New growth of forest cluster: From paper based products to customer value-added ICT services

Forrest cluster may have finally reached the point where the road of making bigger profits by managing costs and efficiency has come to an end. The market does not grow as it did a decade ago, the global competition is hardening and investments that are made to machines in order to respond to the potential growth have created a situation of overcapacity in industry. The value potential, however, comes from convergence areas with other industries and the new customers of the forest industry are the old and well known customers of the converging industries. When seeking growth from this direction, the rules of business are not the same anymore. This paper presents results of a research concerning new health care services created with capabilities of the forest cluster. The need for the support of living at home is global, but especially a European mega trend, which is driven by ageing of citizens and cost saving. The paper provides a customer need assessment and business model analysis of intelligent medical package in assisted living environment.