The annual Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium is an event organised by the Oregon State University, College of Forestry, with the aim to give graduate students in different stages of their studies the opportunity to present their research to an audience of peers and senior academics.

The aim of the symposium is not only to foster academic excellence, but to improve the abilities of emerging academics to effectively present their scientific research to a range of audiences.

Barbara Rovere an assistant researcher and project manager at the InnoRenew CoE is currently at Oregon State University where she participated in the annual Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium where she presented the research work conducted within the scope of the InnoRenew CoE boost project 6.7. – An Open Innovation Framework for Slovenia’s Furniture Industry. Barbara showcased the findings of their literature review on open innovation in manufacturing industries and linked it to international innovation research field dealing with companies that do not conduct R&D and to the application of open innovation to new contexts such as smaller, low-tech or non-Western companies.

The research presented at the symposium included projects conducted jointly between Oregon State University and a range of institutions from around the world, including University of Helsinki (Finland), Forest Research Institute of Malaysia Kepong (Malaysia), University of British Columbia (Canada), University of Primorska (Slovenia) and the InnoRenew Centre of Excellence (Slovenia).