"The forestry industry faces a significant problem: imprecise methods for estimating timber volumes. Inaccurate inventory levels negatively impact financial tracking, insurance factors, raw material flows, work schedules, logistics, production processes, customer interactions, and more. It is simply difficult to produce and sell timber if you don't know how much you have.

Christoffer Eldskott, Marketing Manager at Lumberscan, describes the problem:

'In the industry, it's like using a ruler and a finger in the air, resulting in an error margin of roughly plus or minus 15 percent. It's guesswork. I remember a case where a company estimated they had 1,200 cubic meters of timber at a certain point in time, but it turned out they only had 580. This leads to production stoppages and dissatisfied customers.'

Lumberscan, a new incubator company at Uminova Innovation, has developed a revolutionary method for precise measurement of timber stacks using drone technology and smart software. The team consists of Karl Forsman, Magnus Wahlberg, and Christoffer Eldskott.

'The drone itself is a consumer model. The customer presses a button, it flies over the area to be measured, takes pictures, and then uploads them to the platform. The platform then automatically creates a highly accurate dataset from which the customer can easily extract the necessary information. We believe in keeping the technology as simple, transparent, and user-friendly as possible,' explains Christoffer.

The simplicity of the technology has another significant advantage: customers can perform the inventories themselves.

'The tradition is to call in specialized consultants to do the measurements. When customers can easily do it themselves, they can measure more frequently and when the need arises. This type of real-time monitoring not only improves efficiency within the company but also prevents unnecessary logging,' says Christoffer.

The innovation stems from team member and forest manager Karl Forsman's thesis project at Martinsson, a historic Västerbotten company that was acquired by forestry giant Holmen several years ago. Lumberscan's solution is widely used by Holmen, which has a turnover of SEK 19 billion, and the team is now ready to grow in the market.

'Our goal is to dominate the Swedish market and take the product worldwide. We are clear market leaders. At Uminova Innovation, we hope to get help with seeking funding, developing verticals, exploring new applications for the technology, and finding talent,' says Christoffer.

The business developer at Uminova Innovation who will help Lumberscan move forward is Linus Stark.

'Lumberscan delivers a smart solution to a major problem for its customers and has already secured several important contracts. As an incubator, we are entering an exciting phase, and it's a fantastic team to work with. We will do everything we can to help them on their journey to becoming a growing and exciting technology company. We have only begun to see what this team can accomplish.'