Almost all countries in this region were formerly part of the USSR or Yugoslavia so they are in a transition process with far-reaching consequences for their economies and societies. The actors of the forest sector - private and public forest owners and managers, industries, traders, as well as policy makers - must function in an increasingly competitive and rapidly changing political, economic and technological environment, sometimes dominated by large, extremely dynamic, enterprises with a culture of rapid and successful innovation. To survive and prosper, forest sector actors must remain, or become, competitive, developing innovative solutions to new challenges.