A changing market pushes for innovation

Many things in the world these days keep changing. But I think we can all agree on one thing that will always be there: change itself.

If we look back at history, change is often related to a compulsion to do something differently. The initiative for many new developments has required a crisis or has resulted from it, an external push from the surrounding world. Given all the recent changes in the global markets, the need for development and innovation is now more evident than ever.

These changes are also impacting the fiber-related industry. As Sampo Immonen, Director, Line R&D, Board and Paper Mills, Valmet, described the situation at the Valmet Customer Days 2023: “Before about 2010, the fiber-related market was pretty calm, but we’re now heading for the rough waters: Both the market and technology are changing at the same time.”

Change brings many positive things: It forces us to look at things from new perspectives, join forces within our networks and take risks. Ultimately, we may come up with industry-transforming innovations.

Valmet Customer Days 2023 was a great showroom for numerous recent innovations where we presented many of our recently developed solutions and joint customer projects. In this issue, you can explore some of those cases. On page 60, you can also read more about the thoughts Sampo Immonen presented at the event on the increasing importance and benefits of disruptive co-innovation!

Let’s keep joining our forces for innovation!