Concrete ideas and new partnerships emerge from the third Pannon Future Forest knowledge-building workshop
The third online knowledge-building workshop of the Pannon Future Forest project took place on 11 August 2026, focusing on innovative opportunities in the forest-based green economy and on ideas and partnerships that could be further developed in the next phases of the project.
Organised by Pannon EGTC, the event brought together representatives from forestry, academia, tourism and other professional and economic fields to exchange experience and discuss potential development concepts. As in the previous workshops, the discussion was supported by the Pannon Future Forest benchmark study, which presents Hungarian and European good practices across nine thematic areas.
These areas include sustainable forestry and digitalisation, wood-based design, agroforestry, voluntary carbon and biodiversity markets, nature-based solutions, green business models, education and wellbeing, non-wood forest products, and regenerative tourism.
From digital forestry to healing and wellness forests
One of the most tangible examples came from the field of digital forestry. Mainforest presented its “Mélyfogás” project, which combines high-resolution drone imagery with internally developed artificial intelligence models to identify plant species. The service is already being used to map invasive tree species, particularly tree of heaven, and has been applied across several thousand hectares.
The Szombathely Forestry Company also highlighted opportunities related to drones and digital forestry. Multispectral and thermal imaging technologies may support forest health monitoring and help identify environmental pressures affecting forest stands at an earlier stage.
A particularly promising area of cooperation emerged at the intersection of forests, health and wellbeing. A healing and wellness forest concept was introduced, envisaging a forest environment specifically designed to host services such as forest bathing, walking coaching and other nature-based wellbeing activities. A digital platform could complement the physical location by connecting service providers with suitable forest environments.
Another participant, Johanna Müller, brought a closely related perspective based on health science research examining the physiological and psychological effects of forest environments. The two independently developed ideas showed strong synergies, and the workshop already created an opportunity for the participants to connect and explore joint development.
Universities and professional networks as catalysts
The workshop also strengthened opportunities for cooperation with universities. Dr Zoltán Raffay from the University of Pécs offered to involve students in real-life Pannon Future Forest assignments, providing a potential source of new ideas and future project teams.
The University of Sopron highlighted expertise in ecosystem service valuation, the economic value of forest recreation, bioeconomy and ecotourism. Its professional and alumni networks may also help identify additional service providers, entrepreneurs and idea owners.
The Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture offered communication channels for disseminating future project opportunities, helping the project reach a wider group of forest owners and potential innovators.
Moving ideas towards implementation
Pannon Future Forest is not only looking for established businesses or fully developed business plans. A professional challenge, an unused local opportunity or even an early-stage concept may provide a valuable starting point.
The project will continue collecting business and service ideas, experts and potential mentors. At the same time, a mentor network and online knowledge hub are being developed. Selected concepts may then be further elaborated during the planned hackathon in Osijek and through the subsequent mentoring process.
The third workshop demonstrated that the Pannon Future Forest process is moving beyond knowledge exchange: it is creating new professional connections, generating concrete development ideas and opening the way for future cooperation.