The OnTrack proposal is built around two concepts; (1) The development of a rubber tracked timber forwarder, based on proven technology, with low ground pressure, reduced environmental impacts, high travel speed and appropriate ergonomics, providing increased access to forest resources on soft soils– the OnTrack Forwarder, and (2) The development of an automatic sensor system that monitors and records geo-referenced ground disturbance from forest machines and enables measures to reduce negative environmental impacts – the OnTrack Monitor. At the end of the project, both of these OnTrack innovations will be ready for fully operational testing and limited serial production. It is expected that the innovations will be marketed within three years from the project start. OnTrack will have positive economic and environmental impacts on the European forest sector. The OnTrack Forwarder will increase machine utilization rates for contractors and contribute to a more consistent wood supply with economic benefits the forest-based value chains. OnTrack will also strengthen the current marked position and open new markets for the involved enterprises. The OnTrack Forwarder reduces the amount of wheel rutting and soil disturbance between 40 and 70%, compared to a conventional forwarder under given conditions. The OnTrack Monitor will be the first operational system that monitors wheel rutting and damage to the soil during forest operations, and will allow forest owners, certification bodies, and policy makers to set thresholds for damages, for adopting improved operation practices, and for efficient amelioration of ruts that have exceeded these thresholds. Overall, OnTrack will lead to significant improvement in the procurement of ecosystem services such as wood supply, carbon, water and nutrient regulation, biodiversity conservation, and recreation. Hence, the project provides intelligent tools for forest production while keeping the multifunctional role of forest in focus.

Forestry is a potential pathway to strengthening European competitiveness, reducing dependence on non-renewable, unsustainable resources, enhancing the circular bioeconomy, and understanding the bioeconomy’s ecological boundaries. Europe’s forests and their value chains, however, face diverse challenges, including increasing global wood demand, biodiversity loss, and increasing biotic and abiotic threats to forest health and economic revenue caused by climate change. OptiForValue’s ultimate goal is to foster transition to more sustainable and resilient forest-based value chains, by using a unique, interconnected modelling framework involving strong participative engagement and novel scientific approaches, including early warning indicators of biotic and abiotic risks, adaptive forest management strategies, remote sensing and artificial intelligence for agile forest operations, and integrated value-chain optimisation and life cycle assessments. The expected outcomes include increased value addition, competitiveness, sustainability, and resilience of European forest-based value chains, particularly in regions already or forecast to be impacted by climate change over the coming decades. OptiForValue will accelerate this transition by enhancing the sustainability, resilience, and profitability of regional value chains in Central European, Mediterranean and boreal, via case studies in Austria, Spain, Sweden, Finland. Significant long-term impacts are expected to be achieved, including a 10% reduction in wood damage, with a subsequent increase in wood harvesting (€240 M annually), 3% value addition from better quality control (€350 M annually), 5% increase in the forestry workforce in areas affected by climate change, and 5–10% reduction in fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The consortium’s research institutes, universities and companies are well equipped to advance the state of the art, validate solutions through case studies, and upscale results.

The project focuses on increasing access to wood resources through more efficient silviculture and a better understanding of the business models governing the procurement of forest operations services. The project further considers increasing efficiency in forest harvesting and collection, and the reduction of soil impact from forest operations, and puts forward ways of making this a measurable and integrated part of operational efficiency. TECH4EFFECT offers the potential to revolutionize forest operations with a state-of-the-art knowledge-based efficiency development system, providing easily accessible decision support exploiting the large amount of data available in modern industrial forest management. The ambition of TECH4EFFECT is to implement such as management tool, enhanced through 4 years of intensive R&D in close cooperation with the end-users of the Efficiency Portal in 5 participating countries. It is the project’s hope that implementation will result in such obvious benefits amongst the industrial partners that its application will become widespread within the European forest sector.