Special week in POWER4BIO region Lviv about “Sustainable wooden constructions”

Lviv, Ukraine 20.05.2019 – 24.05.2019

“Special week” is a form of training that is used in Switzerland. Within the framework of this Special week, six students’ teams of four persons each (12 students from Ukrainian National Forestry University (UNFU) and 12 from Bern University of Applied Sciences) were formed. Two months before the start of the Special week, students received the tasks to study various aspects like business model creation; access to markets; transport and logistics; norms and legislation; differences between Switzerland and Ukraine in the global and local issues for wood building and problems of urban and rural population. Within the framework of these tasks, three lecture classes were conducted simultaneously in Bern and Lviv before the start of the Special week in April 2019.

The Special week took place from 20.05.2019 to 24.05.2019 in Lviv. Six Swiss-Ukrainian mixed students’ teams consisting of four people each visited several Ukrainian enterprises that produce wooden buildings. All students’ teams had to analyze all technical features, the business models of the companies and ask as many questions as possible to find out about the companies’ strategies, market tendencies, challenges, strengths and weaknesses and so on. Combining technical and business issues lead to interesting new impulses for the companies.

However, the student’s task was not limited to only developing an idea or delivering a solution to a problem but also included a rough strategy for the implementation of the ideas. On the last day of the Special week, each team presented their proposal at UNFU University to representatives of companies and academia.

Objectives for the Students. Experience working in English in multicultural teams, be able to do a rough assessment of business models and sustainability of companies and their products, develop high quality business ideas in short time including a presentation to a demanding audience.

Objectives for the implementing partners. Cooperation with the companies in a future key sector of the wood industry, develop and test innovative education methods, increase international cooperation.

Objectives for the companies. Cooperation with local and international education institutions, development of innovative ideas for their businesses.

Overall concept. During the Special week the students will visit several wood construction companies and come up with proposals of how to make them more efficient and sustainable. In order to enable the students to do that they need to have both key knowledge about sustainable construction and a suitable approach for implementing their task.

We are considering the Special week as a possibility to foster deep cooperation between universities and real industrial enterprises, to develop new innovative ideas that support the creation of a sound bioeconomy strategy for the Lviv region within the framework of the POWER4BIO project.

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