2023 Pre-forum event

Conference on innovation for the future of forests

The climate crisis has an increasingly devastating effect upon Europe’s forests. Their future will be determined by our capability to find innovative solutions, appropriate legal instruments and new business models for forest owners.

To shed light on current European plans to tackle these challenges, Dr. H. Delgado Rosa, Director for Biodiversity at DG Environment, European Commission, will talk about the Commission‘s strategy and its new EU Framework for Forest Monitoring and Strategic Plans.

The Future Forest Initiative will present Europe’s first Sustainable Innovation Hub for Forests and Climate.

Last but not least, three start-ups will pitch their innovative solutions designed to tackle challenges in the forest sector.

Confirmed speakers (in alphabetical order)

Caspar von Alvensleben

Officer for Innovation and Strategy in Agriculture and Forestry, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank

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Caspar von Alvensleben

Officer for Innovation and Strategy in Agriculture and Forestry, Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank

Caspar von Alvensleben studied forestry in Göttingen. After completing his master's degree, he began a traineeship at the State Forestry Service of the State of Hesse. Following the successful completion of his examination, CvA accepted a position as a consultant for innovation and strategy in agriculture and forestry at Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank. .

Gabriel von dem Bussche

Manager, provate forest company, Germany

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Gabriel von dem Bussche

Manager, provate forest company, Germany

Gabriel von dem Bussche studied International Management with work experience in Politics, forestry and capital markets, mainly in Berlin & Madrid. Since 2019, he is managing a private forest company in NRW, Germany. He is enthusiastic about digitalisation in forestry, exploring & developing new business models and finding solutions to establish ecosystem services. He is 39, married and has two children.

Manuel Gremblewski

Business Development Manager, LiveEO

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Manuel Gremblewski

Business Development Manager, LiveEO

Manuel Gremblewski is Business Development Manager of LiveEO - a Berlin based start-up with the mission to protect nature. To achieve this, LiveEO analyzes satellite imagery with machine learning models and creates usable tasks out of it. LiveEO's solutions enable their customers to monitor their assets remotely and on scale. They monitor thousands of square kilometers of vegetation for customers like Deutsche Bahn and E.ON, as well as forests for public and private forest owners or organizations like the UNDP.

Benjamin Kowalski

Head of Science at Future Forest Initiative

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Benjamin Kowalski

Head of Science at Future Forest Initiative

Dr. Benjamin Kowalski studied forest and environmental sciences at University Freiburg. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and works at Germany's federal state Lower Saxony as an advisor for innovation in the fields of "farm, food and forestry". Since February 2022 he acts as Head of Science at Future Forest Initiative. He aims to establish new systems of ecosystem management by using innovation to create new tools for land management as well as establishing markets for ecosystem services. .

Ana Rocha

Director - EU Agriculture & Forestry policies, European Landowners' Organization

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Ana Rocha

Director - EU Agriculture & Forestry policies, European Landowners' Organization

Ana Rocha is an agricultural engineer and is currently leading the Agriculture and Forestry Policy team at the ELO. She has consolidated professional experience in EU lobbying, representing the interests of European landowners and land managers for more than ten years. She remains involved in a small family farm in Portugal.

Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director for Biodiversity, DG Environment, European Commission

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Humberto Delgado Rosa

Director for Biodiversity, DG Environment, European Commission

Humberto Delgado Rosa is the Director for Biodiversity, DG Environment, European Commission. Previously he was Director for Mainstreaming Adaptation and Low Carbon Technology in DG Climate Action. He is experienced in European and international environmental policy, particularly in biodiversity and climate change issues. He served as Secretary of State for the Environment of the Portuguese Government from March 2005 to June 2011. Between 1995 and 2002 he was an advisor for environmental matters to the Prime-Minister of Portugal. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology. .

Haris Sefo

Head of Research and Sensor Systems Development, Breeze Technologies

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Haris Sefo

Head of Research and Sensor Systems Development, Breeze Technologies

Haris Sefo is the Head of Research and Sensor Systems Development at Breeze Technologies, a Hamburg-based startup, founded at the Technical University of Hamburg. As part of his dissertation, he is developing a new sensor-based early warning system for real-time wildfire recognition and localisation throughout an intelligent AI-based detection algorithm at Breeze Technologies. This development is in cooperation with the US Department of Homeland Security. Previously, he has led various other research projects at Breeze Technologies with government involvement and has also been involved in European research projects. .

Christoph zu Stolberg

Rural entrepreneur, Germany

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Christoph zu Stolberg

Rural entrepreneur, Germany

Christoph zu Stolberg is a rural entrepreneur in Germany who co-founded the Future Forest Initiative beginning of 2022. Since 2010, he manages a family forestry estate in the Harz Mountains. Between 2017 and 2021 he worked for Familienbetriebe Land und Forst in Berlin. He grew up in Belgium where he studied business economics and European politics.

Alexander Vilsmeier

Forestry Expert & Sales, Tree.ly

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Alexander Vilsmeier

Forestry Expert & Sales, Tree.ly

Tree.ly gives forest owners in Europe a whole new way to profit from their forests. They help forest owners to manage the CO₂ potential of their trees to optimize carbon sequestration, bringing us all closer to a sustainable future.

Agenda

Mar 27, 2023

17:00 - 18:40 (CET)

Conference on innovation for the future of forests

17:30 - 17:35 (CET)

Introduction

Introduction from the moderator Ana Rocha, Director – EU Agriculture & Forestry policies, European Landowners’ Organization

17:35 - 17:40 (CET)

Welcoming address

• Caspar von Alvensleben, Officer for Innovation and Strategy in Agriculture and Forestry at Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank

17:40 - 17:55 (CET)

Keynote speech

• Dr. H. Delgado Rosa, Director for Biodiversity at DG Environment, European Commission

17:55 - 18:40 (CET)

The FFI presents the first European Innovation Hub for Forests & Climate

• Gabriel von dem Busche, forest owner, talks about the prospects and needs of forests.

18:15 - 18:40 (CET)

Start-ups session

• Three start-ups from across Europe pitch concrete solutions
• Followed by Q&A

Walk to the Club des Guides for the reception

Event partner

Supported by

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