Indbygg – a good example of collaboration between research and industry
CTF is one of the participants in the project IndBygg, which is run by Paper Province. The project aims to promote a green transition within the construction industry and, through collaboration, bring industrial wood construction to new heights.
To achieve the goals for sustainable development and create a fossil-free society, we need to develop the forest-based bioeconomy and use more wood as a construction material. Based on this, Paper Province launched the project Indbygg with the aim to increase knowledge and skills among public and private actors in Värmland and Dalarna when it comes to constructing large buildings made of wood.
CTF has been part of the project since the start in 2020 to contribute to the establishment of a knowledge and collaboration platform within the industry. CTF’s research is based on Stora Enso’s CLT factory in Grums, with the aim of understanding how companies in the construction industry organise themselves for a system change towards a more sustainable future with focus on the role of the business model in such a transition.
Developing new knowledge based on service research
– The need for new knowledge in the industry is rather large, especially in the context of sustainability, says Andrey Abadzhiev, PhD student at CTF. Currently, the industry is trying to move towards a circular economy. The primary efforts are focused on green innovations, and more precisely engineered wood technologies for multi-story construction.
Andrey Abadzhiev thinks that there have been a few major improvements over the past few decades in the productivity, profitability and environmental impact of construction, for example, adopting prefabrication and industrial mass production.
– The hope is to decouple environmental impacts from economic growth, which simply means generating more profit while reducing environmental impact, says Andrey Abadzhiev. The current approach fits well with the prevailing economic growth narrative, and this may explain its increasing popularity and momentum. However, there is a risk that such a narrow interpretation of circular economy may perpetuate the current state of resource use and climate impact, or even worsens it. For example, one way the circular economy can backfire is by increasing overall production and use of products and therefore environmental impact. With our research, we try to broaden the industry perspective on circular economy and position it as a fundamental systemic innovation instead of a bit of twisting the status quo. Indeed, the circular requires essential changes not only in technologies but in current production and consumption patterns, business models and institutional setups.
Collaboration between academia and industry
The collaboration between Paper Province and CTF has worked well, according to Elin Appel, Project Manager of IndBygg.
– We have benefited a lot from each other, for example by sharing networks and providing new contacts, says Elin Appel. Andrey is also part of IndByggs steering group where we raise current issues. He has contributed with his academic background and research, at the same time as his participation has giving him a good introduction to the industry of industrial wood construction.
Results from the research have, among other things, been presented in his licentiate thesis “Wood we change”. Andrey Abadzhiev has also shared his learnings with the industry at conferences, including IndBygg’s national conference “Tree2Tower”, which attracted great interest.
Even though the collaboration within IndBygg will come to an end during 2023, Elin Appel is convinced that collaborations linked to industrial wood construction will continue beyond the project.