Forest Operations for the Future - current R&D in forest operations and technology in the Nordic-Baltic countries

NB NORD's concluding conference, Forest Operations for the Future, was recently held in Helsinore and over the web. The conference proceedings provide a good overview of current operational problems and solutions of forestry in the Nordic-Baltic area. The publication contains summaries of 50 scientific presentations made during the conference.

The presentations cover a broad area, from environmental and climate impacts of forestry to streamlining harvesting, transports and silviculture.

Smart sensors and the use of so-called Big data, combining large data-sets from different sources is a common denominator of many presentations. The increasing availability of data makes it possible to use the production resources in a better way, to increase gentleness and adaptation of forest operations and to improve planning, follow-up and operations management. Sensors and data are also important for development of remote controlled and automated forest machines.

NB NORD (Nordic-Baltic Network for Operations Research and Development) is a so-called Center of Advanced Research (CAR) funded by SNS, Nordic Forest research. Six national forest research institutes collaborate in the CAR.

The institutes work for increased efficiency in forestry. It is a prerequisite for increased profitability, reduced environmental impact and an increased attractiveness and status of forestry. NB NORD coordinates these efforts.

Rolf Björheden, Skogforsk (Sweden) and Ingeborg Callesen, IGN Copenhagen University (Denmark) edited the conference proceedings