English Summary

Companies and institutions related to the forest and wood sector in Baden-Wurttemberg are subject to continuous structural change due to at the one hand increasing integration in national and international markets and at the other hand due to growing up- and downstream linkages with other sectors both in and outside of Baden-Wurttemberg (e.g. energy, agriculture, chemical industry, transport). That leads to increasing information needs for companies and the public sector with regard to the future development of the forest industry as well as of impacts of changes in markets, e.g. with regard to supply of forestry products, its prices and production costs, marketing opportunities or national and international competition.

Economic simulation models can contribute here by providing scenario-based, forward looking results. Given the specifics of the forest sector, dynamics need to be properly integrated in the model structure. In order to allow for sufficiently detailed analysis while reflecting the fact that the forestry and wood sector is predominantly situated in more rural areas, an appropriately regionalized model is asked for. Given data availability, a NUTS2 regional resolution is envisaged for Baden-Wurttemberg, while Germany is depicted at the level of federal states. The envisaged design of the economic model with regard to space and time shall ensure that it can properly inform and support decision taking in the private and public sector.