Forestry and economic development: research challenges and possibilities for future interdisciplinary research in technology and economics

Abstract

The link between forestry and economic development has been studied in many projects in the past decade. Both economic research and technical research have contributed to this topic. The environment of forest research with interdisciplinary teams gives forest research institutions a special role. It is argued that forest research institutions should focus more on market driven innovations. Economists should analyse market strategies and markets upfront and technologists should do the research needed for the product development part of the innovation. Another topic addressed is the dominance of social science research concerning the role of forest research in rural economic development. Social science, including economics, can at best analyse the causes of and mechanisms behind a certain development. Technological research could contribute more concretely to the creation of new activities and should be more integrated in rural development research. The last point is that it is a paradox that forest research is local and mainly financed by national taxpayers, whereas the forest industry is becoming more and more global. Could the first step in globalization of forest research be the Nordic Forest Research Institute?