Strategic positioning of new industries
Innovation Norway helps promote Norwegian trade and industry abroad. This strengthens the competitiveness of companies and increases exports. The international profiling of Norway is crucial for the implementation of Innovation Norway’s export strategy.
The framework for strategic positioning is Norway’s national brand. At brandnorway.no, Innovation Norway has a content bank that helps Team Norway communicate a unified message about Norwegian trade and industry. At the end of 2021, the content bank was used by more than 4500 people.
The first virtual delegation
Business delegations follow Norwegian state visits abroad, but have not been carried out during the corona pandemic. Instead, Norway arranged a virtual visit to California in April 2021 via norwayevent.com, using mixed reality technology. The visit was led by Crown Prince Haakon, and the main topics were offshore wind and electric mobility. The visit strengthened Norwegian trade and industry in California and led to a letter of intent between innovation Norway and the governor’s office. Over 2000 people followed the visit digitally, which is a far larger audience than is seen at physical delegations.
International trade fairs
Participation in international trade fairs became difficult for the second year in a row due to the pandemic. Nevertheless, Innovation Norway conducted trade fairs with 340 participating Norwegian companies. Eight out of ten companies reported that the trade fairs are important meeting places to profile themselves internationally. In 2021, participation at trade fairs within the fields of offshore wind, circular economy, electric mobility and green shipping was prioritised.
Digital marketing
Innovation Norway conducts extensive digital marketing for Norwegian technology in important export markets. In 2021, prioritised topics included offshore wind, batteries and green shipping. The marketing resulted in 1.2 million people from segmented target groups reading about green solutions from Norway at Theexplorer.no, and over 20 million people saw advertisements on sites such as LinkedIn and Google. An effect measurement in 2021 showed that LinkedIn ads make target groups significantly more positive about Norwegian technology.
Ocean industries
Innovation Norway is running an initiative from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries to strengthen Norway’s profile as a leading ocean nation: ‘Team Norway Ocean’. In 2021, market campaigns for aquaculture and clean energy were carried out showing advertisements to more than three million people in key export markets.
Expo 2020
The World Expo in Dubai had to be postponed due to the pandemic, but managed to open in October 2021. Norway is participating with its own pavilion to promote the ocean industries. Innovation Norway is coordinating Norway’s participation with private trade and industry on behalf of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The number of visitors to the Norwegian pavilion exceeded 150,000 people before the 2021 New Year. Several events have been held at the pavilion and ‘Norway Day’ is in February 2022.