ANNUAL REPORT 09/10 - Forest and Wood Products Australia

14 | STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK
STRATEGY TWO:
RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Invest in and coordinate R&D to improve the
industry’s competitiveness, inform of its climate
change response, enhance investment, increase
usage, and ensure the sustainability of forests,
wood products and services.
FWPA’s R&D investment activities are guided by seven
priority themes:
1 Evaluate market trends nationally and internationally
to enable industry to develop business and industry
development strategies.
2 Maintain and expand markets for wood products and
the new products and services required to meet these
markets.
3 Develop knowledge and technology to improve existing
production and utilisation processes.
4 Characterise the properties and variability of wood
resources and maximise value recovery.
5 Enable genetic improvement and the management of
biotic or abiotic risk factors.
6 Develop systems and technologies to optimise water
productivity and effi ciency.
7 Evaluate strategies for forest management under
climate change and maximise greenhouse advantages
of forest products.
FWPA ANNUAL REPORT 09/10
Thirteen investment priorities were identifi ed and
endorsed by the Board in 2009. These priorities have
been developed to refl ect the interests of Members
across the value change. To ensure that there is a clear
linkage between R&D investments and desired industry
outcomes, each investment priority will be supported by
an investment plan that is approved by the Board.
The investment priorities are:
1 Information, analysis and interpretation of domestic
and export markets.
2 Timber construction in residential buildings.
3 Timber construction in commercial and
industrial buildings.
4 Appearance timber products and markets.
5 Wood products in sustainable buildings.
6 Development of secondary products and markets
for them.
7 Solid wood, engineered wood and pulp and paper:
performance and yield.
8 Maximising product yields and values from
current resources.
9 Improving wood quality and yield, and tools for
forest management.
10 Genetic improvement and delivery for increased wood
yield, quality and for managing risks.
11 Water-use effi ciency, access to resources and
balanced policy outcomes.
12 Forest biosecurity and preparedness.
13 Mitigation of, and adaption to, climate change and the
management of the carbon cycle in plantations and
native forests.
Investment plans have been approved by the Board for
priorities (5) and (10). Work is underway on investment
plans for priorities (1), (4), (11) and (13).
See page 28 for more details on these priorities.