Innovations in wood product value chains for construction markets: a European overview

European companies are global leaders in engineered wood products (EWP) and related building systems. The European Bioeconomy Strategy (2025) supports EWPs as a priority lead market for ‘Bio-based construction products’. The European Commission is also pursuing standardisation of construction products, resource efficiency and circularity, and certification of long-lasting biogenic carbon storage in buildings aiming to simulate market growth and innovation. ‘Underutilised wood’ includes hardwood, damaged and low-quality wood, and recovered post-consumer wood. These have currently no or low market value, but are gaining attention by companies and researchers as novel resource for EWP. This study analyses European innovations in EWP technologies along five paths: i) products certified by harmonized European standards (hEN); ii) fast-tracked innovative products certified with European Technical Assessment (ETA); iii) products with other national certificates; iv) non-standardised product prototypes, v) innovative EWP processing technologies, and vi) new building design rules. An increase of innovative EWP is apparent, including hardwoods and hybrid softwood-hardwood products, but also enhanced wood-based panels, wall and ceiling finishes, insulation materials, and a multitude of new connector systems. New processing technologies include sorting, grading, and fiber recycling from post-consumer wood, resource-efficient panel design, and novel high-performance materials. The findings portray high innovation activity in various branches of the European wood sector with ongoing diversification. The range of innovations credit the ingenuity and constant technological push of European manufacturers. However, EWP are still a niche in the construction market and face a long path to compete at scale. The enabling research and innovation ecosystem in Europe comprises industries, universities, research centers, testing and verification labs, clusters and networks, regulatory and governmental bodies rooted in their specific regional and national contexts. Although the growing policy support is encouraging, regional and national fragmentation and redundancies demonstrate strong need for wood policy coordination, collaborative R&I infrastructures and aligned funding programs. Initiatives like the European Wood Policy Platform and the New European Bauhaus Academy are already setting the foundation for greater alignment and investment in EWPs and their wider adoption in construction. However, further research to increase our systemic understanding of the entire innovation landscape is needed. Presentation at 2026 SWST Convention in Seoul, South Korea, from June 7-12, 2026. Funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe projects EcoReFibre, WoodStock, and Eufore.