38th Scientific Seminar at Wood K plus - Topic: Digital tools for research at Wood K plus

“Digital history” at Wood K plus

Approaches of digitalisation have a long history at Wood K plus. Since the very beginning in 2001, the application and further development of digital tools have been addressed in our research projects. Examples range from sensors for process analytics to the statistical modelling of manufacturing processes. With the highly dynamic development of digital technologies, starting about ten years ago, Wood K plus implemented a strategy for digitalisation within the research center. Several workshops with leading digital research centers followed and a scientific network was established. In 2019, the cross-sectional team for digitalisation was implemented to coordinate research activities where digital tools are used. In addition, the team is developing novel concepts for future applications.

Dynamic digital world

Especially due to the rapid increase in computing power and the focus laid on digital tools by several governments within the last decade, digital technologies advanced dynamically. Some technologies have even reached high maturity levels, to be used in e.g. autonomous vehicles.

Leader in digital technologies for wood sector

Wood K plus is a leading research center in the area of wood and wood-related renewable resources in Europe. In this interdisciplinary field of research, Wood K plus has strengthened its skills towards digital technologies throughout the last 22 years and evolved into a leading position in digital technologies for the wood sector. 48 research projects and more than 22 peer-reviewed publications in the field of digital technologies for renewables within the last ten years are testimonials in this claim.

The sessions

The scientific seminar was held in hybrid form with 40 participants in Tulln and 17 online. At the scientific seminar, the talks were clustered into three sessions: “Modelling of materials & processes”, “Sensors for wood & composites” and “Modelling of life cycles & value chains”. For each session, renown keynote speakers gave valuable insights. Prof. Andreas Holzinger from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU) gave the first keynote speech about the “Digital Transformation in Forest Operations” and Industry 5.0, with the focus on human-robot collaboration and the robustness and explainability of artificial intelligence in general. A second keynote was given by Prof. Tim Young from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville about “Machine Learning for Optimisation in the Sustainable Biomaterials Industries”. The third keynote speech was given by Prof. Christian Garaus from BOKU about the topic “Involving Users in Innovation”. The 13 talks of researchers from Wood K plus span from machine learning for wood processing over simulations of manufacturing processes and the molecular behavior of polymers, sensors for structural health monitoring, computer vision for the traceability of wood or the assistance of factory workers to life cycle analysis and agent-based modelling of wood markets.