WOOD TECHNOLOGIES

While industry needs to invest in wood technology, the Commission has a history of researching and developing products and processes, of showing the industry the way forward. To realise the vision of developing plantations in lower rainfall areas, the value of the wood grown in those plantations needs to be as high as possible.

Our wood technology research priorities will be:

Collaborative projects with industry groups and tertiary institutions that target a particular industry segment or product development. Developing markets for low-grade logs and wood residues.

Utilisation studies as part of projects to develop or adapt new plantation species.

One example of this approach is our involvement in the Cooperative Research Centre for Wood Innovation. The CRC has two main research programs, one that uses microwaves to modify wood properties and the other to evaluate modified wood, including the wood modified with microwaves.

While most forest products research aims to make incremental gains in knowledge and application, this CRC aims to make quantum leaps. If it meets its goals, timber products should be significantly more competitive against other materials and FPC as a research partner will have priority access to the technology and its applicability to WA grown timber.