NRP 66 enters the home straight

NRP 66 is approaching the finish line, with the concluding events set to take place on 7 and 8 November 2017.

NRP 66 is entering the home straight. How time flies. Dr M. Riediker, President of the Steering Committee of NRP 66 at the first Progress Report Meeting almost exactly four years ago in April 2013.(Photo: Marco Finsterwald)

​Where is there significant potential for using wood more intelligently? What insights can be drawn from the research results? How can we expand upon the dialogue that has been cultivated between researchers, businesses and authorities as part of NRP 66? These and other questions are being addressed by the NRP 66 Steering Committee, which met in a plenary session on 8-9 March 2017 on the Zürichberg for the twelfth and final time prior to the concluding event in November.

Steering Committee chair Dr Martin Riediker summed matters up at the start of the meeting, saying it was important now to draw key conclusions from the many initial results of the research projects for the benefit of the key stakeholders from the fields of business, politics and research. He also said it was important that the promising implementation projects and joint ventures between research and business should continue, regardless of whether they involved timber construction, recycling wood biomass, developing new wood-based materials or sustainable timber usage in general.

Following an in-depth discussion of the synthesis reports, the Steering Committee thanked the four co-author teams for their work and the many participants from research, business and administration for their involvement in the various consultative and advisory groups.

Another topic on the Zürichberg was the planned transfer of the KTT portfolio to the Swiss Wood Innovation Network (S-WIN), which is financed by the Swiss Confederation's Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI). The Steering Committee is expressly supporting efforts by S-WIN to further cultivate contacts established as part of NRP 66 with stakeholders outside the forestry and timber industry, which will play an important role in moving towards a strong timber-based economy.