Rural development

Rural areas represent around 80% of the EU territory. Rural populations face disadvantages such as less access to public infrastructure and services and higher risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion which are main reasons for major demographic changes and rural depopulation trends.

Forests and forestry can contribute more to the economic growth of Europe’s rural regions. Sustainable forest products and services connecting forests with urban centres can ensure existing jobs and create new opportunities for employment and business especially also in rural areas. Fostering this rural renaissance is a main purpose of the Basajaun project.

Sustainable wood construction

Wood is one of the most versatile building materials, as it is extremely strong in relation to its weight. Wood is also a natural, renewable material that stores CO₂ in solid products throughout their whole life cycle. By choosing this renewable construction material instead of other materials, the carbon footprint of buildings can be significantly reduced.

Enhancing carbon capture in forests and maximizing storage in wood products will play an essential role in the mitigation of anthropogenic GHG emissions to combat climate change. The Basajaun project demonstrates how new materials, products and system solutions can benefit a sustainable circular wood construction sector.

Digitalization and innovation

Digital technologies are a disruptive driver of change: Industry 4.0 sets the ground for fully connected industrial production and innovation systems, smart factories, automation and mass customisation. Digital twins of forests and buildings are paving the way to better sustainable management of forests. By connecting each step of the entire chain from the individual tree in the forest up to the specific wood product in a building, it will be possible to fully optimise the valorisation of wood in terms of its economic, environmental and social benefits.

The Basajaun project will develop a first prototype of a digital ‘forest to building’ platform to showcase that the data gaps between forestry and wood industries can be bridged through digital solutions and be exploited for the benefit of a more competitive, sustainable wood construction sector.

Expected impacts

BASAJAUN targets the opportunity to generate a higher awareness for the benefits of sustainable forest use and wood construction by attaining a wider audience. In a nutshell, the project is expected to contribute to the following relevant impacts at different levels:

• Impact 1: Increased resource and/or energy efficiency and added value and minimising pollution and the environmental footprint in the construction sector in the cities by 2030
• Impact 2: Enhanced connectivity of rural-urban areas and their overall contribution to a resilient, circular and competitive, forest-based bioeconomy, by 2025
• Impact 3: Enhanced contribution of forest-based sector to long-term climate change mitigation, adaptation and rural development objectives
• Impact 4: In the long-term, prompt a sizeable positive change to European landscapes and economies, by keeping the countryside green and serving to make the cities greener, and increasing the share of both decent and green jobs
• Impact 5: Advance available solutions from TRL 4-5 to TRL 6-7 to demonstrate the viability of upscaling the manufacture of innovative wood-based solutions for the

Contribution to EU policy goals

The outcomes will improve industrial competitiveness and growth ofcompanies and ensure beneficial social impacts, including higheremployment. BASAJAUN is set to contribute to the achievement ofmajor EU policy objectives:

• The European Green Deal (2020) is the EU’s new industrial policy that initiates a deep transformation of all main sectors towards a climate-neutral Circular Economy. It aims at sustainable, circularproducts, reduced waste, a new renovation wave to increase energy performance of buildings, andenabling digital technologies for a green economy.
• The new Circular Economy Action Plan (2020) confirms the EU’sambition to transition towards a regenerative growth model, doubling te circular material use rate and become a leader at global level. BASAJAUN contributes to the key product chain “Construction and buildings”.
• The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDG, 2015) adoptedby all UN member states provides a shared blueprint for peace andprosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future.BASAJAUN’s contribution is well aligned with various SDG impacts ofsustainable buildings.

Innovations co-created with industry

BASAJAUN addresses novel concepts in building materials, products, systems and technology to improve the wood construction value chain. The project achieves a techno-economical assessment of the approaches and a business plan of the proposed demonstrators. All will be integrated in industrial setting to allow for a broad uptake of the solutions.

Materials and products
Coatings with improved capabilities (Irurena)
New sandwich insulation panel products (Garnica)
Foamed wood-plastic-compsites (Elastopoli)
Improved manufacturability of biocomposite profiles (Omikron-Dokk)
New natural insulation technologies (Soprema)
New curtain wall system with biocomposites (Focchi)
Enhanced egineered wood products (ENAR).

Building systems
Industrialized construction system (Bouyges)
Industrialized building concept in wood (UNStudio).

Digital innovations
Digitalized manufacturing process (RemaSawco)
Digitalized construction process (Moelven)
Digital twin software for buildings (Paramountric, RISE)

Demo building

Full-scale demo demonstration projects will be realized with multiple partners using innovative architecture. The Northern demo building is being built in Jyväskylä in Finland at the VTT headquarters. The Southern demo building is being built in Bordeaux France in cooperation with the Departement de Gironde. The demonstration is devoted to products manufacturing regarding scalability and replicability in a system prototype within an operational environment.

Forest to Building Digital Framework (F2BDF)

Digitalization is a main driver to boost performance and decarbonization in the construction sector. To ensure traceability of building materials throughout the whole engineering process and the lifetime of the building, a full digital twin is developed. The F2BDF helps to overcome gaps in the data flow, to increase the transparency of the engineering process, and to optimize efficiency in the of whole value chain.

An OPC UA industry 4.0 platform is built as main backbone, which can connect and integrate various autonomous subsystems of a smart supply and production chain. The framework is designed for evolvability, because the long lifecycle of building requires the software and systems to adapt further in the future.

Role of building with wood for rural development

Rural areas represent around 80% of the EU territory, yet they are inhabited by only 28% of the population . Rural populations face disadvantages such as less access to public infrastructure and services and higher risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, which are main reasons for major demographic changes and rural depopulation trends.

In this context, forests and forestry can help rural development and contribute to the economic growth of Europe’s rural regions. Sustainable forest products and services connecting forests with urban centres through smart modern wood supply chains, such as the wood construction sector, can ensure existing jobs and create new opportunities for business and employment especially also in rural areas. Fostering this rural renaissance is a main purpose of the Basajaun project.

Exploitation and Communication

A novel open co-creation platform will be developed to promote cross-regional collaboration and regional development in Europe’s wood construction ecosystem. The project results are enhanced further into rural-urban pilot demonstrators. The platform will support regional companies and stakeholders for further uptake and upscaling of Basajaun solutions.

The project undertakes broad dissemination and develops policy recommendations to a range of target groups. Clustering with other R+D projects and initiatives in wood construction and Circular Economy will foster stronger exchange and new partnerships in Europe’s forest-based sector.