International Scientific Conference on Hardwood Processing (ISCHP): A long journey in hardwood research
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EDITORIAL
International Scientific Conference on Hardwood Processing (ISCHP): A long journey in hardwood research Stefano Berti1 · Pierre Blanchet2
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Wood is the oldest natural resource exploited by man; since ancient times, it has provided fuel, tools, food and shelter. The use of wood has increased in recent years, especially as a building material and as a basis for new and better performing products. This trend has a positive influence on the environment and contributes to the sustainable development of society, given the impact on global warming and sustainable resources. In fact, wood is a renewable raw material produced by forests that can be managed sustainably; its use allows the storage for long periods of the atmospheric carbon absorbed by the trees. However, the properties of wood, its exceptional range of qualities and its possible uses are not yet fully known. Furthermore, being a natural material, its innate variability, coupled with its orthotropic behavior, requires continuous research to be able to make the most of this material. Considering the hundreds of usable wood species, there is certainly a need to increase knowledge of hardwood materials, as they are naturally more heterogeneous than softwood. Over the years, in fact, conifers have been much studied due to the greater homogeneity of the wood and the trees shape, which favours their use and processing. However, there is no doubt that the variety and potential characteristics of hardwood open up much higher use scenarios than those of softwood. Historically, due to its wide use, softwoods have attracted the attention of scientists, resulting in a smaller community of scientists interested in hardwoods. Based on the potential of hardwood, in the early 2005, the leaders from CNR IVALSA (today IBE Institute of Bioeconomy) in Italy, * Stefano Berti [email protected] Pierre Blanchet [email protected] 1
IBE Institute of Bioeconomy, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
Université Laval, Québec, QC, Canada
2
Forintek Canada Corp (now FPInnovations) in Canada, and CTBA (now FCBA) in France decided to create an international forum, a conference. The objective was to bring together the scientific and research communities working on hardwood, from the wood quality to the customer, to share knowledge and ideas, building a research community. It was called ISCHP (International Scientific Conference on Hardwood Processing) and it was decided that the event should be biennial and intercontinental. Even if the founding organization were technical institutes, a strong scientific approach was considered with a peer review committee selecting papers based on their original content. The journey began in the fall of 2007 in Quebec City. Among the participant, 13 countries were represented, setting the table for a long journey. What could be better than being in Paris for a second edition on the theme of patrimonial wood to bring together most of the participants of the first edition. T
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