Canadian Forest Service Publications
An Impact Assessment of Four Research Projects of the Canadian Wood Fibre Centre. 2012. Wang, Sen; Blurton, Scott; MacAfee, Katalijn; Smith, Guy. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Canadian Wood Fibre Centre, Ottawa. Summary Report. 16 p.
Year: 2012
Issued by: National Capital Region
Catalog ID: 34220
Language: English
Availability: PDF (download)
Abstract
The Canadian Wood Fibre Centre (CWFC) has a mission to create innovative knowledge to expand the economic opportunities for the forest sector to benefit from Canadian wood fibre. Now the CWFC has delivered a potentially high-impact research program for advancing the innovation strategy of the Canadian forest sector. The CWFC collaborated with FPInnovations and other partners in the industry, provinces and universities. The team undertook a study recently to assess the impact of four projects: (i) Enhanced forest inventory systems, (ii) Multi-varietal forestry and somatic embryogenesis, (iii) Hardwood optimization and (iv) Purpose grown fibre. This assessment estimated the impact of the projects on economic contributions to the Canadian forest sector, contributions to sector transformation, and contributions to science and knowledge exchange. The findings of the assessment will allow the CWFC to take stock of its research, partnerships and contributions to the economic sustainability of Canada’s forest sector. In assessing these projects, the team used the NABC (Need, Approach, Benefits and Competition) approach developed by SRI International. Using the NABC approach, the CWFC has produced four stories to reflect the essential accomplishments of the projects. In consultation with evaluation professionals at Natural Resources Canada, the team developed a rigorous assessment framework. For an overall investment of $5.7 million by the CWFC, the four projects have leveraged $3.6 million from federal, provincial and industrial partners, achieving $0.63 of external funding in its projects for every $1.00 it invested. In economic contributions, these projects are projected to produce $29.3 million in net present value with a benefitcost ratio of 3.1 over the next 10 years. Over the long-term, the economic benefits of the projects are expected to increase steadily. Industry partners sent the team several testimonials about the contributions that the projects are making in transforming the forest industry from a high-volume to a high-value sector – providing anecdotal evidence that the CWFC projects are contributing significantly to forest sector transformation. In contributions to science and knowledge exchange, the four projects have generated 75 publications, with 66 citations on Scopus (a database of peer-reviewed literature). The component leaders of the projects made 217 presentations to professional conferences and industry events. The four CWFC projects have started to generate considerable economic benefits to the forest sector and are playing an important role in delivering value to the sector through close collaborations with FPInnovations, industry, provinces and universities. Through their impacts, the projects are beginning to demonstrate the financial viability of several new technologies, models and processes, which will encourage industry to adopt them. The projects also showcase the CWFC as a leader in creating sector-relevant knowledge products.
Also available under the title:
Évaluation des retombées de quatre projets de recherche du Centre canadien sur la fibre de bois.
(French)
