Improving forest operations management through applied research

A great challenge of applied research is translating results into industry innovation. Increasingly, forest managers do not have the capacity to interpret research results but prefer to be presented with tools based on the research results that can be readily implemented. The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Forestry, based in Australia, has focused on delivering research results to industry partners in novel ways that can be easily applied in the field. This paper discusses six approaches taken by the CRC to help transfer applied research results to industry, including basic benchmarking curves for feller-bunchers, a toolbox for operational machine evaluation, a productivity model, a method to predict productivity with existing data, a guide for effective use of onboard computers and an optimised transportation planning tool. For each approach the paper will discuss how these approaches were developed and applied with industry collaboration.