Tomi Erho, the head of The Active Paper Company, believes that he is actually operating in the experience business.
The idea of combining paper and biotechnology crept into the thoughts of Tomi Erho, a researcher at VTT at the time, as early as 2006.Next year Tomi Erho was in a bioactive paper technology project supported by Tekes, innovating paper on which printed graphics only become visible when the paper is moistened. With the support of VTT Ventures, two business angels and Tekes, he became the head of VTT's spin-off company The Active Paper Company.
“I wanted to move forward so that a promising project wouldn't just remain a good research report,” says Erho.
Supported by venture capital and startup funding, he is now seriously pursuing business in 2014.
"I also consider myself part of the bioeconomy cluster, because paper is essential here. Although these days I'm more on the side of the experience business."
The experiential nature is understood when you look at and especially wet Erho's product prototypes. New content appears on stickers, coasters, postcards and business cards when moistened with water. The idea of the patented innovation is in the thin channels printed on the material, which bring out the hidden graphics.
In the field of experience business, it could be beneficial for marketing to have a "magical" concrete tool between the consumer and the brand, which can be used to attract customers to the company's products.
"There is a lot of potential in brand marketing. But this is not yet the utilization of biotechnology according to the original idea," Erho clarifies.
Biotechnology will be included in Erho's planned products, where biochemicals would be added to paper - in which case the technology would enable the production of diagnostic measuring instruments, among other things. For example, the pH value of water or the sugar content of a drink could be measured with a paper strip to which a chemical that reacts with the sample in question has been added.
In Erho's experience, the new value chains of the bioeconomy cluster are still taking shape. He believes the reason is that start-up companies using new and special technologies do not have a proper place in the strategies of large companies.
"It's challenging to test and commercialize a product with limited resources to the point where even larger players would be interested in it."
Text: Jaakko Liikanen
Photo: Matti Immonen
