In the course of the first phase of the project "Developing regional forest and wood value chains", six incubator projects that emerged from a 2020 participatory process were completed by 2025. A research project concurrently investigated transformative, sustainable wood enterprises; the accompanying dissertation was also published in 2025. To conclude the first project phase, an event was held at the Federal Palace in Bern in July 2025, attended by thirty involved participants. Overall, the balance of the first project phase is positive: The project was able to create important foundations for sustainable regional value creation in the field of forest and wood in the canton of Bern. This includes the development of Wood Compass on the topic "Communities use the forest sustainably for their tasks", as well as the launch of the dialogue platform (www.holzkoepfe.ch), which promotes wood as a building material and supports a more cascading use of wood.

Building on the findings from the first phase—the six incubators, a dissertation, and a networking trip—the project will continue in a second phase with three new subprojects. The first subproject aims to enable regional competence centers to provide expert support to builders using regional wood. The second subproject "Transformation of the Wood Value Chain" has the goal to strengthen the competitiveness of the Bernese forest and wood industry, promote innovations, and better utilize modern technologies – particularly in the areas of digital production, processing, and circular economy. The project also contributes to sustainable forest management and to reducing dependence on wood imports. The third subproject is an awareness-raising and information project that aims to strengthen understanding of the importance of wood use and the functions forests provide.