Making timber construction in the Brandenburg-Berlin region climate-friendly, economical and sustainable was the topic of the "Bio-based construction in Berlin-Brandenburg" conference. The group ADAPT-Forest-Wood of the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) organised the conference together with Bauhaus Earth and the Natural Building Lab of the TU Berlin and around 100 participants from science, politics, practice and society in Potsdam.

The conference was opened by Dr Manja Schüle, Minister of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg. She emphasised the importance of research, knowledge transfer and regional cooperation for the sustainable transformation of the construction sector and the strengthening of bio-based value creation in Brandenburg.

Two keynote speeches provided central impulses: Prof. Dr Dr h. c. mult. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber categorised timber construction in the context of the global challenges of climate protection and life-cycle management. Prof. Dr Matthias Barth, President of HNEE, emphasised the role of the university as a place of transdisciplinary cooperation: Sustainable transformation succeeds where science, practice, politics and civil society work together on solutions.

One focus was on the ADAPT-Wald-Holz project, which is coordinated by HNEE. The researchers presented the results of the first funding phase and at the same time introduced the transition to the second funding phase, which focuses on the implementation and transfer of research results.

The importance of real-world laboratories as central spaces for transdisciplinary collaboration was emphasised several times in panels and workshops. At the same time, it became clear that a holistic understanding of the value-added chain - from forest to timber construction - is crucial for sustainable development. Against this background, the desire for an interdisciplinary forest-wood-timber construction cluster for the Brandenburg-Berlin region was repeatedly formulated.

The conference made it clear: with ADAPT-Wald-Holz, HNEE is making an important contribution to linking research, practice and regional development - and is thus providing impetus for sustainable timber construction practice.