Business developer for the whole country
Innovation Norway’s main objective is to trigger commercially and socio-economically profitable business development, and trigger regional business opportunities.
Three sub-goals have been set for the enterprise:
- More successful entrepreneurs
- More companies with a capacity for growth
- More innovative business clusters
Company strategy
Innovation Norway’s company strategy applies in the period 2020 to 2025, and defines four strategic goals:
- Ensure that more Norwegian companies succeed in growing.
- Increase exports from Norwegian small and medium-sized enterprises.
- Ensure a Norwegian return of 2.5% from Horizon Europe.
- Document how Innovation Norway’s efforts contribute to selected sustainable development goals.
The strategic priorities are:
- Innovation Norway will be a sparring partner for trade and industry in all regions.
- Innovation Norway will work to ensure that more companies are successful in achieving sustainable growth and exports.
- Innovation Norway will work to involve the business sector in solving global societal challenges.
- Innovation Norway will help create jobs throughout the country through regional partnerships to create growth based on regional conditions.
- Innovation Norway will advise our clients and owners on what works.
Strategic clarifications
Innovation Norway has stepped up its work with documentation of projects' sustainability in light of the EU's taxonomy. It must be reported on whether projects that have received direct allocations from Innovation Norway have a potentially significant contribution to at least one of the six environmental goals in the taxonomy. In order to receive funds earmarked for climate and environmental projects, projects' activities must qualify as sustainable in line with the EU taxonomy.
As a result of changes in framework conditions in key areas, it was decided in 2021 to make some strategic clarifications in three areas:
The EU as a premise provider
The EU’s ambitious ‘Green Deal’ growth strategy affects Norway and Norwegian trade and industry. In addition, Norway is participating in a number of EU programmes that also involve new tasks for Innovation Norway. Strategically, this means that Innovation Norway must monitor what is happening in the EU, contribute to ensuring that Norwegian interests are safeguarded and succeed in highlighting and connecting Norwegian trade and industry to the opportunities available in the EU.
Sparring - Expertise and Capital
Innovation Norway has been tasked with being the regional first-line of the entire business support system, and therefore consolidates its role as a sparring partner and provider of expertise and capital for business development. This also includes the role of being a green industry bank. Strategically, Innovation Norway will be a coordinator and hub in the business support system that sees and knows the big picture. It also affects the ‘door-opener’ collaboration with the other instrument actors.
Increase efforts to take green value chains out into international fields
New and ambitious targets for Norwegian exports were set in Jonas Gahr Støre’s government platform. Strategically, this means that Innovation Norway will strengthen its export efforts in order to contribute to the ambition of a 50 percent increase in exports from mainland industries.