The problem
The wild forest products are often considered secondary and of little interest by the forest sector but in reality, they can become a real social and economic resource for the territory and the population. Especially in the Mediterranean, less competitive than Northern Europe in timber industry, non-wood forest products can play a significant role. To date, however, an holistic approach for the sector is lacking, and often NWFP’s supply chains are limited as well as being often illegal.

The solution
INCREDIBLE project, funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 programme, aims to enhance the importance of NWFPs and build a mass of knowledge through transversal and multidisciplinary approaches. The focus is the Mediterranean area, historically weaker than the north of Europe in respect to timber production, and for this reason prone to invest in alternative forest products such as resins, mushrooms, truffles, medicinal and aromatic plants, cork and wild berries.

Our contribution
Etifor is in charge of the Working Package regarding open innovation: solving problems and scaling-up through cross sector fertilization. Is therefore focused in organizing and promoting meetings and events in order to facilitate multidisciplinary session where different stakeholders can build up and discuss about new and innovative approaches and business models for the NWFP sector. Etifor plays a central role especially in the mushroom and truffle iNET (international network).