About the project

Introduction

Objectives

Project Workplan

Expected Results

Conclusion

Literature cited

ITM Consortium

Coordinator

Partner Organizations

Participating Enterprises

Quality Assurance Panel

Consortium Structure

Meetings

Kick-Off

1. Milestone meeting (Lisbon)

The consortium is hierarchically structured under the governing bodies of the European Union and the Fifth Framework Program Committee (1998-2002). Under this structure exists the project coordinator, partners, participants and the quality assurance panel (see figure below). Partners (8) are made up of model developers or experts wishing to apply modeling technology. Participants (12) represent forest companies, state agencies and forest policy decision makers who have identified the nine important implementation tasks. These tasks have a European prospective for demonstrating the implementation potential of the modeling technology. It is the objective of the consortium to take advantage of the close relationships between partners and the participants to ensure the success of the project. The role of the different components are as follows:

Project Coordinator

The project coordinator Hubert Hasenauer, with the aid of an office manager, is responsible for the successful coordination of ITM in terms of managing the administrative and financial components including the planning of routine meetings according to the guidelines within the Fifth Framework Program (1998-2002). The coordinator represents the consortium and also assumes responsibility for the successful meeting of deadlines.

Partner Organizations

The 8 Partners are made up of model developers or experts wishing to apply modeling technology. They have been selected based on either their contribution to the development of individual tree growth models, their historic application of an existing model or a specific need for the use of a individual tree growth model. The partners cover a spectrum of organizations including forest research and educational institutes, forest companies and a policy making organization. The partners also represent seven different countries (Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Slovakia). This diversity will ensure that the balance of perspective is maintained. The partners provide the necessary facilities and infrastructure to carry out their components of the project. As part of the project, the partners locate a participant or participants from industry and/or state agencies who will provide an demonstration area, data and a unique problem to solve.

Participating Enterprises

A participant represents a forest company or a state agency, from the partner country, with a specific problem that an individual tree growth model can solve. Twelve participants have been selected. The participants have provided a contact person who will participate in all aspects of the project. The participants will also provide a problem and the data required to solve the problem as part of the demonstration process. The strength of this project if based on the agreements that have been made with the companies and state agencies. The companies have agreed to provide data which were collected at the companies expense. The benefits to the company or state agency is the development of an application to solve their specific problem. As mentioned above the twelve participating forest enterprises have identified nine main applications they believe can be solved by an individual tree growth model.

Quality Assurance Panel

The quality assurance panel is made up of five experts representing a variety of disciplines. The purpose of this panel is to provide an impartial assessment of the entire project as it evolves. This is an essential component to maintain the highest standards. The panel participates in all milestone meetings and will report their findings to the project coordinator and to the Fifth Framework Program Committee (1998-2002) if the committee wishes.