To this end, the wood delegation for entrepreneurs and interested parties took place last Friday to gain an insight into sustainable work and research with wood.

The opportunities that companies in Carinthia can gain and use were presented by BABEG and happily perceived. "We are organising this delegation with the aim of strengthening cross-border cooperation in research in the wood industry," said Jernej Dvoršak, BABEG.

Ms Vanja Stolcer, Project Manager at the Wood K Plus Competence Centre: "We are a leading research institution for wood and related renewable raw materials in Europe. Our core competencies lie in materials research and process technology. Research questions are dealt with in order to enable resource-saving management in the cycle-led bioeconomy. At the St. Veit an der Glan site, we are engaged in research on the topic of surface technology for wood-based materials and composite materials made from renewable raw materials. In particular, this involves issues related to the surfaces of paper, laminates, composites, natural fibres and natural fibre composites. Long-term cooperation with large companies as well as micro-projects with SMEs are made possible, which are intended to open the door to research topics. The offer ranges from basic research to the generation of prototypes."

After a short break, the second part of the morning programme followed, in which Arnulf Penker, member of the FunderMax management, welcomed the delegation. "High-quality wood-based materials and compact laminates in the broad Fundermax decor range are processed into individually designed solutions. The product portfolio includes raw chipboard, coated chipboard, laminated board, compact board, biofibre board and m.look category board."

Afterwards, the delegation went to the wood fair in Klagenfurt where the latest trends and developments in the industry were presented. B2B talks with the delegation from South Tyrol and local companies then took place at the stand of the Carinthian Chamber of Commerce.

We thank you for this eventful day and look forward to exciting projects and discussions.