Australian Forest and Wood Innovations’ Board Communiqué
February 2026
AFWI’s first Board meeting of 2026 was held in Hobart on 17 February. Discussions focused on strategic direction, governance, and research program delivery. Key highlights from the session include:
Strategic Planning and Implementation
The Board endorsed:
- AFWI’s Implementation Plan and AFWI’s Executive Director will continue to progress national and international strategic partnerships.
- The recruitment of a Research Partnerships Manager role to support industry stakeholder engagement.
Performance Monitoring Systems
The Board noted progress toward development of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, emphasising its strategic importance for institutional continuity, stakeholder engagement and knowledge retention.
Research Delivery
The Board noted that forthcoming Research Centre major matched/conditional project proposals represent significant Centre-led commitments for AFWI funding.
- National Open Call (NOC) Round 2: contracts for all 8 projects have now been executed.
- Research Centre Project Approvals: A Special Board Meeting will be held on 30th March to discuss the proposed investment Strategy framework and consider the Research Centres’ major project endorsements.
- Core funding use: The AFWI Dashboard will be updated to report Core Funding metrics.
Next Board Meeting
The next AFWI Board meeting will be held on 26 May 2026, in Hobart.
Bob Gordon
Chair, Australian Forest and Wood Innovations Board
