IV International Scientific and Practical Conference “Innovation and Technology in Forestry” (ITF-2014) at the Federal Budgetary Institution Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research Institute

On 27-28 of May, 2014, the Saint-Petersburg Forestry Research Institute (FBI “SPbFRI”) with the support of the Federal Forestry Agency held the international scientific and practical conference “Innovation and Technology in Forestry” (ITF-2014). The event was dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the Institute.

265 people from 11 countries participated in the conference (including those who participated remotely –from 14 countries). Among them were the leading scientists and practitioners of forestry as well as young researches from leading forestry HEIs and research institutes of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Finland, Spain, Poland, Sweden, Poland, the USA, Germany, Vietnam and others.

The congratulatory addresses were received from the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO), leading organizations in the field of the forest sector of Russia and foreign countries (Kazakhstan, Belarus, Finland) in regard to the opening of the conference and 85th anniversary of the Institute.

The plenary meeting of the conference was opened by the deputy director of the Federal Forestry Agency Aleksander V. Panfilov. On behalf of management of Rosleskhoz he congratulated the staff of the Institute with 85th anniversary and delivered a letter of congratulations from the head of Rosleskhoz Vladimir A. Lebedev that expressed gratitude to the staff of FBI “SPbFRI” for their dedication and devotion to the cause. A.V. Panfilov also made a point that the Russian forest science faced a serious task – the development of an efficient instrument for creation of economically available and high-quality wood resource, promotion of development of the model of green economy in the country. The head of the Forestry Department on the Northwest federal district Oleg A. Verenikin accentuated in his speech the positive trend of partnership relations of the Department and SPFRI and promised to support implementation of knowledge intensive developments into practice.

Igor V. Shutov, the senior staff scientist and the corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told about the history of the Institute. Igor A. Vasiliev, the director of FBI “SPbFRI”, reported about what had been done at the Institute, achievements made and difficulties and prospects of the development of the Institute.

The heads of scientific and educational institutions subordinate to the Federal Forestry Agency, the representatives of government authorities of constituents of the Russian Federation and international colleagues also spoke at the plenary meeting

Six sectional meetings took place in the course of the conference, where the issues of current areas of forest science and practical application of scientific development in the field of efficient use and regeneration of forests, protection of forests, including the conditions of global climate change, and the issues of use of information and telecommunications technology in forest management. A poster session also was held during the conference.

Besides, within the framework of the conference a number of thematic meetings took place. The meeting of the directors of the subordinate research institutes under the chairmanship of the deputy director of the Federal Forestry Agency A.V. Panfilov was held; the issues of improvement of research and development organizations within the system of Rosleskhoz were discussed.

At the extended meeting of the Board of young scientists of the Federal Forestry Agency the young scientists attended a lecture given by the expert in theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) with the examples in practice of such companies like LG, Samsung and others. Also a meeting of the working group regarding development of methods for greenhouse gases inventory in the forests of the Russian Federation was held within the framework of the conference.

The participants and guests of the event got acquainted with the innovative developments of FBI “SPbFRI” at the exhibition “Implementation of innovative developments into the practice of forest management”. Among those are the system of video monitoring of wildfires, system of video conferencing, а line for seedlings management and the unmanned aerial rotor-winged vehicle with function of automatic control of flight assignment created to aid those involved in wildfire suppression.

An important event that coincided with the conference and anniversary of the Institute was also the opening of two facilities of social significance – a multifunctional sports center and a dining hall

In the resolution adopted by the results of the conference the participants marked the necessity of expansion of usage share of information and communication technology in the forest sector – in particular, the use of adapted software tools for training of future forestry specialists; the application of advanced means and technologies for forecasting, monitoring and control of wildfires, pests and diseases, creation of unified system of wood inventory with the use of automated inventory methods for the increase of reliability and efficiency of this process. It was recommended to continue the work on improvement of mechanisms of creation of artificial forests, improvement of regulatory and legal framework of forest management in the field of intensive cultivation of forests and forest management in protection forests, conducting research and development work in the field of study of potentials of mitigation and adaptation in the forest sector as a basis for the strategy of sustainable forest use in the context of observable and expected climate change.

The conference was a large international scientific forum. It made it possible to exchange international experience; it joined efforts of specialists from different countries for settlement of current issues in the forest sector and promoted development of interstate cooperation.