Winners of the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019
For the gold medal, the product must be new and its technology must basically be new. To win silver, the product must stand out and be among the best in the jury’s assessment. The criteria are innovation value, environmental effect, work environment, the final product’s quality and economics or productivity.
The awards were presented at SkogsElmia on 6 June.
GOLD
Optea AB – Forest Falcon
Award justification:
Today’s forest machines have such high and sustainable production capacity that their operators’ performance and stamina have a decisive effect on productivity. The Forest Falcon can involve a significant work environment improvement, contribute to improved interaction between operator and machine, and inspire future partial automation. The product can be easily installed or retrofitted on your choice of machine. HUD (head up display) is basically a technology new to the industry that can be very important, and it was rewarded with a gold medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
GOLD
Tracy of Sweden AB –Tracy Man
Award justification:
A tree stem recognition method that involves using a mobile camera to photograph the cut surface of the felled tree and stump. Algorithms are used to make a split-second match. The technology enables the origin labelling and traceability of each manually felled individual tree stem from the stump to the final customer. Rewarded with a gold medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
GOLD
Arevo AB - arGrow dosing device
Award justification:
arGrow Granules are a patented natural plant nutrient that is efficiently absorbed by the plant and can strongly increase the growth of roots and mycorrhiza. To apply arGrow, the Doser was developed, an add-on to the Pottiputki Planting Pipe. The Doser delivers the right amount of fertilizer to the plants and is operated by the movement of the push rod when the jaws of the planting tool open. Faster and more reliable plant establishment is extremely important to the forest industry. The Doser was rewarded with a gold medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
GOLD
KATAM Technologies AB – Katam Forest
Award justification:
A mobile phone app for measuring standing timber. The resulting measurements are objective and traceable. Complementing KATAM Forest is KATAM Treetop-detection, which enables the position and height of all trees to be detected based on a drone photo. By correlating this data with ground measurements made with KATAM Forest, it is possible to assess the species, diameter, height and volume of all the trees in a stand or on a property. This technology, which makes precision forestry possible, was rewarded with a gold medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
SILVER
Markusson Professional Grinders AB – Sensomatic
Award justification:
Bucking is an important stage of the felling process and affects the productivity, wear and timber quality. Sharp and evenly ground chains are very important. Sensomatic is the only automatic chain sharpening machine on the market that grinds the cutting tooth, bottom and rider with a sensor-controlled feeder. This significant improvement was rewarded with a silver medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
SILVER
Andreas Stihl Norden AB MS 500i
Award justification:
The MS 500i is the world’s first and only chainsaw with electronic fuel injection. This enables an improved power-to-weight ratio for chainsaws plus an easier start. This significant improvement won a silver medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
SILVER
Arboreal AB – Arboreal Trädhöjd
Award justification:
The first reliable height measuring device in the form of a smartphone app, Arboreal Trädhöjd uses AR (augmented reality) technology to measure distance and angles to calculate tree height. Most people carry a smartphone, so this enables them to measure tree heights. The app was rewarded with a silver medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.
SILVER
Fomatec OY – Combino
Award justification:
Hybrid tracks for forest machines. A cutting track that can be complemented with carrying plates on site in the forest. The plates are attached by hooks on one side and then bolted in place on the other. The carrying plates also have a new concave profile designed to give increased bearing capacity. It is important to protect both the ground and the work environment. This interesting development of the machine track was rewarded with a silver medal in the SkogsElmia Innovation Award 2019.