The findings are from a new Pira study, Ten-Year Forecasts of Disruptive Technologies in Paper and Board to 2020. The study identifies the top 25 most influential technologies and examines each to assess the likely impact by 2020.The internet and mobile computing-related technologies occupy six of the top ten in a ranking of 25 potentially disruptive technologies. While a number of these technologies pose a threat to the industry, many will create opportunities, which can be exploited across the supply chain, notes the Pira study.Technologies ranked 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the study are all internet-related. Pira expects the internet will have a pervasive effect on demand, especially for printing and writing paper, and the bleached kraft pulp used in its manufacture.According to Pira's Senior Paper Consultant, Graham Moore, developments in electronic media are changing business practices and leisure pursuits that once were the preserve of paper:"This loss of demand will not be restored and further rationalization and consolidation of the paper manufacturing base looks certain. However, the threat of declining demand means the opportunities offered by papermaking fibers beyond paper - for example as a structural component - should be exploited. Companies that choose to ignore such developments or are simply unable to muster the resources needed to explore them, have an uncertain future," Moore said.