Innovations for the future
In recent years, Norway as a nation has managed to combine strong
oil revenues and sound welfare schemes with rapid growth. This is
a trend that many other countries envy and appears to be something
of a riddle when one compares Norway’s efforts with those of other
countries.
The reasons behind this are many and complex, yet there is no
doubt that our industries have created innovation activities that
make Norwegian companies today extremely competitive.
In many fields, Norwegian companies are not at the cutting edge of
technology or research, but they are creating the innovations that
customers want.
Life after oil
During the oil age, the Norwegian innovation system proved to be
extremely effective. Yet Norway must also have a life after oil,
so that our children and grandchildren also have something to work
for and make a living from here in Norway.
To contribute to this, we at Innovation Norway have promised our
customers that we will be customer-oriented, honourable,
result-oriented, innovative and bold.
An industry for the future
We live in a world undergoing rapid change. If Norwegian industry
is able to interpret what people and society will need in the
future, it will create opportunities for new businesses and new
markets. To do this, we need to continue to implement change and
restructuring on an ongoing basis. We need new generations of
entrepreneurs and young people who dare to create their own
workplace. We need innovations for the future.
The TV series Skaperen (“The Creator”)
A good example of this is last year’s TV series Skaperen. The
programmes in the series were produced by TV2 in collaboration
with Innovation Norway.
The first series of programmes was broadcast in the spring of
2006. At its peak, it was watched by 574,000 viewers, with an
average of around 450,000 viewers. These are excellent figures.
Perhaps some of the ideas in Skaperen could become international
commercial successes or the series may have inspired someone to
create a business on the basis of an idea that they have had.
Because we must invest in the businesses of the future, it is
particularly interesting to note that the proportion of young
viewers was very high.
I hope that we have started a thought process amongst many viewers
that they can earn money from their own entrepreneurial skills and
create their own workplace – and that it is not as complicated as
many people believe.
The second series of Skarperen was broadcast on TV2 in the spring
of 2007.
From Bodø to Beijing
Our vision is to give local ideas global opportunities and to
bring new innovations out into an increasingly global market. In
2006, we worked hard to create a strategic platform for our
internationalisation work. We want to identify initiatives and
forms of working which can create a more integrated value chain
from our offices in Norway to the offices abroad and back – from
Bodø and to a new market, perhaps in Beijing? We can also mediate
knowledge and technology back to Norway from the markets abroad,
perhaps to Bodø?
A good year for the Norwegian travel industry
Value creation within the travel industries and awareness of
Norway as a destination are increasing. Innovation Norway is
investing in the marketing of Norway both abroad and within
Norway. One of these initiatives is the web portal
visitnorway.com. This portal gives tourists attractive tasters of
what Norway has to offer, in addition to comprehensive information
on Norway and our travel products.
Together with the travel industry, we made Norway even more
attractive as a destination in 2006 and the number of foreign
guests staying overnight increased by three percent.
In 2006, holiday and leisure arrivals increased by 3.4 percent,
and guest-days in connection with business and service travel
increased by an impressive seven percent. The growth was
particularly strong for visitors from Russia, Great Britain, Spain
and certain countries outside Europe.
Value creation for our customers
Innovation Norway is a large organisation. We have over 700
employees in over 30 countries and offices in every county.
Regardless of where our customers meet us, Innovation Norway aims
to have a common fundamental method of working, so that all our
customers are treated equally and feel well looked after.
During 2006, we stepped up our efforts to bring about better
interaction and cooperation throughout the organisation, to share
knowledge and experience and, last but not least, to ensure that
services contribute to value creation for our customers.
Our services
During 2006, we also assessed, improved and systematised what we
actually deliver. Our services, programmes and initiatives are now
described using a common template, which makes it far easier to
mediate our various products and to deliver appropriate
combinations of services in order to create added value for the
customer.
We are preparing the future
Innovation is not simply about new ways of overcoming challenges;
it is also about combining existing solutions in a new way or
improving something that already exists. This also applies to us
in Innovation Norway. We must therefore interpret what our
customers will need in the future – and strive to predict their
needs so that Norway can also become a good place for future
generations.
Gunn Ovesen
CEO
June 2007