Timber utilisation and wood construction are fundamental components of Europe's strategy on progressing towards a sustainable bio-based economy. Both components require optimised strength grading procedures in Europe's sawmills. To further improve the current procedures, quality assessment and segregation of the raw material need to start already at the roundwood stage. Furthermore, the quality information should be made accessible throughout the production process to leverage the full potential for optimisation. This paper discusses the current state of research on combined log and board strength grading with a focus on the situation in Europe. It highlights limitations due to technology and current standardisation and identifies knowledge gaps and research opportunities. The European research project READiStrength (resource-efficient and data-driven integrated log and board strength grading) has been initiated to address these issues.