On 12 January, the multiplier event "Internet of Trees" of the Erasmus + project Virtual Forests took place in a hybrid format in Valladolid (Spain) and online, organised by Cesefor and in collaboration with the University of Valladolid and Iufor (Sustainable Forest Management Research Institute UVa-INIA). The event focused on topics such as sensors for climate and soil data collection, data management and analysis and techniques for reforestation of degraded urban areas.

This event was attended by a hundred participants interested in urban and sensorial green infrastructure, of which 40 attended in person coming from 8 different universities, the Castilla y León forestry association (FACYLE) and entrepreneurial sector. The participants who connected remotely came from different profiles of the forestry and digitization sectors.

The event featured speakers from different initiatives such as Fernando Bezares and Rodrigo Gómez (Cesefor) and Rafa Rivera (Quantizae) who introduced sensorisation networks in forest plantations management and specific application in experimental plantations, plantations in degraded urban areas and in productive forest plantations, as well as, tools for managing the influx of visitors in protected areas.

The expectation presented by this event showed that there is a huge interest on the digitization of the sector and the possibilities within the forestry and environmental sector towards the use of sensors and data analysis techniques based on artificial intelligence, especially for the optimization of natural resources and their management. But also, the importance of strengthening cooperation, networking between universities and companies, and generating tools that combine learning, innovation and employability.

The specific objective of the multiplier event “Internet of Trees” was to outline and define the bases and contents of the toolkit that is being developed in the Intellectual Output of Virtual Forests “Internet of Trees - A sensorized forest plantation as an educational product”, including the participation and comments provided by the participants.

This Intellectual Output aims to provide a toolkit to sensorise a forest plantation or individual trees, which will be disseminated as educational material for university professors, students, forest owners and managers.

As a result of the day, it is worth highlighting the network generated around the sensorisation networks in forest plantations as for individual trees, as well as other applications in the natural environment. For this reason, and as a contribution derived from the event, an active search for the use of sensors in the natural environment will be incorporated into the Toolkit as well as a methodological guide for the installation and the analysis of data recorded remotely in the field through sensors and its usefulness for decision-making, especially in plantation management.

The replay of the event is available here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgrWQZPuCik&feature=youtu.be