Future Forest Forum 2024

Future Forest Forum

The annual highlight for forest and climate innovators

A rethought forest economy is created by combining a wide variety of perspectives and ideas. The Future Forest Forum is characterised by an inspiring mix of participants - from the forestry industry and the start-up scene to science, entrepreneurship and potential investors. We bring these groups together to exchange ideas, use keynote speeches to point the way to a new forest economy and enable participants to experience innovation in practice.

400+ participants

The solution lies in diversity - our forum offers a platform for a broad audience from politics, entrepreneurship, science, forestry and business.

30+ speakers

Our speakers represent a wide range of different specialist areas - from Smart Forestry to Ecosystem Services and Climate Solutions.

10+ side events

Besides panels and keynotes, many other interactive programme formats await you, such as exciting excursions, our Startup Award and an innovation fair.

Startups with impact

We provide a platform for pioneering business models - pitched by our start-ups from Batch#3 or in action on our innovation hike.

Pioneering forest innovation

From more climate-resilient silvicultural approaches such as the water retention forest to promising management tools such as the "digital twin of the forest".

Promising environmental markets

We show how green investments, biodiversity and CO2 markets can sustainably transform the (forest) economy.

Dörte Roloff

Startup Advisory Board Lower Saxony, Moderation
Janna Ensthaler

Founder of Green Generation Funds & investor at "Die Höhle der Löwen" (German "Shark Tank")
Hannah Schragmann

Biodiversity expert & philosopher
Elmar Stertenbrink

Entrepreneur, forest expert & inventor "Kölner Verfahren"; ecological forest management
Prof. Dr. Günter Faltin

Foundation Entrepreneurship
Forst erklärt

German YouTubers & Podcasters

We are convinced that a rethought forestry sector is created by experiencing innovation directly in practice! Therefore, we have put together an exciting mix of different excursions and masterclasses on the second day of the forum, which you can choose individually.

You can find an overview of all excursions and masterclasses here.

The NatureLink Pavilion offers companies and CSR managers the opportunity to invest in transparent and sustainable projects. Given the challenges in the CO2 and biodiversity market, it is crucial to support credible environmental protection projects. The Pavilion connects forest owners with companies that want to fulfil their social and environmental responsibility. Here you can support projects that save CO2, strengthen biodiversity and offer real added value for society.

Further information

Experience the Innovation Hike & Innovation Fair at the Future Forest Forum 2024!

Start-ups and innovative companies present their solutions for the forest. During the innovation walk around Blankenburg Castle on 6 September, you can get to know many innovations in detail in a very short time. Each innovator will briefly present their idea, followed by time for discussion with the solution providers. The walk also offers the opportunity to exchange ideas with other participants in small groups. On 7 September, you will deepen these discussions at the innovation fair. Here, innovators will have the opportunity to present their solutions again and provide in-depth insights - an ideal platform for shaping the future of innovation in the forest together. Use this opportunity to make valuable contacts and advance your ideas!

Experience the FFI Accelerator and its presentation at the Future Forest Forum 2024! Startups present their groundbreaking solutions for the forest. After the Selection Day in the run-up, the best startups will pitch on the big stage of the forum on 6 September. Here you have the opportunity to win a wildcard in the public voting and talk directly to the innovators. The forum is characterised by its innovative, young character - here you are at the cutting edge of the latest ideas and innovations. The start-ups develop solutions for exciting challenges relating to biodiversity, digitalisation and monitoring. Here you can exchange ideas with startups, discover synergies and shape the future of forest innovation together!

We are presenting the FFI Innovation Lab at the Future Forest Forum 2024.

Innovations are only valuable if they offer concrete solutions for forest owners, forestry operations or society. That's why we launched the Innovation Lab to test these solutions in a practical way. Together with Christoph zu Stolberg and others, we are presenting initial collaborations, projects and plans for a real-life laboratory to develop, test and validate the start-up solutions. Find out how you can get involved and why the start-ups in the FFI Accelerator are more likely to achieve market success.

DAY 1 - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6th

	Grauer Saal (ENG - International Stage)	Kapelle (ENG - Nature Pavillon)	Theatersaal (DE - Future Forest Stage)
9:00 am	Check-In
10:00 am	Welcome by the Major of Blankenburg: Heiko Breithaupt (DE) Opening Speech by Benjamin Kowalski (FFI): The jouney so far: update on the state of the Future Forest Innovation Ecosystem (ENG) Introduction by Rentenbank: Christian Bock (ENG)
11:00 am	High-level keynote by Janna Ensthaler (ENG) Green invest, sustainability and the forest-based economy: how to leverage „big money“? Panel (ENG) : Janna Ensthaler (Green Generation Fund), Max Brandes (Rentenbank), Alexander Winkler (Liechtensteingruppe) Green Investments as a key enabler for the new forest-based Economy? (ENG)
12:15 - 1:00 pm	Lunch break
1:00 pm	Session Corporate: CO2 markets CO2-Markets - status quo and chances for startups and the forest sector with: Alexander Zeihe, Martin Schröder, Christopher Brandt	NatureLink Pavillon Workshop 1: Update on rules and regulation for the sustainability market in Germany and Europe with Sabine Schulte-Beckhausen, MAYGREEN Tax and Legal Impuls Talks and Pitches	Session Forest: Silvicultural approach Schwammwald – der Waldbau von morgen? mit: Josef Holzer, Elmar Stertenbrink, Simon Respondek, Eva Verena Müller, Gunnar Heyne
2:45 pm	Session Corperate: Biodiversity markets Biodiversity Markets - „grown-up sibling“ of CO2-Markets? with: Benjamin Kowalski, Andreas Heger, Hannah Schragmann, Lucas von Fürstenberg, Ole Seidenberg	Workshop 2: Investment Opportunities for Corporates in German and European NBS projects with Robin Stoffers and Helena Scholz, Climate Partner Impact Impuls Talks and Pitches	Session Forest: Digitalization Digitaler Zwilling des Waldes - Wegbereiter des Waldwirtschaft von morgen? mit: Mikael Beck, Falk Steiner, Vera Butterweck-Kruse, Henrik Hartmann, Ulrich Grauvogel
4:00 pm	Future Forest Award Startup-Pitches of Batch #3 from our Future Forest Accelerator
4:00 pm
5:30 pm	Innovation-hike Experience innovation in practice!	Workshop 3: Communicating true impact - how to aggregate project data into an actionable impact dashboard with Stefan Haas and Max Möller OpenForests and Wyss Academy of Nature	Movie: "The biggest little farm" (ENG)
7:00 pm	Joint dinner in the castle courtyard
8:00 pm	Future Forest Audience-Award ceremony
8:30 pm - open end	Evening of networking at the castle with a fire bowl, live music and a guided tour of the castle at night

DAY 2 - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7th

	Grauer Saal (ENG - International Stage)	Kapelle	Theatersaal (DE - Future Forest Stage)
from 10 am	All-day excursions "Harz National Park - Spotlight Biodiversity" An overview of the excursions you find above on this website. A registration option will be sent to you via E-Mail after your registration as a participant of the Forum.
10:00 am	Joint Breakfast in Grauer Saal High-Level Keynote by Prof. Günter Faltin (Stiftung Entrepreneurship) in Grauer Saal (DE)
10:00 am
11:00 am	Workshop #1 (DE) Innovativer Holzbau (ante holz, TriqBriq, Tymba)	Masterclass #1 (DE) Kommunikationsstrategien für die Waldwirtschaft ("Forst erklärt" & Hannah Schragmann)	Innovation-fair (DE & ENG) (10:45 am) Companies and innovators present their solutions
12:30 - 1:30 pm	Lunch break
1:30 pm	Workshop #2 (ENG) Datainfrastructure and Digitalization fpr more Innovation in Forestry (Palos, Caeli Wind, WeTransform, Initiative Daten & Wald)	Masterclass #2 (DE) Innovationsmanagement in Forstbetrieben (Christoph Scheuren)	DeepDive excursions (1:00 pm) An overview of the excursions you find above on this website. A registration option will be sent to you via E-Mail after your registration as a participant of the Forum.
4:00 pm	Recap and farewell (ENG + DE) in Kapelle (End 4:30 pm)