New timber research and innovation centreFriday 24 Jul 2020 Gippsland has been announced as host for a new timber research and innovation centre.An AU$4 million centre for timber research and innovation will be set up in Gippsland to service the region's forestry industry. In a joint project, the federal and state governments have committed AU$2 million each during the next four years to establish the Gippsland Centre of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation. Projects funded under NIFPI are expected to cover forest and plantation management, timber processing, wood fibre recovery, value-adding, advanced manufacturing and the bio-economy. Forest and Wood Products Australia will provide ongoing administrative support to the centre, which will have no staff. Like existing NIFPI centres in Launceston, Tasmania and Mount Gambier, South Australia, it will have an investment and management committee and an independent chairman. Committee members usually cover the whole value chain, from forest growers to harvesters, sawmillers and the pulp and paper sector. The centre will operate as a virtual structure to reduce management and administrative costs, and will be linked to activities underway in existing centres. Successful projects, which will be managed by Forest and Wood Products Australia, will be chosen by the management committee. Forest and Wood Products Australia managing director Ric Sinclair said the organisation would have no say or input into the committee. "Using the existing NIFPI infrastructure - websites and management systems - we can hit the ground quickly," he said. Federal Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries Jonathon Duniam said the governments' funding would be supported with additional money and in-kind contributions by industry and research agencies. As reported last week, the federal government announced AU$2.2 million in funding to set up a Gippsland Regional Forestry Hub, which aims to reduce barriers to forestry expansion and develop a farm forestry strategy. It is one of nine forestry hubs under the federal government's AU$20 million National Forest Industries Plan. More >> |
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