The Pannon Future Forest project brought together Hungarian project partners and invited catalyst organisations for an online knowledge-building workshop focused on the economic opportunities connected to forests, wetlands and grasslands. Rather than serving as a conventional project presentation, the event was designed as an interactive working session in which participants jointly identified potential businesses, experts, mentors, good practices, databases and communication channels that could contribute to the project’s future mentor network and strategy.
Representatives of the Pannon EGTC, Mecsekerdő Zrt. and Pannon Ökoerdő Kft. were joined by organisations working in regional development, business support, environmental consultancy, tourism, wood processing and cross-border cooperation. This diversity of experience made it possible to examine nature-based business development from several perspectives, ranging from forestry and bioeconomy to education, wellbeing and regenerative tourism.
A broad range of green economic opportunities
The professional discussion was supported by the presentation of the project’s benchmark study, which is being developed as an interactive source of inspiration rather than as a purely academic publication. Its purpose is to collect concrete business examples, thematic resources and expert contacts that can later support the project’s mentor network, online Knowledge Hub and pilot mentoring activities.
The workshop explored nine interconnected areas, including forestry innovation, wood-based design, agroforestry, voluntary carbon markets and biodiversity credits, nature-based services, green business models, environmental education, edible forests and regenerative tourism. Participants showed particular interest in wood-based design and the bioeconomy, carbon and biodiversity markets, nature-based education and wellbeing, as well as new tourism and visitor-economy concepts.
Interactive discussion identified concrete businesses and good practices
A central question of the workshop was which enterprises, initiatives and experts could become involved in the project’s idea-generation, mentoring and knowledge-sharing activities. The discussion produced several concrete leads.
Forest Camp Kft., a family enterprise operating in the Szentgotthárd and Vendvidék area, was highlighted as a promising example. The company organises forest camps and is expanding its services towards corporate retreats and personal development programmes, illustrating how forest environments can become the basis of a diversified service model.
Participants also drew attention to the Tündérkertek initiative and the work of Kovács Gyula in Pórszombat, which focus on collecting and preserving traditional fruit varieties from the Carpathian Basin. Although this example may be more relevant to knowledge transfer and mentoring than to direct business development, it demonstrates how traditional ecological knowledge can contribute to contemporary rural innovation.
Further ideas included forest-based accommodation and sensory tourism services in the Őrség region, as well as experiences from other European Groupings of Territorial Cooperation concerning water retention, forests and nature-based solutions. The UNESCO Mura–Drava–Danube Biosphere Reserve was also identified as an important framework through which the project could reach additional stakeholders and initiatives.
The wood sector could become an important development pathway
The interactive discussion confirmed that the wood and furniture industries represent a particularly relevant opportunity for the project. Participants pointed to existing cooperation potential in western Hungary, including wood-based construction technologies, prefabricated panels, energy-efficient solutions and higher-value applications of timber.
At the same time, the discussion highlighted an important challenge: many small and medium-sized enterprises continue to perceive the green transition primarily as an additional burden. Participants therefore emphasised the need to present practical, measurable and economically understandable solutions. One example discussed during the workshop showed that a company had reduced its energy consumption by approximately 40% through process analysis, insulation and relatively small operational interventions, without initially investing in renewable energy production. Such examples can help demonstrate that green transformation may also improve competitiveness and reduce operating costs.
Education, wellbeing and regenerative tourism offer further opportunities
Nature-based education and wellbeing emerged as another promising field. Forest bathing, guided walks, environmental education, recreation and mental wellbeing can be combined in services that create economic value while strengthening ecological awareness.
The discussion on regenerative tourism went one step further than conventional ecotourism. International examples showed how visitors can actively contribute to improving a destination through activities such as waste collection, community gardening or habitat management. In this model, visitors are not only consumers of a landscape: they participate in leaving it in a better condition than they found it.
Existing cultural and tourism databases may also support this work. A collection previously developed for the Mecsek and Zselic areas contains information on festivals, natural attractions, cultural heritage and wooden architectural elements. The service providers included in this database could become potential participants in future mentoring, service-development and knowledge-sharing activities.
Building the foundations of the mentor network
The workshop demonstrated that the Pannon Future Forest region already possesses considerable knowledge, entrepreneurial experience and institutional capacity. However, these resources are often fragmented across sectors and territories. The project’s role will therefore be to connect these actors, make relevant knowledge more visible and help promising ideas develop into viable business concepts.
The contacts, good practices and dissemination opportunities identified during the interactive discussion will now be followed up and assessed for inclusion in the project’s mentor network and online Knowledge Hub. They will also contribute to the selection of innovative ideas that can receive targeted support through the project’s pilot mentoring programme.