Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation centre of excellence

Slovenia was identified as a region lagging in innovation within the Horizon2020 WIDESPREAD 2014-1: Teaming call for proposals, and this is is particularly noticeable in the country's forest-based value chain. However, the vital core of Slovenia’s renewable resource-based value chain has retained access to international markets and a significant production capacity in spite of an overall workforce reduction. Therefore this industry exhibits a strong potential for growth, which was identified in the Smart Specialization Strategy of Slovenia. The Smart Specialization Strategy of Slovenia calls for inter-sectoral networking and integration of the wood chain in the design of homes and working environments of the future. It promotes research and innovation deriving from traditional knowledge and skills related to wood and wood-compatible natural materials and seeks to increase added value and export of companies by 15% by 2023. In order to leverage this potential by facilitating collaborations between industry and academia in this sector, the Renewable materials and healthy environments research and innovation Centre of Excellence (InnoRenew CoE) was established. With support and guidance from the advanced partner, Fraunhofer WKI, scientific research and development activities will be transferred rapidly and effectively to the industry and through them to society in the form of innovative new products and processes.

The ongoing research activities of the institute and many other accomplishments demonstrate the success of the project so far. In Slovenia’s national scientific tracking system the InnoRenew CoE’s H-index ranks first in biotechnology (Forestry, Wood, and Paper) and third in Natural Sciences and Mathematics (Computer intensive methods and methods). InnoRenew CoE and partner's successful competitive funding applications further indicate the increased scientific capabilities not only of InnoRenew CoE, but all InnoRenew partners. The establishment of a new PhD study program at the University of Primorska, Renewable Materials for Healthy Built Environments, ensures the long-term viability of the institute and the field by recruiting and training talented researchers. As of September 30, 2023 InnoRenew CoE has submitted over 290 national and international proposals. In these proposals InnoRenew CoE collaborated with national and international R&D institutions and industrial partners from 40 countries. The successful proposals brought to P10/InnoRenew CoE approx. 11,7 million EUR (1,3 million in the 4th reporting period) of new funding from grants and over 1,5 million EUR (700.000,00 EUR in the 4th reporting period) of direct industrial funding. The success rate of submitted proposals was 28 %, while several proposals are pending. The InnoRenew CoE’s conference series, the annual "InnoRenew CoE International Conference" and the organisation's participation in events like the Charm of Wood exhibition, workshops for elementary school students – “Let’s explore wood”, and communication to general public will continue to increase the use of renewable materials. InnoRenew CoE provided white papers to Slovenian policy makers to increase the use of wood in publicly financed buildings, which resulted in the new public procurement regulation (adopted in July 2021) that publicly financed building should have at least 30% of wood or other renewable-based materials built in (volume-wise). Additionally, InnoRenew CoE has become an active partner of the New European Bauhaus and is including citizen science aspects into their research. National and international policy is influenced through representation of InnoRenew CoE employees in national and international policy bodies, and through participation in policy related actions and the Horizon Europe Nexus report, which was coauthored by InnoREnew CoE's director. Research outputs are archived on the project’s Zenodo community, which can be browsed on the InnoRenew.