Forest & Photonics 2024

31.10.-01.11.2024 UEF Joensuu campus and Joensuu Science Park, part of the ICS24 conference

Register your participation for the event HERE

FOREST AND PHOTONICS: Designing Forested Environments in 2040 session brings together leading companies, researchers and experts in the field to jointly identify technology solutions to the future challenges of using forest resources:

What kind of smart forestry planning measures and value chains reconcile the procurement of wood biomass, the goals of carbon sequestration and the preservation of biodiversity while taking economic, social and ecological sustainability into account?
What kind of data sources and monitoring approaches are needed to evaluate the impacts of the adopted measures?
How can we prepare for risks elevated by climate change in order to safeguard the vitality and production of forests?
How could the forest bioeconomy side streams and circular economy opportunities be better utilized?
How do photonics, the science and technology of light, contribute to forestry today and tomorrow?
What role could artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies potentially play as enabling technologies?

The session is hosted by the University of Eastern Finland and Business Joensuu in collaboration with the other members and partners of Forest Joensuu and Photonics Joensuu innovation ecosystems.

Programme

The programme and speakers will be updated closer to the date.

31.10.2024 12.30-18.00

Designing Forested Environments in 2040, Metria, UEF Joensuu campus

SESSION I: ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING AND SUSTAINABILITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
12.30-13.00 Keynote: Forest Monitoring in Europe, Jo Van Brusselen, Senior researcher, Climate-Smart Forestry Team in the Bioeconomy Unit, European Forest Institute (EFI)
13.00-13.20 Applications of proximal imaging spectroscopy in forestry and wood science, Markku Keinänen, Research Manager, Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology, University of Eastern Finland (UEF)
13.20-13.40 Making forest operations more sustainable with Lidar sensors on harvesting equipment, Mauricio Acuna, Research Professor of AI and automation in forest operations (LUKE)
13.40-14.00 Benefits of models based on causal understanding vs. data-driven artificial intelligence for forest inventory and planning, Jari Vauhkonen, Professor of forest planning and an adjunct professor of forest remote sensing, University of Eastern Finland (UEF)

14.00-14.30 Coffee / Networking break / Poster Session

SESSION II: DESIGNING FORESTED ENVIRONMENTS FOR ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY
14.40-16.00 Panel discussion
16.00-18.00 Campus tour

19:00 ICS24 CONFERENCE DINNER (registration for the dinner as part of the ICS24 conference registration)

01.11.2024 08:00-10:30

Industry speed dating and company pitching event, Joensuu Science Park

8.00-9.00 Business speed dating
9.00-9.30 Key Note
9.30-10.30 Company pitching programme

Read more about the conference: 4th International Conference for Sustainable Resource Society - ICS24

Key Note speakers:

Jo Van Brusselen

Forest Monitoring in Europe

Jo Van Brusselen is Senior researcher at the European Forest Institute (EFI), Climate-Smart Forestry Team in the Bioeconomy Unit, with over 20 years’ research experience. His recent project involvement relating to forest monitoring and policy support include: the Horizon Europe MoniFun project on the development of a blueprint for a harmonized European Forest Multifunctionality Monitoring System (EFMMS) (2025-2027), ESA Forest Carbon Monitoring project (FCM-2: 2024-205), support to EU DG Environment for the impact assessment on the legislative proposal for forest monitoring and strategic plans (2022-2023); and the development of guidance for the renewable energy directive (REDII) implementing act with sustainable harvesting and LULUCF criteria, for EU DG Energy (2020-2021).

Furthermore, EFI is actively collaborating on next generation tools for forest monitoring, through several of the big EU funded Horizon Europe projects on this topic. In his talk, Jo will reflect on the big picture of forest monitoring in Europe.

Mauricio Acuna

Making forest operations more sustainable with Lidar sensors on harvesting equipment

Prof. Mauricio Acuna (Luke) holds a PhD in Forest Engineering from Oregon State University, a MSc in Operations Research and Management from the University of Chile, and a Bachelor in Forest Engineering from the University Austral of Chile. He is currently a Research Professor of AI and automation in forest operations at Luke. Prof. Acuna has nearly 30 years of professional experience and is one of the international and national research leaders in forest technology and wood supply chain optimization.

His international experience includes short-term visits and collaboration with organizations in Chile, Uruguay, Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. His research interests include sensing technology and AI in the forest supply chain, mathematical programming and optimization techniques in forest management and operations, wood and biomass harvesting and transport logistics, and harvesting machine evaluation.

Currently, he is leading projects focusing on Lidar and depth camera sensors installed on harvesting equipment combined with AI technology to improve decisions and maximize value recovery in forest operations.

ICS24 Key Note:

Eeva Hellström

What if tomorrow’s resource economy were regenerative?

31.10.2024 10:00 ICS24 Pleanary at UEF Campus

Eeva Hellström is a Senior Lead in Foresight at the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, an independent, future-oriented public think-and-do tank.

Eeva Hellström holds a D.Sc. in environmental economics from the University of Helsinki. As forester by professional training, Eeva began her research career at the European Forest Institute in 1993. She later served as Director of the Forest Academy for Decision-Makers (1996-2008), Chair of the Finnish Forest Research Institute (2012-2014), Vice Chair of the European Forest Institute (2013-2017), Chair of the Finnish Forest Association (2016-2021), and Chair of the Finnish Forest Centre (from 2017

At Sitra, Eeva focuses particularly on foresight activities related to the economy of tomorrow. Her work aims to identify potential development trends and transformative opportunities that can contribute to a genuinely fair, sustainable, and competitive economy. A key goal is to challenge prevailing assumptions about the future of the economy and to initiate constructive, multisectoral, and multidisciplinary discourse on the topic. Currently, she has a special interest in regenerative economics.

In her previous work at Sitra (since 2008), Eeva has gained extensive experience in multidisciplinary visioning, strategy, and interaction processes, as well as in societal education. She has led projects related to natural resource strategies, rural development, and the use of knowledge in decision-making. She has also facilitated Finland's Sustainable Development Expert Panel.