The Swedish forest industries' view on the future market potential of nanocellulose

Sammanfattning: General concerns about environmental issues may mean that the demand for bio-based products will increase. Opportunities that arise on markets, together with the declining demand for newsprint, may trigger firms in the Swedish forest industry to increase their development of new products. One product that has received a lot of attention during recent years (and is a contender) is nanocellulose. The purpose of this master thesis was to examine the Swedish forest industry’s view on the market potential of nanocellulose. For many forest based firms standard newsprint have been of utmost importance. However, due to the rise of digital media it is commonly acknowledged that the consumption of standard newsprint may have peaked. New product development is of importance when markets change and uncertainty on markets arises. Maybe, nanocellulose could be the answer to several problems. Qualitative interviews with eleven respondents from relevant Swedish forest firms have been conducted during the period Mars to May 2014. Specific questions the thesis tried to answers were: • What are the factors that could make wood-based nanocellulose a successful commercial concept? • What are the factors that hinder wood-based nanocellulose from becoming a successful commercial concept? • In what stage of the value-chain should the implementation commence? During the conducted interviews it has been emphasized that the right combination of business model and product area is of importance for a successful commercial concept. At the same time the process ability of nanocellulose has to increase. Judging by the conducted interviews, areas of use and required volumes will determine which actors that may pursue a commercialization of nanocellulose. There is still a lot of work to be done and at the moment some forest firms are unsure if they should commence the commercialization - this because the current situation of nanocellulose is quite unsure. Demand is uncertain, and there are still technological issues to be solved before nanocellulose can reach the great potential it carries. Still, most of the approached respondents believe that nanocellulose will find its place on a market within 5-10 years. Nanocellulose is considered a fantastic material and the main push factors for a successful commercialization are its characteristics. However, no real demand from the customers’ point of view has been made visible. If the right business model could be connected to the right product nanocellulose will surely be successful. Maybe, it is too early to determine how big the market potential of nanocellulose is. Nonetheless, what can be said is that nanocellulose carries great potential.