The Forestry and Wood Cluster Initiative was founded within the context of the Bavarian Cluster Initiative in 2006 and aims to foster networking along the wood value chain. The Cluster links up know-how vertically across all sub-sectors and horizontally across departments, the research sector and a great diversity of individual initiatives. Currently more than 500 companies, initiatives and associations are members of this strong alliance. With 200,000 employees and a turnover of 30 billion euros per year, this is one of Bavaria's most important sectors, both economically and socio-politically.