sectoral, trans-regional innovation activities and · deliver entrepreneurial and innovation support to selected projects, contributing to the emergence of new products, processes and services brought to the market by SMEs, in the areas smart and sustainable construction and furniture and innovative bio-based products and materials ? nonconventional uses of wood-based materials. More specifically the project will support directly about 170 to 250 SMEs involved in the following innovation activities: · Collaborative Networks · Innovation Projects · Sustainable Workplaces Cases The dissemination activities delivered by the partners, within and beyond their home regions? industrial networks, will target at reaching a total of about 10.000 SMEs (information on new technologies and innovation management methods, information on calls for proposals ?) and 20 to 30 European clusters or industrial networks (information on project activities, use as multiplicator, access to knowledge base, good practices ?). The project, planned over 30 months, will be implemented primarily in regions with a strong traditional SMEdominated forest sector as well as further industrial sectors. A further objective is therefore to provide the clusters and industrial networks involved with the capacity to support cross-sectoral innovation activities beyond the project, by ensuring a transfer and take-up of methodological knowledge towards each cluster, and creating the conditions for open innovation collaboration platforms on regional and trans-regional level.