Scaling up forest-based innovations in Europe

The forest bioeconomy holds significant potential to drive the green transition, enhance industrial competitiveness, strengthen strategic autonomy, and promote well-being.

Forest management can enhance terrestrial carbon sinks, address the biodiversity crisis, and produce wood and other bio-based materials necessary to transform Europe’s main economic sectors (construction, manufacturing, mobility, chemicals, textiles, packaging) through circular economy principles.

Fulfilling this potential requires innovation. However, despite having a world-class research ecosystem, Europe still faces significant challenges in developing and bringing new bio-based products and services to the market. Bioeconomy innovation requires substantial investments in physical infrastructures and involves high technological and market risks. As a result, a large share of bioeconomy innovations fails to traverse the so-called valley of death, a critical phase between earlier-stage R&D and commercial viability, where limited public funding and high private investment risk hinder scale-up and commercialisation.  

Therefore, the question remains: How can Europe overcome the most critical barriers hindering the scale-up of the European bioeconomy? This report tries to answer this question through actionable recommendations for different stakeholder groups.

Citation

Briers, S.; Martinez de Arano, I.; Caula, S.; Enache, A. 2025. Scaling up forest-based innovations in Europe: overcoming the valley of death. European Forest Institute.