The ERA-NET Sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry SUMFOREST, launched in January 2014, is a transnational ERANET that provides the appropriate framework to reinforce scientific cooperation on European forests, which will also build new cooperation arrangements with EU neighborhood regions, aiming at a reduced fragmentation and maximized impact of research activities on sustainable forest management and multifunctional forestry. The project is conducted by a consortium of 24 partners, coordinated by Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management.

SUMFOREST has organised the Workshop “Transnational research needs and sharing of research capacities” on 6th May 2015. The venue was the Instytut Badawczy Leśnictwa (Forest Research Institute) - IBL in Sękocin Stary, Warsaw, Poland. The objective of this Workshop has been to identify priorities for transnational research needs and requirements for sharing of research capacities. The workshop was based on the results of a survey done in partner countries and the expertise of the workshop participants (leaders of forest research institutions, research policy actors and stakeholders). The meeting was opened by Martin Greimel, the SUMFOREST Coordinator; Robert Mavsar, the Deputy Director of European Forest Institute, and Janusz Czerepko, the Director of IBL Forest Research Institute. The Workshop has been attended by more than fourty participants from Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, France, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

A SUMFOREST Management Committee Meeting took place at the same venue on the previous day, 5th May 2015.