We are looking to join an international research consortium developing innovative timber and wood-based products under Topic 3. LTU’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation group can contribute expertise in circular product innovation, digitalization, commercialization and SME collaboration. We are especially interested in helping promising products move from technical development to production and use.

New products such as engineered timber components, wood-based insulation, panels and materials made from wood residues must meet technical and environmental requirements. They must also be feasible for manufacturers to produce and attractive for customers to adopt. We would work alongside wood science, engineering and construction partners to investigate the business and organizational decisions that shape a product’s path to use.

Depending on the product and consortium, we could contribute to:

Circular product development: Working with producers and prospective users to examine how material choices, product design, production methods, reuse and end-of-life options affect a product’s commercial potential.

Digital tools for product and process decisions: Studying how SMEs can use digital twins to explore design and manufacturing options, material use and circularity before making production investments. LTU’s participation in CIRC-2-ZERO provides relevant project experience.

Product adoption and market fit: Investigating what manufacturers, builders and other customers need from new wood-based products, and how evidence on performance and sustainability can inform purchasing and manufacturing decisions.

Commercialization and scale-up: Identifying the capabilities, partnerships and business models needed to move a wood-based product from prototype or pilot production into repeatable manufacturing and market use.

We would welcome collaboration with partners developing and testing wood-based materials and products, as well as manufacturers and potential users willing to participate in product-focused case studies. LTU is interested in contributing as a research partner or work-package leader.

Luleå University of Technology (LTU) is Scandinavia’s northernmost technical university, with strong connections to the forest, mining, manufacturing, energy and process industries of northern Sweden.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation research group conducts internationally recognized research on business model innovation, digital servitization, industrial ecosystems, commercialization and sustainable business transformation. We examine how industrial firms develop, implement and scale innovative solutions in collaboration with customers, suppliers, technology providers and other partners.

We have extensive experience conducting collaborative research with industrial companies and translating findings into practical frameworks for business transformation. Our expertise includes qualitative and longitudinal case studies, collaborative research approaches and insights that help firms adopt and scale sustainable innovations.

We bring an established network across the Swedish forestry and industrial sectors, including innovative SMEs, equipment and technology suppliers such as Komatsu Forest and Scania, and forestry companies such as SCA and Södra. These connections can help a consortium engage industry partners, develop case studies and connect research with practical needs.

Our Topic 3 interest centres on developing and adopting innovative timber- and wood-based products. We are interested in “How wood is transformed into innovative products”. We are also partners in CIRC-2-ZERO (Interreg Baltic Sea Region, 2025–2028; €3.3 million, 13 partners from 7 countries, led by Häme University of Applied Sciences). The project helps SMEs in engineered wood products and electronics move towards decarbonisation through circular design, process optimisation and digital twins, supported by a network of Resilience Transformation Hubs and a Living Lab approach.

We bring social-science expertise in value chains, business models and governance, plus access to Swedish forest, wood-industry and geodata actors. We are open to a partner or work-package-leader role and would consider coordinating.