The Research Institute of Non-timber Forestry (RINF), Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), was developed from the former Paulownia R&D Center of National Forestry and Grassland Administration. The institute was originally founded in 1984 by the former Chinese National Committee of Science and Technology and moved to Chinese Academy of Forestry in 1992. The institute was officially renamed on non-timber forestry in 2021.

Focusing on major national strategic needs and facing the battlefield of forest owners, the institute is committed to studying and solving major basic, directional, and key scientific and technological problems of non-timber forest industry in China, so as to provide scientific and technological support for the improvement, efficiency and rapid development of non-timber forest industry.

Research tasks and areas of the institute include: organizing the collection, preservation, evaluation, enhancement, and utilization of non-timber Forest germplasm resources; breeding the improved varieties and researching the high-efficiency and accurate cultivation techniques; organizing and carrying out research on key technologies of non-timber forest industry upgrading; establishing and managing the scientific research, achievement incubation and transformation platform, such as long-term scientific research base, key laboratory, engineering research center, and innovation alliance; organizing the transformation, promotion, popularization, and consulting of scientific and technological achievements in non-timber forest; organizing international exchanges, cooperation, and training in non-timber forest; undertaking the training of high-quality researchers of non-timber forest in China.

For more information, please visit: http://paulownia.caf.ac.cn.