"Papermaking towards the future" is a project investigating the current state and future of global paper manufacture. The project is a critical investigation into the most important questions for the industry today and into the future. What changes can be observed and are currently taking place? What are the challenges at present, and how will they manifest themselves going forward? In which areas is the outlook most promising for the paper industry and how are we going to get there? Through a combination of expert interviews, workshops, a Dephi survey with respondents in 21 different countries, a student survey, and months of our own research, we have identified what we believe are the most important drivers for global change and the most important growing trends in the paper and packaging industry going forward 20 years. Projecting the information collected throughout this project forward in time, we see a high likelihood that the paper and packaging industry will shift into one centred around bio-refining, where a broad range of forest based products will be produced to support a bio-based world. The future products creating the greatest return on investment will include bio-plastics, bio-chemicals, bio-energy, cellulose textiles, and paper-based packaging materials, where everything produced will be sustainably sourced and everything recycled. However, it is critical that the paper and packaging industry strategize today for this promising future of tomorrow, through investments in marketing, organization, and new product innovation. Moreover, it is important that the industry capitalize on their strong position within this potential bio-based world, by exploiting their fibre processing infrastructure, knowledge, and experience with producing sustainable and recycling products from the forest.