INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT: NFA
Making Forestry Greener with an AI-Driven Perception System
Let’s meet the founders of the future
In this instalment of Innovation Spotlight, we meet Lars Svensson, the co-founder and CEO of Nordic Forestry Automation (NFA). Last year, they were recognised by Swedish tech magazine Ny Teknik as one of Sweden’s most promising tech startups. In this interview, we will learn more about how NFA got started, and how their perception system technology makes the forestry industry more sustainable – not only for the planet, but also for the machine operators.
Founded in 2021, the team at NFA has spent the last couple of years developing an AI-supported perception system for forestry machines, enabling them to analyse and understand the surroundings. Their system combines the power of AI with the technology behind self-driving cars – a field that the majority of NFA’s team members are specialists in.
“Short term, we are making a support system to help machine operators make better decisions to ensure high quality forest management”, Lars says when explaining the first generation of their technology, which is a retrofit operator support system that screws onto existing machinery.
With their technology, they hope to improve upon the process of thinning, which is when a portion of trees are selectively harvested. Today, the machine operators have to draw on their knowledge and experience to make quick on-site decisions. On average, this leads to too many trees being removed in the process.
“The available measurement tools are slow and inaccurate, so the operators have to rely on their instincts. It's fundamentally difficult for humans to accurately estimate the density of a forest. To add onto that, the incentive model of the industry rewards productivity. The operators have to move quickly and are paid by volume, so it is much more likely that they cut down too many trees instead of too few”, Lars explains when describing the negative impact of imprecise thinning.
In Sweden, the limited data available indicates that on average, the thinning process removes 15-20% more trees than the science backed recommendations . Beyond decreasing the general growth of the forest, this also means a loss of future raw material, and that the Swedish forest binds 15-20% less carbon.
“If we fix this and the forest reaches its growth potential, Sweden’s forests could increase their carbon capture rate by up to 20 megatons per year, which would offset half of Sweden’s emissions. The numbers are big, because we have a lot of forest in this part of the world”
LARS SVENSSON
“If we fix this and the forest reaches its growth potential, Sweden’s forests could increase their carbon capture rate by up to 20 megatons per year, which would offset half of Sweden’s emissions. The numbers are big, because we have a lot of forest in this part of the world”, Lars says when explaining the long term consequences of imprecise thinning, adding that the environmental impact of their work “is a strong driving force for the team.”
When speaking about how open the forestry industry is to change and adaptation, Lars comments that there has always been an innovative urge engrained into the culture and a strong will to try new things, although it has primarily been limited to mechanical solutions. “The idea of using equipment to measure trees in real time has been around since the ‘80s. However, it has required more advanced technology – not only more accurate sensors, but also better machine-learning and AI, because the forest is such an organic environment.”
On the day to day, Lars is primarily motivated by the problem-solving aspect of their work, something that has been with him since the very beginning. Even though NFA was founded in 2021, the journey began much earlier for Lars, deep in the forests of Småland where he grew up. When he was still working on his PhD and researching AI and Autonomous Systems, he would borrow technology over the weekends and conduct field tests. “The first prototype was essentially a box full of sensors and computers, powered by an old cordless drill battery”, Lars recalls.
In 2019, he and his early collaborators brought the technology to forestry companies to gain a better understanding of how it could solve existing problems in the industry. That is when they learnt about the current operator conditions and the challenge of training new operators.
“The operators are cognitively overloaded all the time”, Lars explains. “They are in general much more productive the first hour compared to the rest of the” As the day progresses, the operators experience decision fatigue, which affects the quality of their work. As the thinning process relies so heavily on the judgement of the operators, it also presents challenges around consistency and standardisations.
As they began to target the existing pain points of the forestry industry and further develop their innovation, they had to make a decision on how to best protect their technology for the future.
“On technology development, we’re competing against large multinational companies, with considerable resources to spend on patents. In the traditional patent process, building a portfolio is prohibitively expensive for a startup. When we started talking to Lightbringer, we realised that we could afford five patents instead of one. Now, we can have the same patent strategy as a big company, even though we’re small– that is a game changer.”
LARS SVENSSON
When describing his experience working with Lightbringer, Lars comments that he has spent a couple of days’ work at most on each patent application process – far less than what he had initially expected. “The platform is fun to use, because you think of new things when you are using it. It has a copilot function, because the results are better than if I had been writing it by myself with a pen and paper.” Without Lightbringer, he believes they would have been forced to choose a single aspect of their technology to patent, instead of protecting a broad range of unique and novel solutions in their system.
“Disregarding Lightbringer, my view has been that the patent system is a bit flawed – it does not fully achieve what it has set out to do. With Lightbringer, it means that we can at least play the game on the same terms as companies with bigger budgets”, Lars comments when discussing how the traditional patent process works more favourably for those who can afford to file more patents, adding that “It will be interesting to see how the patent landscape will change when services like Lightbringer’s become the new standard.” When asked how he feels about the patenting process, Lars says: “It is real easy actually. I have thought about that every time I have started a new patent process on the platform – it is incredibly rewarding to express and develop your ideas in this manner.”
Now, Lars and his team have crafted a patent strategy that will serve them long-term – something they did not take for granted when embarking upon their patenting journey. “I have learnt so much about patents along the way. We have had the luxury of talking to Dominic [Davies – CEO and Patent Attorney at Lightbringer] throughout the process, and I have learnt a lot from him. Before that, I only had a vague sense of how patents work.” Having gained a better understanding of how the world of patents works means that they now are in full control of their inventions, and know how to adapt their strategy as they continue developing their technology and growing as a company. “This toolbox makes it possible to focus on the right things”, Lars notes.
A lot has changed since Lars’ early days experimenting alone in the forests, as he is now working with a team to continuously innovate and develop their product. At the end of 2024, a letter of intent was signed between NFA and Södra – a forestry cooperative and investor in NFA – to roll out operator support thinning across a fleet of machines in the second half of 2025. Long term, they are dreaming big, and envision their technology playing a pivotal role in making forestry management more sustainable. “Right now, the human operating the machine has to control every hydraulic cylinder with joystick buttons. In the near future, we’ll have semi-autonomous machines where the operator gives instructions at a much higher level, much like the advanced driver assistance systems we already have in modern cars.”, Lars explains, when commenting on the next generation of their technology.
It is reassuring to know that many brilliant people are working hard to tackle difficult and complex problems. At Lightbringer, we are eager to continue celebrating NFA’s successes and follow Lars and the team on their journey to making the forestry industry greener and more sustainable.
