EU-Wide Advantages and Opportunities for the 2nd SMURF Open Call for Small Forest Owners’ Organisations

Executive Summary

The SMURF cascade funding scheme offers small forest owners’ organisations an unparalleled springboard to operate, innovate and scale at EU level. By leveraging the freedoms and instruments of the European Single Market, applicants can unlock larger value chains, cross-border knowledge, and policy-backed growth opportunities that simply do not exist at a purely national scale.

Single Market Access

• Direct exposure to 450+ million consumers and >20 million businesses across 27 Member States.

• Easier movement of sustainable timber, non-wood forest products (NWFP), and bio-based innovations without customs duties or non-tariff barriers.

• Possibility to negotiate EU-wide framework contracts with retailers, construction firms, and public buyers that increasingly demand certified sustainable wood.

Cross-Border Collaboration

• Mandatory consortium structure creates natural gateways to partner with forest owner associations in other Member States, tackling common challenges such as bark-beetle outbreaks, wildfire prevention, and data-driven inventory management.

• Access to EU networks like the European Forest Institute, EFI Bioregions, and EIP-AGRI Operational Groups for joint pilots, staff exchanges, and shared service platforms (e.g., remote-sensing hubs, carbon accounting tools).

• Pooling resources enables critical mass for R&D pilots (e.g., drone-based canopy monitoring) that would be too costly for a single national actor.

EU Policy Alignment

• Direct contribution to the European Green Deal, Biodiversity Strategy 2030, and the new EU Forest Strategy via climate-smart forestry and ecosystem services valorisation.

• Supports Digital Europe objectives through adoption of precision forestry, IoT sensors and data spaces.

• Reinforces the Circular Economy Action Plan by increasing sustainable wood mobilisation and cascading use of biomass.

Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• Alignment with EU Timber Regulation (EUTR), LULUCF and forthcoming EU Deforestation-Free Products Regulation ensures legal certainty and smoother market entry.

• Harmonised certification schemes (FSC, PEFC, EU Forest Certification Framework under development) reduce audit duplication and compliance costs.

• Shared EU data standards (INSPIRE, Copernicus data) make cross-border digital platforms interoperable from day one.

Innovation Ecosystem Access

• Entry points to Europe’s leading research infrastructures (e.g., Horizon Europe projects, European Digital Innovation Hubs focused on forestry, Bio-economy Knowledge Centres).

• Synergies with EIT Climate-KIC and EIT RawMaterials accelerators for commercialisation of bio-based products.

• Opportunity to pilot with Living Labs in Finland, Spain, Germany and other high-tech forestry regions.

Funding Synergies

• SMURF funds can de-risk early pilots and position consortia for larger follow-on funding:

- Horizon Europe Cluster 6 calls (Forestry, Bio-economy) for TRL 5-8 upscale.

- LIFE Programme for environmental and climate action replication.

- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for regional roll-out of demonstrated solutions.

- InvestEU guarantees for commercial deployment of successful business models.

• Cumulating cascade funding with national RRF (Recovery & Resilience Facility) grants accelerates capital investment in digital and green equipment.

Scale & Impact Potential

• Ability to deploy outputs (e.g., carbon credit aggregation platforms, forest resilience toolkits) simultaneously in multiple Member States, maximising climate mitigation impact.

• EU-wide brand recognition enhances credibility with institutional buyers, impact investors and carbon markets.

• Aggregated data from diverse biogeographical regions improves AI models for pest prediction, growth optimisation and biodiversity monitoring, creating positive feedback loops that benefit all participants.

Strategic Value Proposition

Why act at EU scale?

1. Economies of scale: Larger forest area under management lowers per-hectare costs for digital tools and certification.

2. Risk diversification: Geographical spread minimises impact of localised climate or market shocks.

3. Policy influence: A transnational consortium has greater lobbying power in shaping upcoming EU forestry and carbon market legislation.

4. First-mover advantage: Early compliance with EU-wide sustainability rules positions beneficiaries ahead of forthcoming mandatory requirements.

Actionable Next Steps for Applicants

• Map complementary partners in at least three Member States covering different forest types (Boreal, Continental, Mediterranean).

• Align project KPIs with EU Forest Strategy targets (e.g., biodiversity indicators, carbon sequestration per hectare).

• Design data governance in line with the upcoming EU Data Act and Common European Green Deal Data Space.

• Prepare a funding roadmap showing how SMURF pilots will transition to Horizon Europe or LIFE for full deployment.

Conclusion

Leveraging SMURF at EU level transforms small forest owners from local commodity suppliers into transnational stewards of climate-smart, data-driven forests. The combination of Single Market freedoms, harmonised regulation, and synergistic funding streams makes this call a gateway to sustainable growth and long-term competitive advantage across Europe.