This special issue is dedicated to the 7th Forum Wood Building Nordic, hosted at Linnaeus University in Växjö, Sweden 27/28 of September 2018.
Forum Wood Building is translated from the German “Forum-Holzbau”, which is a society run by the Universities of Applied Sciences in Biel (CH) and Rosenheim (GER), Aalto University School of Science and Technology Helsinki (FI), the Technical Universities in Munich (GER) and Vienna (AUT), and the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George (CAN). Among other things, Forum-Holzbau aims at promoting and facilitating the use of wood in the building industry by organizing conferences. Today, the conference portfolio of Forum-Holzbau consists of about 10 annual events in different parts of Europe, of which Forum Wood Building Nordic mainly represents the Northern European countries.
The 7th edition of Forum Wood Building Nordic alludes to the topic towards a new renaissance! The term renaissance fits well to the circumstances that embed actors in the wood building sector. Here, the focus lies on financial and social factors that contribute to innovative thinking. Industry, production and products are developed as a result of progress within science and practice, as well as through an increased political openness. Therefore, the wood building sector can contribute to reducing the existing housing shortage. Wood has its place among construction materials, and a larger share is forecasted. However, are the different material alternatives handled similarly in terms and conditions? What are the constraints wood is exposed to?
European politicians agree upon the importance of wood building and put it in a prioritized position. Local public actors have to open up as well. Yet, how can municipalities and cities plan to build with wood? How can procurement by tender be handled correctly if wood is wanted to be part of the solution?
The industry with its various segments gets more attractive and new business models are developed. Still, many actors need to operate more effective in order to guarantee long-term profitability. Historically, the industry acts defensively towards pioneering development. How can innovative technologies and tools be implemented and did the paradigm shift from traditional handicraft towards a big data driven industrialized industry start?
These are but some of the fields that the 7th Forum Wood Building Nordic tries to give an answer to. Other areas deal with the engineering-oriented part of the wood building sector. Here, the special journal issue at hand contributes to publishing some of the results from international researchers following the call for abstracts that are presented in the solely academic block of the Forum.
The organizers of the 7th Forum Wood Building Nordic thank all involved authors for submitting their abstracts and articles, the involved professionals in the international scientific committee for selecting appropriate contributions, the highly valuable reviewers for their engagement in the essential process of ensuring academic quality, and last but not least, editor Prof. Dick Sandberg, Luleå University of Technology, for his sedulous commitment in all parts of the publishing process.
Chairman of the international scientific committee and organizing committee for the 7th Forum Wood Building Nordic.