Transforming the Australian forest products sector

28 January 2016

Transforming the Australian forest products sector

An Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre has officially been launched in Tasmania today where researchers will work with industry to transform the Australian forest products sector.

The ARC Training Centre for Forest Value, based at the University of Tasmania, was awarded more than $3.6 million in ARC funding in the 2015 round of the Industrial Transformation Training Centres scheme.

The Industrial Transformation Research Programme, which funds Research Hubs and Training Centres, delivers research funding to enhance collaboration with key industries to find solutions to critical industry problems.

The ARC Training Centre for Forest Value will build capacity to transform the Australian forest products sector.

ARC Chief Executive Officer, Professor Aidan Byrne, said a particular focus at the centre would be training a workforce capable of improving resource utilisation and creating value at all stages along the forest-to-building supply chain.

“This will allow the sector to exploit emerging markets in the use of renewable materials.”

The Training Centre’s partners range from forest managers to architects and engineers, to ensure a flow of information from forest to design and manufacture. Partners include:

• Prefab Lab Pty. Ltd
• Island Workshop Architecture Pty. Ltd
• Greening Australian (TAS) Ltd
• SFM Environmental Solutions Pty. Ltd
• Forico Pty. Ltd
• Forestry Tasmania
• Forest and Wood Products Australia Limited, and
• Neville Smith Forest Products Pty Ltd.

For more information about this Training Centre please visit the ARC Training Centre for Forest Value website. Information regarding the Industrial Transformation Research Programme is available from the ARC website.
 
Media contact:
ARC Stakeholder Relations
0412 623 056 or communications@arc.gov.au