An out-of-session meeting of the FWPA Board gained approval for the support of a bid to the Smarter Regions Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), requesting a commitment to forestry-related initiatives of $200,000 annually for 10 years.
This funding would enable projects to ensure the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) are maximised for forestry in Australia’s regional areas.
The bid requests the funds be used to support projects focused on data and knowledge integration along the value chain to inform decisions that will maximise product value.
The CRC works with commercial partners from various sectors including forestry, technology, transport, infrastructure, fisheries, medical, agriculture and mining. Its goal is to ensure regional Australia can reap the benefits of AI to drive increased productivity, value adding, and additional high-paid jobs.
By working across industry sectors and regions, the CRC will facilitate cross-sectorial and cross-regional learning, and build the critical mass of uptake needed to drive a regional AI workforce in Australia.
FWPA and the University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) collaborated on the development of the bid alongside a range of industry partners, including growers and timber processors, outlining potential areas of focus for forestry.
“During industry discussions there was strong support for developing better tools and capacity from both growers and processors,” said Professor Mark Brown, Director of the Forest Industry Research Centre at the USC, and Program Leader of the Smarter Regions CRC.
“Optimising knowledge and knowledge transfer across the entire industry supply chain is therefore a major priority of the bid, due to its potential to support better decision-making.
“The bid was also developed with the priority of further building upon a number of previous FWPA investments,” said Brown.
The CRC investment will be matched by collective industry funding of an additional $200,000 annually, also for 10 years.
“The 2021 call for CRC bids allowed RDC funds to be matchable, which allows for the best leverage of industry funds,” said Ric Sinclair, Managing Director at FWPA.
“Provision of this in-kind support will come from forest growers and processors, and will be coordinated and verified by FWPA as part of our commitment.
“This level of investment will position the forestry sector as a key regional industry partner of the CRC, greatly enhancing the opportunity to attract co-investment from key technology industry partners,” said Sinclair.
Specifically, the bid calls for funds to be used for the development of automated data-driven systems to:
- grow the highest quality timber resource possible by supporting the deployment of genetic material matched to specific site conditions
- advance the application of tailored and optimised management strategies for forest rotations to promote both timber quantity and quality
- enable knowledge sharing with data privacy at various levels
- predict timber quality and attributes in advance, and thereby ensure sufficient time to prepare and produce the appropriate products matching market opportunities
- optimise processing and value-adding manufacturing processes in the regions in alignment with local, national, and international market demands.
“Developing predictive models will help ensure the implementation of short- and long-term management strategies, allowing regional Australia to grow the highest quality timber resource possible, and at a rate that will satisfy future demand,” said Sinclair.
“The CRC is a significant initiative for regional Australia, as it provides SMEs with opportunities to co-invest in platform technologies that would otherwise be too expensive or risky,” said Brown.
“Under the CRC, regional businesses can participate as a community, rather than through sectoral processes, building excitement, critical mass and skills. In turn, this will help attract additional investment and opportunities.”
If the FWPA-supported bid is short listed, additional scoping of the full research program, including specific forest and wood product projects, will be undertaken in the leadup to a formal interview between key industry researchers and a panel established by the federal Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources in late 2021.
You can find out more about the Smarter Regions CRC by clicking here.
