Bioeconomy and sustainable development of the sector of wood processing and utilization (BioEkoWood)

The common line of research is the issue of the concept of sustainable development using bioeconomy tools with a focus on wood as a renewable raw material, which discusses the method of economic growth with respect to the environment. In theory and practice, there are various initiatives and strategies (bioeconomy, green economy, circular economy) that propose to produce and use products in such a way as to minimize the impact on the environment and eliminate the scope of the linear model of the economy. The above economic concepts open up the possibility of using renewable resources. One of them and a very important one is wood, which can be classified as the only domestic renewable energy source as well as industrial production at the same time. The team's research activity is focused on evaluating the economic aspects resulting from the application of bioeconomy principles in the sectors of wood processing and use, which can be considered a competitive advantage of the industry. It is wood that can also play a significant role in the transition of society from a linear to a circular economy.

The key areas of research are sustainability in supply chains and modelling of the market for wood and wood products with an emphasis on increasing the competitiveness of the woodworking industry. The research effort is to demonstrate and apply the potential of CE in the Slovak business environment for the production of innovative products using recycled materials as input raw materials based on wood-rubber-plastic combinations, also taking into account their quality requirements. A secondary area of ​​research is the issue of development and sustainability of family businesses in the woodworking industry in terms of succession strategy, sustainability in the industry and sustainability of an ecological nature. The overall focus of the team research is also related to the issue of socially responsible business with an emphasis on the ecological aspect, integrated planning and management of resource use, green logistics, change management, human resources, corporate culture and quality management. A separate part of the research is related to the evaluation and quantification of the benefits of using wood raw materials in the context of the bioeconomy, focusing on the cascading use of wood, carbon sequestration in wood and paper products, but especially the search for solutions for innovative product designs with high added value, which reflects not only the economic but also the ecological nature of sustainability.

The team members have a total of 330 publications in the Web of Science Core Collection database with over 2,800 citations and an H-index of 24 (2025). Several of the highly cited works were created in international or local collaborations with the participation of several team members. Team members regularly lead projects funded by domestic grant agencies. The vast majority of the team has built its own significant scientific school and the works of their PhD students are published in scientific journals registered in the CCC, WOS and Scopus databases. It is also possible to document membership in the editorial boards of international scientific journals, either as permanent or guest editors (Drvna industrija, International Journal of Green Technology, Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldiș” Arad - Economics Series, Intercathedra, Forest, Sustainability, LOGI Scientific Journal on Transport and Logistics, Acta Facultatis Xylologiae, Manažment podniků, Journal of Human Resource Management), but also in the scientific committees of many foreign scientific conferences (Current Trends and Challenges for Forest-Based Sector: Carbon Neutrality and Bioeconomy Prague, Czech Republic, 2023; Crisis Management and Safety Foresight in Forest-based Sector and SMEs Operating in the Global Environment, Trnava, Slovakia, 2022; The Response of the Forest-Based Sector to Changes in the Global Economy, Koper, Slovenia, 2021; Sustainability of Forest-Based Industries in the Global Economy, Vinkovci, Croatia, 2020; Financing 2024 (2023, 2022, 2021) Forests-Wood, Zvolen, Slovakia). Most of the members of the excellent team are members of the internationally recognized organization International Association for Economics and Management in Wood Processing and Furniture Manufacturing (WoodEMA). In terms of the application of research results, the team members are involved in international programs.