Wood is one of the major renewable materials. To compensate for the ever-increasing demand for wood and to reduce pressure on native forests, more wood of higher quality will need to be produced on less land by planting highly productive trees. Biotechnology has shown great promise for forest tree improvement and over the past 10 years this field has flourished. Not only has the potential of transgenic trees with optimized yield and quality traits been demonstrated in field trials, but progress in genetical genomics and association genetics promise quantum leaps forward for tree improvement.