Agenda Step 2. Open up the value chain

An excellent way to give creativity a free reign and identify new needs and opportunities
that may be the basis for completely new offerings in new contexts is to consider and
work with the entire value chains. In Sweden there are complete, strong value chains
from mining to finished, branded products. This means that there are opportunities to
open up the chain and connect its stakeholders so that ideas can flow quickly and freely
in the pursuit of improved functionality at lower cost, features that can be translated into
comprehensive requirements for new materials. Conversely, the information flow can
ensure than new materials are described in the most comprehensive way – so that users
can put them into service without having to make difficult trade-offs and risking costly
mistakes. This can be done by creating fora where those who develop and use metallic
materials can meet those with needs for more sustainable solutions and describe their
respective realities. Such meetings are particularly important for the small and medium
enterprises in the value chain, since they often have difficulty in independently acquiring
knowledge about new opportunities and demands. For such customers who need
competitive components and systems for their products, current and relevant knowledge
about new opportunities is naturally very important. But it is perhaps even more important
for a materials producer to understand the trade-offs that are difficult for potential
customers, so that the development can focus on just these trade-offs.

In some value chains foreign companies constitute important links, which means that
they may need to be involved in the work.

Such a value-chain network also helps to address the demands for comprehensive solutions.
However, offers put together by several companies demand some transparency
between players and division of revenues and risks between the parties, so this requires
business and organizational solutions beyond the purely technical.

The goal is that the Swedish metal industry will both internally and externally create
a unique environment that is constantly buzzing with creative ways to combine new
advanced metallic materials with sustainable solutions and take them all the way to the
end user.