Aine Parlade presented “From Systems to Stories: Amplifying Social Innovations in Climate-Smart Forestry (CSF) and Forest Restoration.” Drawing on citizen engagement examples from the FORWARDS project, she highlighted how amplification depends on both systems and stories working together through continuous learning and reflection. Innovations emerge within living networks of people, ideas, and contexts, and the meanings attached to these networks shape how collaboration and governance evolve. Through dialogue, shared stories connect perspectives and strengthen relationships that sustain impact over time. Her key message for CSF was clear: to make systems more inclusive and adaptive, we must listen to and understand the narratives that shape how people see change. “Systems help design change; stories help sustain it.”

Stojan Ivanović presented an analysis of financial flows from European Union H2020 and Horizon Europe funds allocated to institutions engaged in innovation and research projects (based in EUFORE Project data). The network analysis revealed that success in securing competitive EU-funded projects depends less on geography or nationality, and more on the institutions themselves and the strength of their interconnections within the European research space. Institutions that are more centrally positioned in consortia for Horizon projects tend to receive a higher number of projects and greater funding on average than those with weaker connections. Nonetheless, both at the national and institutional levels, actors from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe continue to lag behind their counterparts in Western and Northern Europe. Strengthening the integration of institutions from these regions is therefore essential to ensure a more balanced development of innovation across the European forestry sector.