The future competitiveness of the Nordic region will largely depend on how well it manages to develop, utilise and renew its human capital. Productivity, innovation and adaptability depend on the right skills being available, talent being utilised where it is most needed and investments leading to the greatest possible value creation. This publication starts from the premise that several of the mechanisms that influence these factors are also impacted by gender equality. Gender equality is therefore a key issue for the region’s economic efficiency and competitiveness.

 By highlighting these links, the publication aims to contribute new perspectives on how the competitiveness of the Nordic region can be strengthened, focusing on: 1) the importance of the digital transformation, 2) the green transition of industry and working life and 3) welfare and social care as social infrastructure.

Nordens framtida konkurrenskraft avgörs i hög grad av hur väl regionen förmår utveckla, använda och förnya sitt humankapital. Produktivitet, innovation och omställningsförmåga är beroende av att rätt kompetens finns tillgänglig, att talang används där den gör störst nytta och att investeringar leder till största möjliga värdeskapande. Denna rapports utgångspunkt är att flera av de mekanismer som påverkar dessa faktorer också påverkas av jämställdhet. Därför är jämställdhet en central fråga för regionens ekonomiska effektivitet och konkurrenskraft. Genom att synliggöra dessa samband vill Nordiska ministerrådet för jämställdhet och lgbti bidra med nya perspektiv på hur Nordens konkurrenskraft kan stärkas, med fokus på: 1) Den digitala transformationens betydelse, 2) Den gröna omställningen av industri och arbetsliv, samt vikten av 3) Välfärd och omsorg som social infrastruktur.

This country report presents the space technology ecosystems of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Each chapter combines desk research, national strategy and policy material, available ecosystem mappings, patent analysis and interviews with national actors. The purpose is to identify the main structures, strengths, bottlenecks and opportunities that shape each national ecosystem and its role in a potential Nordic space agenda.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the journal Nordic Welfare Research. In this publication, ten articles from the journal’s inception to the present are re-published.

The Editors in chief Terje Olsen, NOVA – OsloMet and David Pålsson, Stockholm University have selected articles that reflects the breadth of topics, research methods and academic disciplines represented among the contributing authors. The selection includes both well-established as well as emerging authors, it demonstrates the Nordic scope, and highlights collaboration among professionals across several of the countries.

This study focuses on analysis of the comparability and timeliness of the disability statistics available in the Eurostat database in a Nordic context. The analysis identifies indicators that were available for all or most Nordic countries and for which statistics are released in a timely manner. The indicators span eight themes: disability prevalence, access to education and training, access to the labour market, income and living conditions, health status and determinants, access to information, leisure and social participation, and discrimination. 

This report presents findings from the first workshop and field course of Tourism Employment in the Arctic: Towards Decent Work. The 2025 objective was to examine precarity in Arctic tourism employment. The report outlines how flexible, insecure labour conditions shape tourism work, disproportionately affecting migrants, women, and youth, while noting that flexibility may benefit some workers. Country analyses reveal differing structural dynamics but shared patterns of rapid tourism growth amid systemic precarity. The report concludes that tourism’s economic role rests on a fragile labour foundation and calls for recognising tensions between growth and decent work. It proposes policy and research actions to strengthen labour rights, improve education and inclusion, and deepen understanding of workforce diversity, regulatory contexts, and sustainable people–planet–profit models.

This project helped strengthen the Nordic-Baltic AI ecosystem in line with the EU AI Act. Its goal was to understand what kind of support, resources, and regulatory guidance companies need to develop and bring AI solutions to the market. The project also explored how Nordic countries can work together more effectively to support future AI innovation. The study involved 103 participants, including AI companies, support organizations, investors, regulators, and public sector actors. Through interviews and workshops held across the Nordic and Baltic region, the project identified current strengths, gaps, and opportunities in the AI ecosystem. As a result, it produced a clearer overview of available AI support services, practical recommendations for improving collaboration, and a proposed roadmap for creating a more accessible and coordinated AI innovation environment across the region.

This report sets out the state of the Nordic innovation ecosystem across six countries, the barriers that hold the region back, and a practical plan to act on them. It is written to be read by anyone, from policymakers, founders, eco-system players, investors and the wider public.

Every day, invisible algorithms decide what news reaches us, what stories fade from view, and, quietly, how we come to understand the world. To uncover how these systems work, Jannie Møller Hartley spent years inside the machinery of personalisation, following journalists, editors, and data scientists as they grapple with what it means when machines take on something as deeply human as judgment. 

Running through this story is the extraordinary life of Ada Lovelace, whose nineteenth-century vision of algorithms offers a powerful and historic lens on today’s debates about artificial intelligence, creativity, and human agency. 

Blending storytelling, the history of algorithms, and original research, this book reveals how the technologies shaping our information environment influence what we know, what we notice, and how democratic life unfolds. It shows that algorithms carry human values, ambitions, and blind spots. 

Written for researchers, journalists, students, technologists, policymakers, and anyone curious about life in an AI-powered information ecosystem, this book invites readers to imagine how these systems could be built differently. 

Nordic DigiGov Lab demonstrates how the Nordic countries can work together to develop the next generation of public services by focusing on people’s needs. The project explored how digitalisation, artificial intelligence (AI), and cross-border cooperation can make it easier for citizens to navigate major life events such as bereavement, inheritance matters, or moving between countries. The initiative produced several practical innovations: AI-powered guidance for citizens, a model for automated cross-border information exchange, and a Nordic framework for building trust in public sector AI. The findings show that the future of digital government depends on collaboration, transparency, and a strong human-centric approach. The methods and tools developed through Nordic DigiGov Lab provide a foundation for continued Nordic cooperation and more seamless, citizen-centred public services.