About WoodWorks! Cluster
The cluster is called WoodWorks!, spelled with an exclamation mark. Because that's what wood does - it serves many purposes. For our homes, for our minds, for our health and for the earth and climate. We help to create works in wood.
It is not easy today to see that this is a very old industry. It is, but at the same time we are buzzing. New ideas, new solutions and completely new areas of use, where wood or fiber can improve our lifestyle and the environmental impact. Apart from a massive trend towards living in wooden houses, this material can now be used in medicine, in food, in animal and fish feed and much more.
Our cluster is developing at a very fast rate. We now have close to 80 members, who represent a complete value chain from the forest to all the previously mentioned areas. Our heritage is the middle parts of Norway, we like to say the central parts…. But we have members and projects around Norway, in Scandinavia, - and we are becoming more and more international. This is due to both global market trends and collaboration on innovation and production.
Our main focus is on the three fields Wood construction & building, on new areas for the utilization of wood fiber and on creating value for the raw material (availability and qualities). In these three areas, we have more than 100 projects underway.
We have been through two periods of national support to build this cluster further and seek new opportunities with both commercial, public and R&D actors. From now on we are dependent on other sources of funding.
We strongly believe that the future is green and in favor of using wood!
Good conditions for development and creating values
Trøndelag (a county in central Norway) has raw materials, industry and the ability to explore the market. There are well-known R&D environmental and educational institutions in technology, economics, social science and other knowledge environments that are present in the region and contribute to strengthening the industry's competitiveness.
The cluster consists of players in the forest, industry and construction value chain - that is, industry players from the wood-based value chains and partners from research and knowledge environments, local administration and other support systems.
WoodWorks! builds on a strong collaboration culture which is aimed at innovation and market orientation based on the bioeconomy. The cluster collaboration gives an extra lift with common efforts heading to a greener future.
For the most our activity is project-organized, with separate funding for each project. There is always at least one, usually several, business actors involved in each project. R&D also participates in most of the projects. We often seek international partners in our projects.
We try to influence framework conditions that affect our members' everyday life and development. We do this through communication with politicians, authorities and the rest of society. We place particular emphasis on the forestry industry being and must be sustainable. This is central to both our internal and external communication.
WoodWorks! Cluster works closely with Kystskogbruket and the organization Skognæringa Kyst SA.
The concept of Norwegian Innovation Clusters
Norwegian innovation clusters are a government-funded cluster program aimed to value creation through sustainable innovation. This will be done by unleash and strengthening collaboration based development activities in the clusters. The program will increase the internal dynamic and strengthen the attractiveness of the clusters. This will lead to increase the innovation capacity of each company.
