What happens to Nordic mobility in a world of pandemic, lockdown, isolation, home offices and social distancing? Has the pandemic led us closer to a greener future, seeing that behavioural patterns may change almost overnight and automatically reducing our carbon footprints? Do Nordic businesses see new opportunities on the post-pandemic horizon, and what can be said about the role of Nordic cooperation in times of recovery and change?

Changing frameworks such as the current pandemic, but also the climate crisis and technological advancements are creating both a great need and new possibilities for innovation. For these reasons, Nordic Innovation developed the Nordic Smart Mobility and Connectivity program that aims to help develop a more sustainable, integrated and connected transport system Nordic region while generating opportunities for Nordic businesses.

We can now see that despite the sudden lockdowns, goods are still being transported across the globe and even the odd traveller, the infrastructure, is still in place and operating. The current pandemic has made us realize that without our mobility systems we would be much worse off. We also know that the pandemic is not here to stay, and that there are huge efforts being made across the Nordic countries to make something good and positive come out of the crisis.

To showcase these efforts and to highlight the possibilities that collaboration across Nordic countries can bring, nine Nordic mobility projects co-financed by Nordic Innovation share their thoughts on the near future and their relevance in the post-pandemic era.

Like domestic owned multinational companies, foreign owned multinational companies represent equally positive opportunities for Nordic trade and industry, both in terms of innovative capabilities and value creation. There are no apparent reasons for leading a different policy towards companies with foreign ownership. The governments in the Nordic countries should encourage initiatives that attract this type of companies. Foreign owned multinationals take part in international networks that might benefit other firms in the national innovation system.

Where is the concrete architecture heading? And in which way should the technology be developed in order to bring the concrete architecture up front? These and other questions have been asked and answered in this Nordic report. The project's main goal was to promote continued innovation in the Nordic concrete architecture.

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.

The consortium has generated particles with a very narrow size distribution and with properties tailored to the application. The particles have a size of the order 3 to 5 micrometer in diameter. Particles have been characterized extensively with respect to mechanical and surface properties. In order to produce conducting spacers the particles have been coated with nickel and gold. The particles have been incorporated in small prototype LCD cells and these cells have been characterized with respect to performance. No significant distortion of the liquid crystal crystallization is observed in the vicinity of the particles and ion leakage tests showed no leakage.

The world generates 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste annually and that number is estimated to rise to3.40 billion tonnes by 2050.Poor management of waste is not only causing the planet harm through the contamination of oceans, clogging drains and causing floods but it is also affecting daily health, productivity, and cleanliness ofcommunities.

Nordic solutions

The Nordic countries are aiming for a zero waste society where waste is avoided. Yet currently the Nordic countries are working within different levels of the EU waste hierarchy shown below.This booklet will showcase 3 different cases in Denmark, Sweden and Norway that cover waste-to-energy,auto recycling and biological waste management solutions.

The aim of the Nordic ICT Foresight project was to contribute to the strategic intelligence of the Nordic knowledge region so that the full potential of information and communication technology can be exploited to increase the welfare in the Nordic countries. The focal areas of the ICT applications in this study were experience economy, health, production economy and security.

While insurance could be a relevant policy instrument in many areas of environmental policy, there are some areas with more potential than others. This study highlights the role of the insurance industry, as well as the role of insurance, as a tool in environmental policy.

There is a growing demand for highly specific clinical trials. The Nordic-Baltic countries and regions are too small on their own to be able to supply large enough trial groups. Through cooperation the Nordic-Baltic region can position itself on the clinical research testing map to the benefit for researchers, entrepreneurs and society as a whole. The idea of the project is to take advantage of the existing knowledge and experience of the universities, hospitals and companies in the Nordic and Baltic areas to create a dynamic and comprehensive platform for high quality pre-clinical and clinical research. ScanBalt Clinical Research Network is envisaged to link flexibly pre-clinical animal study centres and clinical facilities in the 21st century ICT infrastructure in the Baltic Sea area.

This report is one of the outcomes of the project: “CSR-Driven Innovation – Combining design and business in a profitable and sustainable way” which was carried out in the period 2007 - 2010. The aim of the project was to strengthen the competitiveness of Nordic SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) by providing them with an increased knowledge about how to use CSR-driven innovation.

Four methodologies for mapping have been examined in detail, as well as current projects of analysing and benchmarking clusters. The cluster benchmarking model is outlined and data considerations are presented for outcome data, performance data and framework condition data. Furthermore first steps are taken in developing a research design to gather these data. Steps which will be followed up within and outside the BSR INNO-net project.

The purpose of the report is to map how cleantech sectors and clusters in the Nordic countries are being marketed, and to develop and suggest methods for and approaches to joint marketing of Nordic cleantech globally, paving the way for the long-term goal of developing a joint Nordic marketing model. The study was carried out by Tendensor on behalf of Nordic Innovation in the period December 2011 – March 2012.

The main goal of the project was to establish a knowledge and decision base for a Nordic innovation program that will promote the development and demonstration of low energy and climate friendly buildings. The innovation program should support a development that brings the Nordic countries to an international forefront with respect to business strongholds and market penetration of low energy and climate friendly buildings.

Within the framework of the joint Nordic project “In Search of the Experience Economy", an event study of a comparative nature has been carried out. The study consisted of a quantitative element and a qualitative element. The quantitative element involved interview studies among event visitors to 19 selected events. The aim of these studies included surveying event visitors with regard to a number of background variables such as age, gender and place of residence. The studies also answered questions such as the length of stay of touris ts, their consumption pattern, activities at the destination, etc. In total, almost 9,200 interviews were assembled during the period May to November 2005.

The Nordic Vision 2030 is ambitious, implying significant developments for hospitals, universities, and other public actors, as well as companies of all sizes in the private sector. It entails development and innovation of products, operations, and legal frameworks alike, in the direction of environmental, social, and financial sustainability.

For Vision 2030 to be realised, several topics for cross-regional collaboration are at play. In particular, the sharing and utilisation of health data across the Nordic region is central to the future of health and care in the region. This requires new ways of sharing data safely and effectively between device innovators, primary care institutions, public authorities, drug developers, etc.

This project outlines a comprehensive use-case for the benefits of shared Nordic data for a range of organisation types. This is achieved by simulating the expected outcomes of realising the Vision 2030 for SMEs and companies of several sizes, as well as public institutions and healthcare actors. Through a combination of deep ideational processes and wide analyses, we outline the potentials for innovation, improved health, increased exports and integrated environmental sustainability, among other parameters. The goal of the project is thus to provide examples of how the realised vision of shared data contributes directly to constituting the ideal future of Nordic healthcare.

This project builds upon previous work on the subject, namely, the comprehensive legal overview and other works on the healthcare of the future. The project leads into a business case for shared data in the Nordics to guide decision making on the subject.

A wide range of methodologies have been applied: More than 200 stakeholders have been engaged in this project, through workshops, expert roundtables, and interviews. Further, the project has produced a dataset of 112.000 entities in Nordic healthcare, mapped and categorised by sector, employment and revenue.Emerging from the data and research are seven key themes that summarise the complex cornerstones of a sustainable development of the Nordic health space. 

The seven themes are:1. Improving Interoperability2. Mental Health and Well-Being3. Personalised Treatments4. Telehealth and Decentralised Monitoring5. Decentralised Clinical Trials6. Sustainability Data Measurement and Transparency7.Transition to Preventive Care

The full range of project activities and analyses additionally serve to further develop the Vision 2030, providing nuance to key goals and the projected pathway there.It is shown that through sharing health data a 2030 scenario can be reached where systems, devices and regions are interoperable and collaboration amongst Nordic countries is easily possible, mental health in the Nordics is largely improved, tailored treatments and medicines are developed, remote care and decentralised monitoring are a widely used standard, treatment development is accelerated through wider access to data, environmental impact data of treatments and products is taken into account and health issues are diagnosed earlier or even prevented.Moving towards the best possible future of healthcare is a complex and very rewarding process, supported by the efforts of this and similar projects.

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

The possibility to use enzymes as oxygen scavengers embedded in latex/ TiO2 dispersion coatings was demonstrated in a series of experiment where different grades of paperboard were coated. Simple draw-down coatings were used as application method. The enzyme system consisted of glucose oxidase in combination with an enzyme that removes peroxides (peroxidase/catalase). Glucose or glucose derivatives were used as substrates for the enzymatic reaction. The enzyme-containing coatings seemed to persist drying at elevated temperatures for limited period of times. The period of time with no dramatic decrease in enzyme activity was substantial shorter than drying times in real industrial coating and printing processes (on condition that the web will be cooled down before reeling up). The coatings could also be stored in air at room temperature for long period of times without any loss in enzyme activity.

The possibility to use enzymes as oxygen scavengers embedded in latex/ TiO2 dispersion coatings was demonstrated in a series of experiment where different grades of paperboard were coated. Simple draw-down coatings were used as application method.

Both existing and improved ingredients from rest raw materials in the fish processing industry was evaluated for utilization in processing lines of whitefish fillets and emulsion based foods. In addition to general raw material properties and application, special emphasis was put on properties and production of fish protein isolates (FPI), fish protein hydrolysate (FPH), homogenized fish protein (HFP) and gelatin.

The project has provided opportunities for both the industry and its scientific partners in the Nordic countries to increase and share knowledge of quantitative hazard analysis during workshops organized within the project. Tools demonstrating a methodology for decision-making and microbial hazard analysis were developed and evaluated during the project. Demonstrations of these tools are available at the project website and by contacting the project partners.

The use of SCC contributes potentially to increased productivity (e.g. faster casting operation and with less workers) and improved working environment (no use of heavy, vibrating and noisy compacting tools). Some studies claim also better durability and surfaces.

Ever since the global community received information about theonset of the COVID-19 virus, Nordic companies have tirelessly beendeveloping innovative solutions to address threats and challengesposed by this new unwelcomed enemy.

Sometimes crises of this nature also bring forward new innovative solutions. A myriadof new digital solutions have been created in the Nordics that address the trials andtribulations posed by this virus, and some of them are already being used with greatpositive effects.

At Nordic Innovation, we see it as our responsibility to share the knowledge of thesesolutions in our region and globally. With this in mind, we have created this digitalcatalogue showcasing some of the latest ready-to-use innovative solutions from Nordiccompanies that all can be utilised in the battle against COVID-19.

We hope this initiative will serve as a way to share knowledge and as an inspiration forNordic collaboration.

Ända sedan nyheten om coronaviruset och covid-19spreds globalt har nordiska företag arbetat hårt med attutveckla innovativa lösningar som ett svar på riskerna ochutmaningarna som denna ovälkomna gäst har medfört.

Ibland kan sådana här kriser ge upphov till nya innovativa lösningar. I Norden har enmängd nya digitala lösningar tagits fram som hjälp i kampen mot viruset och någraav dem används redan, med mycket positiva resultat.

Vi på Nordic Innovation ser det som vårt ansvar att informera om lösningarna bådeinom vår region och globalt. Därför har vi skapat en digital katalog som visar uppnågra av de senaste innovativa lösningarna från nordiska bolag som alla kan användasi kampen mot covid-19.

Vi hoppas att vårt initiativ bidrar till kunskapsöverföring och inspirerar till nordisktsamarbete.

The main purpose with the project ”innovative fish counters” was to create a common Nordic industry standard, create a new set of rules for the Nordic Championship in Fish and Shellfish and create new and innovative ideas/tools to make life as a fishmonger in the Nordic countries better, by ideas that could motivate a greater consumption of seafood in the Nordic region.

The result of the project is therefore an industry standard that in relation to various topics (ex. temperature inrelation to displaying of fish) is clearly national differentiated. The purpose is of course in the long run to getan industry standard where everything is the same in all the Nordic countries, but before that can happen,the politicians in the different Nordic countries needs to interpret the EU regulations in the same way.In the short time this project has been running we have come a long way with the industry standard, and it isready for the fishmongers to use in their everyday work.

The Nordic project MINUT demonstrate the innovation potential for the Nordic industry using microtechnology. The project goals have been to stimulate collaboration, create synergies among Nordic microsystem technology (MST) performers, and accelerate the industrial take-up of MST in the Nordic countries.

The development in electronics has resulted in products with rapidly increasing functionality, lower weight and less volume, giving users big advantages in the use phase. With its complex composition, an increasing number of new applications, shorter product life, use of hazardous substances and lack of data on the material contents, electronic and electrical (EE) products constitute a threat to both man and the environment.

The foresight study on biomedical sensors has addressed different approaches with future use of biomedical sensors in the health care sector, like: How will biomedical sensors shape the healthcare systems of the future? How can they impact the quality and cost of healthcare and what are the business opportunities in the Nordic region?

By researching the current synergy possibilities between medical imaging and the gaming industries, we identified that direct cooperation was not advantageous at present. For the medical imaging industry to take advantage of technical 3D-animation expertise, other options of collaboration should be identified in order to benefit from the potential synergy perceived.

Background Demand for air travel is growing rapidly. Shortfalls in capacity and other constraints on the efficiency of airports and aircraft operations have negatively impacted the environment. The need to enhance efficiency without increase in emissions, within finite airspace and airport resources while still ensuring high levels of safety, has grown considerably. This feasibility study is the first initiative for co-operation between air navigation service providers (ANSP), airports, airline companies and industry.

By 2025, the aim for all Nordic countries is to have mandatory life cycle GHG disclosures for buildings in place, leading up to the EPBD GHG disclosure introduced in 2028 and 2030. Denmark introduced a carbon limit in 2023 for large buildings, with Sweden and Finland planning to follow by 2025. Strategies vary, with Sweden and Norway starting with mandatory declarations in 2022 and Denmark introducing a limit value from the beginning alongside the climate declaration. Harmonizing methods for fair competition and stimulating low-carbon solutions is essential. Uniform reference areas and a minimum scope covering upfront carbon emissions are recommended for consistent assessments, alongside agreed definitions of biogenic carbon and compatible database structures for the national generic emission factors and building model classifications.

This report investigates approaches for monitoring decarbonisation of the building stock and for setting whole life carbon limit values for buildings. It provides an overview of the approaches for monitoring decarbonisation and their strengths and weaknesses, such as data requirements and accuracy of assessment. 

 The assessment of setting limit values looks into aspects such as scope and coverage of the limit values and how such different aspects may affect the derivation of limit values. The report presents a set of recommendations for further advancing this. Thus, providing a foundation for further activities on monitoring decarbonization and setting limit values in and across the Nordic countries and Estonia.

Regions, nations and companies that are capable of changing and adapting to new circumstances will over time have the best chances of sustaining a healthy balance between growth and prosperity within their societies. It is by no means given from nature that the Nordic countries should be among the richest societies in the world. But the Nordic countries have, especially since the breakthrough of the industrial and modern age, shown themselves capable of steady development and renewal. Co-operation between industry, government, academia and civil society has been one of the defining characteristics for the Nordic countries’ development in this achievement. Nordic co-operation is in this sense a natural ingredient to the Nordic way of development.

This report is about internationalisation in the Nordic and Baltic science- and technology parks. More specifically it describes what the Nordic and Baltic science- and technology parks do (and not do) in order to support and stimulate internationalisation of the park and the localised firms.

A modern society needs access to critical raw materials (CRM) that are necessary for maintaining and developing its industries, infrastructure and welfare system. Europe has been facing increasing challenges in meeting its need for these materials, which are defined by their high economic importance and significant supply risk. The implementation of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) of EU aims to reduce this vulnerability by establishing a framework to ensure the Union's access to a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials. One important measure highlighted by this regulation is to increase CRM recycling. This report describes potential measures and instruments that may be relevant for Nordic countries and territories as tools for hitting the CRM recycling targets that CRMA introduces.

An analysis of positions of strengths of Nordic health tech companies.

This report assembles a knowledge base for the Nordic Welfare Solutions project, and gives an overview of the core qualities and strongholds of the Nordic health tech ecosystem, concentrating exclusively on health tech solutions outside of the pharmaceutical industry.

Health tech solutions are increasingly part of larger health solution value chains or ecosystems, and companies delivering them are therefore likely to benefit from closer cooperation across industries and countries. Closer Nordic cooperation can help create stronger networks and a critical mass of companies, as well as improve market access and aid Nordic companies inexporting their solutions.

The findings suggest that the Nordic healthcare systems consistently deliver high quality healthcare to their citizens. The region possesses a healthcare infrastructure with leading knowledge and institutions, which is essential for developing abusiness stronghold. Moreover, it finds that the Nordic region excels at delivering equitable care to all citizens, relative to comparable regions. This feature, in combination with indicators revealing a high level of trust toward public institutions aswell as between citizens, is likely to be important for the development, piloting and homemarket commercialization of treatments within personalized medicine.

Algae culture technology appears to be an exciting and future-oriented business area. An increasing number of commercial operators has been identified globally and micro algae represent – globally – perhaps the largest remaining biological resource for development and industrial activity in the years ahead.

A new survey conducted by the Nordic consultancy company ECON Analysis reveals that large Nordic enterprises in the service sector fail to recognize IPR as a natural part of their strategic management. That can be a problem in a globalized world, where also service enterprises must compete on innovation and new ideas.

User driven innovation is emerging as one of the successful ways of creating breakthrough innovations for companies and organisations. Based on our research we have been able to identify four generic methods of working with user driven innovation: user test, user exploration, user innovation and user participation. Even though these methods might vary slightly from one company to the other, they have some basic features which are common. When working with users, companies might chose to include the users either directly or indirectly in the innovation process, depending on what type of knowledge the company wants to obtain from the user. Users’ ability to communicate and express their problems and needs varies greatly and will also influence the user driven innovation method chosen by a company.

The Nordic region has the potential to become one of the leading scale-up hubs in the world. Drawing on internationally comparable data, this report shows that in all the Nordics the number of scale-ups per capita is well above the EU average.Indeed the scale-up density for the Nordic region is almost on par with the UK and Switzerland – two renowned scale-up nations. Finland, Sweden and Iceland rank especially high.But the analysis also documents a significant gap between the Nordics and two scale-up champions: the US and Israel.Thus, on average Nordic countries have 5 scale-ups per 100,000 inhabitants, while in the US this figure is close to 8, and in Israel it is 12.If the Nordic region is to narrow the gap between it and the US and Israel it is vital that founders of1. Executive Summary scale-ups, investors and policymakers in all of the Nordic countries have comprehensive knowledge and insights on the key challenges and barriers that Nordic scale-ups face at different stages of growth.Even more importantly, all of the key actors will need to understand how successful scale-ups manage to meet and overcome key barriers for growth.Based on more than 50 interviews with CEOs and founders of Nordic scale-ups, and representatives from the investor side, this report provides new and detailed insights into common traits and challenges among Nordic scale-ups.

Today the cost of feed is 50-60% of the total production of farmed cod. A 10% reduction in feed cost will therefore give a minimum of 5% reduction in production cost. The biggest single variable cost in cod farming, the high cost of feed, is the main obstacle in making cod farming economically feasible.

Stable supplies of high quality cod larvae and juveniles are urgently needed for the development of successful cod farming industries in countries around the North Atlantic. The project is a collaboration between key actors from the cod farming industry and the research sector in Iceland, Norway and the Faroe Islands, with involvement of additional key actors and stakeholders within the Nordic countries and Canada

The report investigates how policy makers can place technological convergence at the top of the agenda in (regional) innovation policies to enable more companies and research institutions to begin to address opportunities for innovation and growth generated through technological convergence. The study draws on a literature review and interviews with experts, companies, mediating organisations, and regional authorities. In addition, we have conducted a survey in the Nordic countries.

Understanding the rate and degree of innovation in the public sector, as well as its incentives, processes and impact. Developing a measurement framework for collecting internationally comparable data on innovation in the public sector.

There has been a growing recognition in recent years of the importance of innovation and growth in service sectors. Despite this acknowledgement, our understanding of innovation and, importantly, the design of innovation policy measures, are still primarily based on the analysis of manufacturing firms. There is thus a need for more knowledge about the particularity of innovation activities in services.

Find inspirationin the Nordic cities

This booklet showcases the Nordic Sustainable Cities – giving you an insight into the shared practices that Nordic cities are using towards sustainable urban futures. The challenges that Nordic cities face – unsustainable resource consumption, pollution, homelessness, segregation, to name a few – are not unique to the region, but found all over the world.

The Nordic region and its cities are on a journey towards sustainability, and we invite you to join us. 

This booklet is based on the White Paper on Nordic Sustainable Cities made by Nordregio. The booklet and the white paper has been made as part of the Nordic Sustainable Cities project. Nordic Sustainable Cities is one of six flagship projects under the Nordic prime ministers’ initiative Nordic Solutions to Global Challenges, which is coordinated by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

The Nordic Green Ammonia Powered Ships (NoGAPS) project has brought together key players from the Nordic shipping and energy value chains to develop a first-of-a-kind ammonia-powered gas carrier, the M/S NoGAPS. 

This report provides a summary of the main outputs and findings from the second phase of the NoGAPS project. It begins with an overview of the vessel design for M/S NoGAPS, outlining the general arrangement of the vessel and key design decisions behind it. This is followed by a deep dive into the commercialisation or early ammonia-powered vessels, using NoGAPS as a case study. The topic is explored from two angles: ship financing and wider economic viability.   

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 "Next Nordic Green Transport Wave - Large Vehicles" project will deliver an analysis on large scale transport of hydrogen with mobile pipeline, a desription of the innovation and business potential for a roll-out of fuel cell-busses in the Nordic region, as well as a coordinated action plan for stimulating the fuel truck demand and a prospect for utilising hydrogen in heavy-duty equipment. Finally the project will contribute to national and Nordic hydrogen sgtrategy processes even providing input to a possible Nordic Hydrogen Strategy. 

This report provides an analysis on large-scale transport of liquid hydrogen on Nordic roads.  

In this report, we summarise the experimental results of the antennas, RF MEMS switches, and RF MEMS router circuits produced in the NAME project. Especially, the test results of the final router devices fabricated in the Trento FBK run are given here.

The report aims at presenting the current status of implementing entrepreneurship education strategy in Nordic countries, as well as bringing up a range of good projects and practices for discussion of Nordic collaboration.