This playbook builds on the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook,and is tailored to companies in the Nordic manufacturing industries. It providesexamples onthe following five sub-sectors: (1) machinery & equipment, (2) maritime, (3) energy, (4) transportation, (5) construction.

•Companies need to transform and scale their business as a response to increased pressure from industry drivers, as well asunlocking new business opportunities in order to face climate changerelatedchallenges.

•Circular economy and circular business models are about turning inefficiencies in linear value chains into business value. This playbook identifies key circular business models for the industry sub-sectors as well as key ecosystem actors to enable transformation across the value chain.

•There are three stages a company typically needsto undergo on their transformation journey; explore & shape, attract & win, and scale and keep growing. This playbook focuseson the third stage and outlining the main challenges when scaling, which are related to people & culture, new collaborations, lack of transparency, and the sustainability organisation ownership.

•The playbook is also describing the key enablers to fully transform and become a circular business; (a) focus on making one part of the business fully circular before scaling,(b) integrate data & technology in the entire transformation journey, (c) invest in the people and the organisation, and (d) have a dedicated transformation team.

This issue of the Nordic Economic Policy Review surveys the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the health and economic policies introduced to minimise its impact in the Nordic countries. Although national policies were broadly similar, they also differed in many respects. Given that some enjoyed greater success than others, comparing different policies and their effects may yield valuable lessons for the future.

The Nordic countries weathered the pandemic relatively well compared to most other high-income countries, both in terms of public health and economic repercussions. Infection and excess mortality rates were comparatively low in the Nordic Region, except in Sweden, where they relied more on recommendations and guidelines than mandatory measures to contain the spread of the virus. The fall in GDP was also comparatively small and short-lived in all the countries except Iceland, where tourism plays a more prominent role in the economy.

Nordic Economic Policy Review (NEPR) aims to convey policy-relevant, up to date research on different economic issues. The review produces one issue per year, each time with a new topic and researchers. NEPR strives to make the latest economic research accessible to both decision-makers and a broader audience, as well as to contribute to Nordic knowledge exchange on economic policy issues and challenges.

Rapporten handlar om social tillit i de nordiska samhällena. Norden har högst nivåer av social tillit i världen. Detta gynnar såväl samhällsekonomin som individer och samhället i dess helhet. Rapporten diskuterar bakgrunden till att den sociala tilliten blivit så hög i Norden samt vilka utmaningar som den står inför.

This report concerns social trust in the Nordic countries. The Nordic region has the highest levels of social trust in the world. This benefits the economy, individuals and society as a whole. This report discusses the background to why social trust has reached such high levels in the Nordic region, and the present day challenges it is facing.

Tourism has been an important industry in the Nordic region for decades, and an important way for the Nordic countries to connect and interact with the world at large. Due to the unique combination of opportunities and challenges that a growing tourism in the region represent, the dynamics of the industry has been a focus area for the Nordic Council of Ministers for years.As part of Nordic Innovation’s overall vision of increasing the sustainability of and cross-regional collaboration on tourism in the region, the project ‘Sustainable Tourism in Nordic Harbour Towns’ was initiated in 2019 with a set of specific goals in mind.

- Engage a diverse range of municipalities across the region in defining and collaborating on addressing key challenges emanating from harbour tourism

 - Increase environmental, social, and financial sustainability of harbour and cruise tourism

 - Identify innovations that can address the challenges through cross-regional public-private partnerships

 - Implement and pilot 1-3 innovations in Nordic harbour towns, generating unique data on the potential for innovation in sustainable tourism

 - Evaluate and share the findings and experience from the project in a way that can serve as a lighthouse for innovation in Nordic municipalities

This issue of Nordic Economic Policy Review is devoted to Nordic housing markets and housing policies. Nordic housing markets face more or less the same problems and challenges, but the way policies and regulations deal with them differs in many respects. A comparison of policies, regulations and results across countries yields valuable lessons for policymakers. The work has been led and edited by Professor emeritus Harry Flam and Professor emeritus Peter Englund.

The development of a bioeconomy is at the forefront of the national and regional agendas of many European countries. Yet, little is known about the status and the institutional and policy frameworks for bioeconomy development in Northwest Russia. This policy brief aims at increasing the understanding of the opportunities and challenges for bioeconomy development in Northwest Russia by drawing upon lessons learned from bioeconomy case studies in the Republic of Karelia, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk oblasts.

The development of a bioeconomy is at the forefront of the national and regional agendas of many European countries given not only its potential to counter climate change through replacing goods and services currently produced using fossil fuels and other non-renewable resources, but also the new economic activities in and around the rural regions it stimulates (Refsgaard et al., 2018). However, there is relatively little known about the status and institutional and policy frameworks for bioeconomy development in Northwest Russia.

The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview of the status of and institutional framework for a bioeconomy in the Republic of Karelia and Murmansk oblast. The study identifies some of the main support mechanisms and incentives, as well as the potential and challenges, for bioeconomy development in these regions today and in the future. This study, which was financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2018–2019, Kicking off the Bioeconomy in the North, draws upon the lessons learned from the study financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2018, ‘Forest and Waste-based Bioeconomy in the Arkhangelsk region’ (Berlina and Trubin, 2018).

To some degree, metropolitan regions owe their existence to the ability to valorize agglomeration economies. The general perception is that agglomeration economies increase with city size, which is why economists tend to propagate urbanization, in this case in the form of metropolization. Contrarily, spatial planners traditionally emphasize the negative consequences of urban growth in terms of liveability, environmental quality, and congestion. Polycentric development models have been proposed as a specific form of metropolization that allow for both agglomeration economies and higher levels of liveability and sustainability. This paper addresses the challenge of how such polycentric development can be achieved in planning practice. We introduce ‘agglomeration potential maps’ that visualize potential locations in a polycentric metropolitan area where positive agglomeration externalities can be optimized. These maps are utilized in the process of developing a new spatial vision for Flanders’ polycentric ‘metropolitan core area’, commonly known as the Flemish Diamond. The spatial vision aspires to determine where predicted future population growth in the metropolitan core area could best be located, while both optimizing positive agglomeration externalities and maintaining its small-scale morphological character. Based on a literature review of optimum urban-size thresholds and our agglomeration potential maps, we document how such maps contributed to developing this spatial vision for the Flemish metropolitan core area.

What can we learn from each other and others? Since the mid-eighties the Nordic countries have received a high influx of refugees relative to the population size. Currently these countries receive large numbers of refugees, notably from the Middle East. Existing studies exploiting the rich administrative registers in the Nordic countries have shown that the speed of labour market assimilation of immigrants from non-Western countries in the Nordic welfare states is slow. However, few studies distinguish between refugees and non-refugee immigrants from Non-Western countries.

Contents

• Foreword by Anna Piil Damm and Olof Åslund

1. Immigrant labor market integration across admission classes (Bernt Bratsberg, Oddbjørn Raaum, and Knut Røed)
2. Labour market integration of refugees in Denmark (Marie Louise Schultz-Nielsen)
3. Labor market integration of refugees in Finland (Matti Sarvimäki)
4. Labour market entry of non-labour migrants – Swedish evidence (Olof Åslund, Anders Forslund, and Linus Liljeberg)
5. The School Achievements of Refugee Children: Lessons from Sweden (Hans Grönqvist and Susan Niknami)
6. Does reduced cash benefit worsen educational outcomes of refugee children? (Kristian Thor Jakobsen, Nicolai Kaarsen, and Kristine Vasiljeva)
7. The fiscal impact of refugee immigration (Joakim Ruist)

This report explores how public sector support promotes the locomotive model, which is understood as partnerships between locomotive companies and SMEs in order to facilitate export of cleantech and system solutions. Support structures vary a lot among the Nordic countries. A main observation is that the various programmes in all Nordic countries had little information on the impacts of the instruments. Some suggestions for policy makers in the Nordic countries are offered, now with an understanding of the interaction between large businesses and SMEs, which wish to export clean technologies. The project was carried out from May 2014 to December 2014 by a consortium led by COWI with FORES, Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum and Tyrsky Consulting as partners. The Nordic Council of Minister's Working Group on Sustainable Consumption and Production initiated and financed the project.

The publication Scale-ups in the Nordics 2017 is supplementing and updating the first statistics on Nordic scale-ups, Scale-ups in the Nordics – statistical portrait 2008-2016, produced by the national statistical institutes in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and co-funded and published by Nordic Innovation May 2019. The publication introduces a new and enlarged definition of scale-ups, as enterprises showing high turnover growth are included in the definition of scale-ups supplementing the population of enterprises with high employment growth. The traditional definition focuses on employment growth only.

The publication is based on harmonised national databases holding statistical information at enterprise level from statistical registers covering variables from structural business statistics, business register, international trade in goods and business demography.

The articles in the 2019 Nordic Economic Policy Review analyse how the Nordic countries best can contribute to international climate policy. The articles cover topics such as: How can the Nordics help raise the ambitions in the Paris Agreement? What is the effect of national policy on emissions regulated by the EU Emissions Trading System? Would it be cost-effective for the Nordic countries to pay for emission reductions elsewhere to a larger extent? What role should be played by subsidies to green technology? Should Norway put more emphasis on supply-side policies, that is, on limiting future extraction of oil and gas?

The volume contains five papers with associated comments which were originally presented at a conference in Stockholm on 24 October 2018.

This comprehensive report delves into the economic policy responses of the Nordic countries amidst the tumultuous period marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent recovery phase, the energy crisis, and inflation spanning from 2020 to 2023. It provides a critical examination of the macroeconomic strategies employed during these challenging times, highlighting the lessons learned and the effectiveness of different policies. 

The report raises pivotal questions regarding the outcomes of these policies, their impact on the Nordic economies, and the lessons that these countries can glean from each other's experiences.

Key Findings and Highlights:

• Fiscal Support Measures: The report evaluates the unprecedented fiscal support measures implemented by the Nordic countries during the pandemic. It discusses how these measures, while stabilizing the economies, resulted in overgenerous subsidies to firms, indicating areas for future refinement.
• Job Retention Schemes: An analysis of job retention schemes reveals their critical role in preserving employment during the pandemic. The report suggests that while effective, these schemes should be designed to avoid hindering necessary structural changes within the economies.
• Fiscal Policy Challenges: The need for fiscal policies that can stabilize the business cycle, provide household income loss insurance, allow for public investment, and address the needs of an ageing population is emphasized. It argues for debt financing beyond current limits to meet urgent investment needs.
• Energy Crisis and Green Transition: The energy crisis is examined as a case study in balancing immediate relief with long-term sustainability goals. The report discusses the importance of allowing price mechanisms to encourage the green transition while providing timely support to consumers and businesses.

Overall the report underscores the importance of policy adaptability, advocating for economic policies that can swiftly respond to unforeseen crises without compromising long-term fiscal sustainability. It calls for targeted support measures that aid vulnerable households and firms during economic downturns without impeding structural adjustments. Furthermore, it emphasizes the necessity for adequate resources towards active labour market policies, including vocational training and subsidized employment.

Facing intricate trade-offs between maintaining robust economic policy frameworks and adapting to new challenges, the Nordic countries stand at a crossroads. The report advocates for a vibrant exchange of policy insights and impacts, stressing the need for adaptable, targeted, and well-resourced economic policies.

This report is essential reading for policymakers, economists, and anyone interested in the complexities of economic policy-making in the face of multiple crises. It offers a thorough analysis of the Nordic experience, providing valuable lessons for both the region and beyond.

This policy brief examines how co-management arrangements within small-scale fisheries can play a key role in enhancing sectoral and regional resilience. Despite major challenges, “multi-stakeholder collaborations” - such as co-management - demonstrate the potential for innovative knowledge transfer and strategic adaptation processes within the fisheries sector. The focus here is on Co-management Northern Bohuslän (Samförvaltning Norra Bohuslän), which promotes sustainable local fisheries and blue growth on Sweden’s west coast. The case illustrates how, under appropriate conditions, participatory local efforts can significantlycontribute to sustainability and resilience. The policy brief presents findings on related challenges and opportunities, including recommendations on future directions for the co-management initiative itself, and more general suggestions for co-management as a means to promote sectoral and regional resilience in the Nordic region.

This report introduces for the first time the top 1000 Nordic Scaleups, including the top 50 national rankings in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Top 10 in Iceland. 

The Top 1000 scaleups include all Nordic companies founded after in or after 1990 whose annual revenue is at minimum 2 million euro, has a team of 10+ (globally) and an annual growth of at least 20% in the past 3 years. 

All Top 1000 scaleups included in this report are headquartered in the Nordics (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden).   

The Nordic Network for Electric Aviation (NEA) stands as a pioneering industry-led project that unites Nordic stakeholders to accelerate the integration of electric aviation in the Nordic countries. Through cross border collaboration and coordination, NEA has paved the way for the emergence of a dynamic Nordic aviation sector, primed for innovation and sustainability. 

This report presents the findings from the NEA project and the key insights in the work on four challenges: 

- New business models for regional point-to-point connectivity and new business models for new direct routes between the Nordic countries.

- Charging infrastructure for electric aviation by consolidating national efforts into into a unified standard.

- Weather proofing and ice protection for electric planes in Nordic weather conditions. This objective involved assessing and developing technologies for battery thermal management and de-icing. 

- The fourth challenge was to create a platform for Nordic, European, and global collaboration. The climate challenges and new technical solutions need collaboration to speed up knowledge sharing. 

The goal of the NOW Ports project has been to make Nordic ports ready for the expanding offshore wind industry with a stronger green infrastructure and new value chains across developers, manufacturers and subcontractors for offshore wind.

17 Nordic ports and sites has entered an innovative collaboration with offshore wind players in order to upgrade, redesign and adapt existing facilities and decarbonise the port’s infrastructure.

The aim of the project has been to create the most attractive, innovative and cost-effective concept for future offshore wind port infrastructure and supply chain in the Nordics (both bottom fixed and floating).

This report covers the different ports and their opportunities. 

The contributions document how income inequality in the Nordics in various dimensions have increased over recent decades. These developments are put in an international context. Developments in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are compared. Important aspects analysed in detail are overall inequality of both market and disposable incomes, the redistribution through the tax and transfer system as well as through the provision of government welfare services, the importance of demographic factors, the developments of both relative poverty and top income shares, and gender inequality.

Timber construction can radically cut carbon emissions. The construction sector is accountable for c. 40% of global emissions, a third of which comes from the production of building materials. Replacing concrete and steel with timber offers a huge opportunity to reach the carbon neutrality goals. Nordic and Baltic countries have a unique advantage in leading the way, given the vast forest resources available, a long legacy of the forestry industry and wood building, the in-built industrial capacity, and the well-functioning and interlinked supply chains across the Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Yet, decisive policy measures are needed to overcome technical, regulatory, and cultural obstacles. Challenging the status quo and creating a market shift demands holistic and collaborative approaches that can enable systemic change, as well as targeted measures to navigate through country-specific obstacles. 

This report, written by AFRY for the Nordic Council of Ministers, focuses on the potential for Distribution System Operators (DSOs) in the Nordic countries to procure flexibility through market mechanisms. The report assesses the current and future potential of especially demand-side flexibility to be a useful resource to DSOs, and presents alternatives for flexibility products and market designs. Through interviews, literature research, and a survey of major Nordic DSOs, the report explores these topics and discusses how DSOs and regulators can make use of the ongoing process of learning and innovation.

In 2021, Nordic Innovation launched the Nordic Circular Economy Playbook for the Nordic manufaturing industries with the aim to enable companies and individuals to start their circular journey. The playbook was well received among Nordic companies looking to transition was a linear to a circular business model. Nordic Innovation decided to proceed with a second and updated version of the playbook, The Nordic Circular Economy Playbook 2.0 - Transform and Scale. 

This report is a status of the development in circular business models among Nordic manufaturing industries. The report provides definitions of circular economy and an assessment of the maturity level of today's circular business models and it highlights the barriers of scaling this kind of business model. The report also unfolds a set of recommendations for inspiring policy levels and organisations to continue and improve the framework and efforts around circular business models in the Nordic countries. 

The nordic countries are known for our extensive welfare systems that provide universal access to healthcare, education, and social services. 

However, with changing demographics and societal needs, there is growing need for welfare innovation to ensure that these systems remain sustainable and effective. 

By developing new solutions and services that target these pressing issues, welfare innovation can play a critical role in creating more equitable and sustainable societies. 

This report provides an action plan to accelerate welfare innovation through collaboration between impact startups and the public sector. 

This Technical Playbook on marine biobased building materials aims to overcome barriers due to lack of technical understanding amongst policymakers and planners. The playbook is designed as a techinical and holistic guidance with the aim to provide practical guidance to policymakers and planners across the Nordic countries. 

The playbook provides insight into available marine resources streams and marine based biomaterials in the Nordic market, particularly their potential applications in the built environment.    

The Nordic Blockchain Guide provides fashion, furniture and design companies with knowledge and tools to start using blockchain technology. The guide shows concrete use cases from the industries and gives examples of solutions on how to use the technology, including checklists and a step-by-step guide. 

New business models are essential for electric aviation between Nordic countries and regional point-to-point connectivity. The result could be increased mobility with reduced carbon footprint across the borders of the Nordic countries. In the Nordic Network for Electric Aviation (NEA) the task of looking into new business models was led by project member Norwegian Elfly Group, a company developing an electric flying boat.

Main takeaways from this report include how the transition from today's conventional aviation activities to the future's electric operations will affect the industry, communities, passengers and air transport markets. 

Read the full report for more insights into the business and financial aspects of electric aviation. 

Today, the Nordic region comprises over 27 million people and is the 10th largesteconomy in the world by GDP. The individual countries are ranked high ondigitalization and characterized by high productivity. A common trend across Nordiccountries is rising healthcare expenditure linked with an aging population andincreasing amounts of chronic illnesses and mental health issues. Besides the largeannual toll and productivity loss because of diseases, the Nordic region spent over4160 billion EUR on healthcare in 2020.

To accommodate the radical changes indemography, Nordic Innovation has set a vision that the Nordic region will be “themost sustainable and integrated health region in the world, providing the bestpossible personalized health care for all its citizens” by 2030. In this report, weexamine the opportunities for the Nordic region to leverage health data to realizethis vision and attempt to evaluate the potential economic effects of the realizedvision.

Even if we achieve the vision by 2030, we do not foresee the immediaterealization of the full value potential of health data. Rather, our analysis andmodeling show we can expect a time lag of a few years before the value realizationwill have a significant effect on the Nordic economies. Because of this, the estimatedeconomic benefits in this report present the values for the year 2040, but it is worthstressing that to see these effects as outlined in this report, there is a need toimplement changes as soon as possible, before 2030. Some effects will materializeearlier than 2040, assuming that the implementation is done by 2030.

In our 2022 Annual Report we emphasize that, while the activties we support have quite specific and short-term goals, if they are successfull, they will also become targeted measures that can help realize the Nordic Prime Ministers vision of making the Nordic Region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. 

For 50 years, Nordic Innovation has connected innovative minds from the business sector, academia and politics with the power of Nordic cooperation. Since 1973, Nordic Innovation has supported thousands of innovation projects and worked systematically on networking and collaboration across the countries. 

This book celebrates and era of Nordic cooperation and innovative power by highlighting what Nordic Innovation has achieved as an organisation. It is a testimony to our past and provides a glimpse into a future powered by Nordic Innovation.   

The year 2021 has proved that innovationis more important than ever, and that collaboration is the key to solving these challenges. Nordic Innovation is a dynamic organisation working towards solutions for a sustainable future. This is how we fulfil our most important task: building the future together

We hope you will enjoy reading Nordic Innovation's Annual Report 2021. It was a year of connecting and joining forces due to difficult times with the pandemic that was challenging us all. In the report we have tried to give you glimpses of co-creation, how we worked to start eight new programs and why we think learning processes and working together is an important tool to reach our goal. 

I årsrapporten for 2022 har vi lagt vekt på å få frem at de aktivitetene vi støtter både har mer avgrensede og kortsiktede mål, men dersom de lykkes er de samtidig også målrettede tiltak som bidrar til å realisere de nordiske statsministres visjon om at Norden skal bli verdens mest bærekraftige og integerte region. 

God lesning. 

The last few years have seen a lot of activity within the Nordic mining industry. New mines have opened, but there have also been cases of bankruptcies. Heightened activity has in turn led to discussions on the role of legislation and taxation in ensuring that mining contributes to sustainable development. At the same time, a number of voluntary sustainability initiatives have appeared.

For historic reasons, the Nordic countries share a lot of similarities with regards to legislation. And not least with regards to environmental laws, the EU has contributed to further harmonisation, even among the non-member states Iceland and Norway. Yet important differences exist. Legal revisions are sometimes the result of much-publicised problems, so experiences in each country plays an important role.

An overview of taxation also indicates both similarities and differences.

Ett stort antal företag och privatpersoner som verkar över nationsgränserna i Norden är beroende av att varor kan flyta fritt. Även om det idag finns relativt få gränshinder och problemställningar för gränsöverskridande förflyttning av varor existerar fortfarande exempel på regelverk och myndighetshantering som på olika sätt kan verka begränsande. I rapporten illustreras genom tre fallstudier ett antal konkreta problemställningar samt lösningsförslag med ett särskilt fokus på gränsregionerna. Som särskilt relevant har identifierats importmoms för företag som saknar momsregistrering, tullhantering vid klareringsexpeditionerna samt hanteringen av fysisk och distansförsäljning över tull- och skatteområdesgränserna. Rapporten är utarbetad på uppdrag av det nordiska Gränshinderrådet som uppföljning på de problemställningar som genom de senaste åren inrapporterats från olika nordiska aktörer.

Promoting green transition and building greener economies is currently high on the policy agenda in the Nordic countries. But how can we make it happen in practice? To answer this question, Nordregio went directly to those working with green growth at the regional level. We asked them about the main challenges that impede green growth in Nordic regions, and sought their ideas about potential ways to overcome these challenges and drive the green transition forward. These responses were then combined with the findings from a national policy review to inform a detailed analysis of the state of play, practices and needs of Nordic regions with respect to promoting green growth. This policy brief presents the findings of this analysis along with recommendations designed to support regional policy makers in their work towards a greener economy.

The CO₂ emissions from passenger cars is declining. Some changes are due to ever improved technology provided by car manufacturers and others induced by political regulation. The report investigates the recent changes in CO₂ intensity in the car fleets in the Nordic countries. The trends in the car sales are presented and the impacts on overall CO₂ intensity are outlined. All Nordic countries have in the past ten years changed the national regulation of passenger cars through different economic incentives and various schemes making low emissions vehicles more favourable. The report describes these changes and complement with an overview of international empirical findings concerning the main tax instruments (purchase-, annual-, fuel tax and road user charges). The potential impact of these taxes are reviewed and recommendations for future uses of the various instruments are provided.

Denne rapport, udført af Kirketerp, Buus og Bak for KreaNord i 2011, ønsker at bidrage til, at studerende på de kunstneriske uddannelser i Norden styrkes i deres forudsætninger for at kunne omsætte deres kreative og kunstneriske kompetencer til et bæredygtigt arbejdsliv. Rapporten er rettet mod besluttende myndigheder, uddannelsesansvarlige og undervisere og kan styrke både interesse og viden, samt motivere handling. Rapporten giver definitioner indenfor entreprenørskab, metoder, cases, samt en model, som beskriver handlingsmål og tilrettelæggelse i entreprenørskabsundervisning.

Genudgivet i 2015 i forbindelse med afviklingen af KreaNord, Nordisk Ministerråds initiativ om kulturelle og kreative erhverv (2008–2015).

Results from enforcement on e-commerce show that products bought directly from companies outside EU had more than double the amount of non-compliances compared to products bought from companies within EU. In a joint Nordic enforcement project, 361 products from 161 companies were controlled if they fulfilled relevant chemical legislation. The Nordic inspectors checked articles (like toys), biocides, chemical products, cosmetic and hygienic products and plant protection products. The results show a higher rate of non-compliance for products bought directly from companies outside the EU (78 % compared to 32 %). These companies may not consider themselves responsible for that the products comply with chemical legislation in the EU. Almost all EU companies were responsive and communicative and removed non-compliant products or changed incorrect information on their website.

This policy brief summarizes the key activities and learnings of the BSR Stars S3 - Smart Specialisation through Cross-sectoral Bio-, Circular- andDigital Ecosystems project 2016-2019. The project focused on how to engage business and research actors in the implementation of smart specialisation. This information is essential for public and private sector actors looking for new ways to improve regional innovation capacity and form inter-regional value chains within shared focus areas in the Baltic Sea Region.

The two million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Nordic region comprise more than 90 percent of our businesses. The SMEs thus form cornerstones in our societies and for our future welfare.

The vision of Nordic Smart Government is to create value for these SMEs by making real-time business data accessible and usable for innovation and growth.

By 2027, with new products and optimized services based on real-time business data, the potential value across the Nordics is estimated to be around 14 billion EUR annually (EY 2017).

The Governments in the Nordic region have a common vision of making the Nordic region the most integrated and sustainable region in the world by 2030. The collaboration on Nordic Smart Government (NSG) supports this vision by setting the framework for aligning the digital infrastructure between businesses, service partners and authorities, in order to make life easier for businesses in the Nordics.

Moreover, NSG works at reducing barriers within the Nordic region and between our businesses, and to enable innovation and growth through the fair use of business data and a more coherent digital development – thereby integrating the region even further.

The Nordic market is a substantial market for all Nordic countries, with inter-Nordic trade accounting for roughly 20% of each country’s exports. Nordic integration is increasingly relevant and important to our economies.

Therefore, NSG aims at making it simple to send and receive e-invoices and e-receipts between Nordic businesses, and to make it easier to deliver digital services in other Nordic countries, and thus increase competition and the digital and data-driven service level for the SMEs.

 In the policy brief "How can labour market mobility in the Nordic Region be increased?", we provide recommendations to the Nordic policymakers that would ultimately help achieve the Nordic vision - to be the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030.

The study was aimed at generating insight on the potential of circular economy in the Nordic region and providing recommendations for unlocking this potential. This report covers the first part of the study. Based on a review of circular economy priorities in the Nordic countries, the study revealed focus areas where the Nordic countries share strategic interests. These combine some key industrial branches – the bioeconomy; the food and beverage industry; real estate and construction; and transport, logistics, and mobility – with two significant drivers of change: digitalisation and new circular business models. In the next phase of the work, the aim will be to understand the circularity transition’s impacts on the climate, environment, and economy in the Nordic region while also identifying the obstacles to transition. 

The pamphlet puts a spotlight on 10 of the 33 Nordic Scalers Alumni each of whom have their own unique story to tell when it comes to scaling in the face of Covid-19. Together, these companies represent almost €50m in annual turnover, employ over 500 people,and project continued revenue growth in the coming 18-months at an average rate of +160%.

Industrial symbiosis (IS) is vitally important in facilitating the move towards a circular economy by helping industries and businesses cooperate in the exchange of natural resources and production infrastructures. Strong public and private sector leadership and firm links between industry and research institutes are essential for the formulation of effective IS initiatives. 

This policy brief examines three good practice examples of IS from the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) and outlines practical guidelines for public authorities and business development organisations on how to develop and implement IS ecosystems. This research is based on the activities and experiences of a project, BSR Stars S3, which was financed by the EU Interreg Baltic Sea Region and focused on BSR cooperation within the bio- and circular economy.

This policy brief examines whether inclusive digitalization is an important instrument for promoting regional growth and development in struggling rural areas in the Baltic Sea region. The brief highlights the potential benefits that digitalization can bring and the challenges faced in implementing an effective digital agenda in rural areas. The brief also provides key recommendations identifying possible initiatives and policies that may help local businesses achieve successful digital transformation. These recommendations are based on learnings and best practices from digitalization initiatives conducted in rural areas around the Baltic Sea region.

This policy brief is a part of BSR Stars S3 (Smart specialization in bio-, circular and digital economy in the Baltic Sea Region) project which seeks to enhance growth opportunities in the Baltic Sea Region, focusing on the bio-/circular and digital economy fields. Read more: www.bsr-stars.eu/bsr-stars-s3

The European Union has promoted regional smart specialisation strategies for some years, and several studies on this topic have focused on key concepts such as the entrepreneurial discovery process and good implementation practices. However, the definition and the role of the domain in regional smart specialisation settings is largely missing, despite it being an important outcome of a successful entrepreneurial discovery process. This article aims to fill this research gap by establishing what a domain entails as a theoretical concept, its role in the entrepreneurial discovery process and how it has featured in regional smart specialisation strategies. Our study analyses and compares three smart specialisation strategies in the Nordic regions of Lapland (Finland), Värmland (Sweden) and Nordland (Norway), focusing on the understanding and adaptation of the domain concept. The results indicate that the regions have managed to establish domains, even though the concept itself has not been adopted in the regions because of insufficient clarification of the term.

Fishers are often perceived to be poor, and low income levels are used to justify subsidies and other types of direct and indirect income support to maintain coastal communities. In this study we investigate fishers’ income levels in four Nordic countries; Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden for different types of fishers and vessels and in comparison to alternative occupations. The most important result is that fishers in these countries are doing relatively well, and only in Sweden is the fishers’ average income level below the average national income. Within the fleets, there are substantial differences. Owners of coastal vessels tend to have the lowest income, and also lower than crews. Owners as well as crews on larger vessels tend to do much better and in the largest fishing nations, Iceland and Norway, very well.

High growth enterprises are important contributors to employment and wealth creation in the Nordic countries. Especially,established medium-sized enterprises thatinnovate and scale-up are a driving force behind sustainable economic growth. Notonly by the scale-ups themselves, but alsooften by ensuring the coordination, upgrading and participation in (global) supplychains of smaller enterprises.1 Increasingly,governments focus on enabling conditionsfor the scaling up of enterprises as a leverto boost productivity growth and competitiveness as well as to create high quality jobs in knowledge based economies. This attention on growth enterprises such as scale-ups has created a need for further statistical evidence about the actual contri-bution in terms of numbers and economic performance of fast growing enterprises, such as scale-ups, see Box 1 for definition of scale-ups.Nordic Innovation has commissioned the Nordic statistical institutes to produce statistics on scale-ups supplementing the existing official business statistics which applies a slightly different definition thanused in official statistics, see Box 2. This publication is the third publication describing scale-ups in the Nordic countries.

Comparison with Eurostat definition of scale-up enterprises

The definition applied in this analysis is stricter than the official definition of high growth enterprises used by Eurostat and the European statistical offices as the annualgrowth rate is set to 20 per cent instead of 10 per cent and also adding an annual turn-over threshold of 2 million EUR in the start year of the growth period, see Methodologicalannex. Furthermore, the enterprises shall employ 10 or more full time equivalent numberof employees (hereafter employment (FTE)) in the start year of observation. This definition has been chosen in order to focus on the fastest growing established enterprises,the so-called scale-ups. But at the same time less strict compared to the official definitionas scale-ups not only by employment but also by turnover growth only is included in the definition. The reason for including scale-ups by turnover growth is, these enterprises have proven their business model by achieving considerable revenue over a period and therefore potentially to a larger extent contributing to sustainable economic growth.The growth measured can be caused by organic growth as applied by Eurostat by also by growth due to mergers and acquisitions.

This issue of Nordregio News focuses on innovation and governance. What are the key issues in innovation policies and how should they be considered in governance? We view this from different perspectives, with a common focus on the interests of people, their institutions and the knowledge they bring to the table.

Projektaktiviteterne under Nordisk Ministerråd er omfattende, og projekt- og programlignende aktiviteter udgør over halvdelen af budgettet. Nordisk Råds Kontrolkomite har på den baggrund igangsat en udredning af udvalgte projekters gennemførelse og effekt. Udredningen omfatter projekter inden for miljø- samt social- og sundhedsområdet (afsluttet i perioden 2011-2013). Udredningen har særlig fokus på a) projekternes nordiske nytteeffekt, b) eventuel politisk opfølgning og c) hvordan resultaterne og de positive effekter er gjort synlige og tilgængelige for offentligheden.

Pohjoismaiden ministerineuvoston projektitoiminta on mittavaa, ja projekti- ja ohjelmatoiminnan osuus budjetista on yli puolet. Pohjoismaiden neuvoston tarkastuskomitea on käynnistänyt tämän nojalla selvityksen tarkastelun kohteeksi valittujen hankkeiden toteutuksesta ja vaikutuksesta. Selvityksen kohteeksi on valittu ympäristöalan sekä sosiaali- ja terveysalan hankkeita (jotka ovat päättyneet kaudella 2011–2013).