At the Landshut Lightweight Construction Colloquium 2025, Holzcluster Steiermark and Innovation Salzburg – as part of the Bioeconomy Austria network – jointly organised a two-hour session in collaboration with the Hochschule Landshut on the topic: “Lightweight Construction with Renewable Raw Materials.” Leading experts discussed how wood and wood hybrids can serve as innovative lightweight materials, providing new impetus for technical applications, construction, and the mobility sector.
Potential of Biogenic Lightweight Construction: Innovations from Research
Renowned research institutions and companies from Austria and Germany presented the latest developments in lightweight timber construction and showcased pioneering solutions. The vision: to establish wood as a sustainable lightweight material and highlight resource-efficient applications for wood and wood hybrids. A particular focus in the mobility sector was placed on:
- Reproducibility: enabling the industrial application of lightweight timber construction
- Adhesive systems: facilitating sustainable and high-performance bonding solutions
- Digitalisation of processes: developing robust and scalable solutions
In this context, Dr Thomas Krenke from the Innovation Centre W.E.I.Z. provided insights into the research project CARpenTiER, which explores sustainable lightweight timber construction concepts for the automotive industry. The objective is to establish wood as a high-performance structural material – a climate-friendly alternative to aluminium or composite materials.
Dr Frederik Obermeier from TH Rosenheim demonstrated how wood-based regenerated cellulose fibres can be used as reinforcement for polypropylene, with a focus on material and process engineering investigations.
At the Campus Kuchl of FH Salzburg, Dr Thomas Sepperer is researching promising biogenic materials such as tannin foams and provided valuable insights during the session.
Future Growth of Biogenic Materials in Lightweight Construction
The Landshut Lightweight Construction Colloquium 2025 impressively highlighted the key role of biogenic materials in mobility, as well as in future construction and packaging solutions. The valuable exchange with experts from science and industry underlined the immense potential of wood as a sustainable material in lightweight construction. We are convinced that more of these innovative and resource-efficient products will enter the market in the future.