Mediation workshops wood chemistry: innovative interprofessional practice

Wood processing manufacturers (sawmills, paper mills, panel producers, energy companies) are looking to make better use of their wood co-products/connections, and some of them are expressing a strong need for support in their industrial transformation. Chemists in the pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, cosmetics, specialty chemicals, agrochemicals and detergents industries are looking for biomolecule alternatives to fossil-based products, based on very precise specifications. The "Chemistry of Wood" project identifies opportunities for adding value to wood biomass along the entire value chain, and provides the first link between wood processors, chemical manufacturers and academic research. The players in the wood and chemical industries are "two worlds" that know little about each other, yet are bound to work together. As part of setting up collaborative R&D projects, mediation workshops are organized to identify technical obstacles and discuss the key deliverables of the project to meet the technical and regulatory specifications of the chemists. These mediation workshops are becoming essential to move from project ideas highlighting sometimes conflicting relationships to genuine opportunities for collaborative R&D projects. They represent an organizational innovation that enables collaborative projects to be managed in a targeted and efficient way. This report describes how these mediation workshops are run, with the aim of facilitating inter-professional relations around emerging R&D projects, creating links and trust between partners, and distributed leadership.