INNOVATIVE NORDLAND - bodin.vgs.no...Statistical studies1 show that, compared to other coun-ties in Norway, there are too few company start- ups in Nordland, and that limited jobs

INNOVATIVE NORDLANDInnovation Strategy for Nordland 2014–2020

CONTENTSIntroduction 6

Vision 6

Background and scope 6

Smart specialization 7

Company input 7

Nordland‘s competitive advantages – concepts and perspectives 8

Specialization in Nordland 10

Resource-based trade and industry development – spatial planning 14

Access to knowledge and a qualified work force 15

Objectives 26

Strategies 26

Measures 26

Implementing 29

Litterature (Norwegian and English) 31

PART 1: BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS

PART 2: OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES

AND MEASURES

ET NYSKAPENDE NORDLAND – INNOVASJONSSTRATEGI FOR NORDLAND 2014–20204

Rib-safari in Saltstraumen

Photo: Tommy Andreassen

INNOVATIVE NORDLAND – THE INNOVATION STRATEGY FOR NORDLAND 2014–2020 5

PART1: BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS

6 PART 1: BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS

IntroductionStatistical studies1 show that, compared to other coun-ties in Norway, there are too few company start- ups in Nordland, and that limited jobs are created in existing industries. Innovation studies2 show that companies in Nordland are not innovative enough compared to the rest of Norway, and that development has not improved in the last ten years. There are uncertainties about the indicators, the data does indicate that the innovation capability in Nordland needs to be further developed.

Nordland County Government has agreed on a poli-tical platform to develop a trade and industry policy. The County Government requires Nordland trade and industry policy to facilitate the development of a compre-hensive framework to help improve the innovation capa-bilities and competitive advantage of local companies. In the county plan for Nordland, the County Council has stated a vision for an “Innovative Nordland”.

Vision “Innovative Nordland” is the vision in the Nordland County Plan for the period 2014-2025 for the target area: value creation and competence. This vision has been developed by undertaking wide consultation involving stakeholders from the whole county. In order to be com-petitive in a global market, Nordland must adapt accord-ing to increased global competition. To enable long-term value creation means that resources must be applied in

new and better ways, by providing excellent, high qual-ity and unique products. Being flexible and creative will be critical to help the county grow and develop through innovative companies.

Nordland’s innovation strategy will play a key role in developing value creation and delivering the vision of the County Plan. The vision for the innovation strategy is therefore:

Background and scopeThe innovation strategy has been developed based on the Nordland County Plan, as well as the objectives defined in the R & D strategy for Nordland and several sector strategies developed by the County Council. These com-prise of strategies for experience-based tourism, the sea-food industry and the industrial strategy for Nordland. The development of these strategies are based on wider consultation including with companies in Nordland, based on research carried out by Nordland Research Institute into the county’s innovation potential. In total more than 600 stakeholders have been involved in the development of branch strategies, the R&D strategy, and the innovation strategy. This strategy has therefore been

Innovative Nordland

Note 1: Statistics Norway/Panda Note 2: Statistics Norway: Innovasjons-undersøkelsen indikatorrapporten 2013

The economy of Nordland County is strongly globalized. Companies located in Nordland deliver excellent goods and services within several industries including metal, mineral and chemicals, seafood, tourism and leisure. Innovative new companies have developed in the field of petro-maritime as well as various business service sector. These compa-nies often face strong global competition. In order to be competitive they continually need to innovate, both by developing new products and services, expanding into new markets and by improving the organization and productivity of the company.


developed through a broad consultation and discussions with the trade and industry community and knowledge institutions in Nordland.

The aim of the innovation strategy is to enhance inno-vation across the private sector in Nordland. The public sector is an important provider and facilitator for trade and business, and, in this respect, is covered by the strat-egy. However, there is a need to develop knowledge about innovation in the public sector before Nordland County Council can develop a relevant innovation strategy for the public sector.

Nordland is a region with many small and medi-um-sized companies, as well as some large industrial businesses. The proportion of small and medium-sized companies in Nordland is larger than the rest of Norway, and these companies are therefore essential target groups in this strategy. We need to create new companies and further develop the existing companies.

The strategy mainly includes strategic areas in which the county has a direct or indirect responsibility and/or an intended role to play. In its work with regional eco-nomic development, Nordland County Council has a role to play in facilitating arenas and measures to improve the innovative capacities in the county, in companies, in R&D institutions, in service providers and other insti-tutions taking part in the development process. Innova-tion Norway has a key role in this respect. The strategy focuses on improving innovative capability in companies, and the county council works in cooperation with other actors, such as Innovation Norway, in order to reach the individual company. Nordland County Council is responsible for improving framework conditions for trade and industry for several strategic areas. The coun-ty council will, when appropriate, follow up by means of specific political and strategic work.

The innovation strategy will strengthen the inno-vation perspective in other development strategies under the auspices of Nordland County Council.

Smart specializationSmart specialization is The European Union’s strategy to drive economic growth in Europe. Nordland partici-pates in the work on smart specialization and currently is the only Norwegian region involved in developing this innovation strategy within the EU’s smart specialization platform.

Nordland is taking part in this smart specialization because innovation, knowledge / market development and research funding, to a growing extent takes place internationally. The Norwegian economy is ever-increas-ing specialization requirements. This becomes particu-larly apparent in the case of higher education research. Most recently, a major centralization of research funding has taken place to develop research and excellence cen-tres and large national and international research pro-grams. As a result, greater emphasis has been placed on

innovation and value creation, with some initial research taking place within the companies in Nordland.

Nordland has a long history of c working in part-nership with other local municipalities and regions, knowledge institutions and companies internationally. The EU’s smart specialization platform provides us with a system as well as access to knowledge and networks which can strengthen international commitment both in Nordland County Council, and, not least, for companies and R & D establishments in Nordland.

The EU has developed smart specialization based on the view that every place is unique. Nordland shares this view and smart specialization has provided the back-ground for the various strategies and the R&D strategy. Smart specialization aims to strengthen the opportu-nities for a goal-directed innovation policy by building a business environment consisting of a network of com-panies from a range of sectors to, learn from one another by sharing and exchanging knowledge and to do business with. This provides each individual company with oppor-tunities to develop and grow.

A brilliant entrepreneur or a company without any relations to others in the region can easily move the company. He or she will find another place to develop the idea, a place where other companies and the support system can better provide support. By analyzing rela-tions between companies, branches and structures in the economy, one can identify where innovation can arise and new company establishments can be encouraged. This represents the new element of smart specialization. Industrial shortcomings and poor cooperation between trade and industries in Nordland need to be identified. Research is required in order to conduct good analyses as a basis for action.

Company inputIn developing the innovation strategy, companies from all over the county have been consulted. They have directly influenced the formation of the different sector strategies, the political processes concerning develop-ment in the seafood industry, and in the development of the R&D strategy. In the analyses conducted by Nord-land Research Institute to assess the county’s innovation potential, companies were consulted by undertaking questionnaires and focus group interviews. The findings have been used to develop the key components of the strategy.

The industries consulted included, seafood, metals and mineral industry, chemicals and tourism. Each company was asked about their views in relation to their expectations of the public sector, and how the innovative capacity within the region could be improved. The find-ings were summarized into the following:

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a) Framework conditions for business and tradeNordland is a county rich in resources including energy and raw materials which has contributed to industrial development. The business community emphasize the lack of people with necessary skills limits the growth and competitive advantage for the local businesses. Compa-nies are looking for education programmes that are more applied and tailored to meet the needs of the industry, both at upper secondary and higher education levels. Companies are also especially interested in industry-ori-ented research and other relevant knowledge institutions.

The basis for a large part of the value creation in Nord-land is the exploitation of natural resources in the wider sense. Management of resources is therefore important for the development of existing and new companies in Nordland to help develop the local economy.

b) Development of innovational ability in companiesCompanies in the fields of aquaculture and industry highlight the importance of developing stronger relation-ships with different supplier industries. There is a need for a stronger focus on efforts to develop networks and clusters between companies in Nordland in order to strengthen innovative capacity in the county. There are also great expectations to improve the public develop-ment support system.

Nordland‘s competitive advantages – concepts and perspectivesInnovation in NordlandInnovation can be defined as bringing new products, services, processes or organization forms into the mar-ket3. This means that something new is developed in companies and/or in public organizations that leads to an increase in the value creation in the individual com-pany or region. This might be gradual improvements of processes or product (incremental innovations) or com-pletely new things (radical innovations).

Compared to other counties in Norway we have too few company start ups in Nordland, and too few workplaces are created in existing companies4. The low employment creation in Norway is a concern.

The degree of innovation in existing companies is measured through, amongst other things, the national innovation study carried out by Statistics Norway. Sta-tistics Norway has investigated innovation activities in companies with more than five employees. It indicates that innovation activities in companies in Nordland are stable5, and the proportion of companies working on product and process innovations is approximate-ly the same as the average for the country as a whole. A major part of innovation activity in Norway is related to research and development, and regions with low R&D activity will therefore have a low score.

As a result this has presented the need to carry out further research about innovation in Nordland. The

innovation element can vary, for example new ways of organizing the production line, new or improved prod-ucts, or efforts in new markets, new cooperative relations etc. Arriving at something new can occur in various diff-erent ways and various types of innovation processes will often require different types of tools in order to succeed. For the purposes of simplification, we can divide inno-vation processes into three different categories6:

Experience-based innovation processes are about learning from experience. Employees develop new competences when addressing challenges and solving problems. The challenges can arise from the company’s own activities, but are often related to clients’ or users’ requirements or needs. This type of innovation process mainly occurs during day-to-day work and leads to grad-ual improvements. In Nordland such experience-based innovation processes are common7. For these compa-nies demanding clients and strategic suppliers are an important source of innovation. Companies benefit from their contact with suppliers and clients and from access to experience-based knowledge, through, for example mobility in the employment market and information exchange in networks.

Research-based innovation processes occur mainly in companies research departments, in research-inten-sive companies, at universities or research institutes. The

Note 3: The Oslo Manual, OECD 2005Note 4: Statistic Norway/PANDANote 5: The Research Council of Norway, indi-katorrapporten 2013, tabell 4.1.13sNote 6: Isaksen (2013)Note 7: Mariussen (2013)

Example of an experience-based innovation process: INVIS Ltd.

INVIS is a consultant engineering company specializing in 3D –scanning and industrial measurement using high-tech equip-ment. The business was established by Bjørn Wiggo Eriksen in 2006. Eriksen worked as an industrial mechanic atHYDRO Glomfjord for 14 years, before completing a degree in engi-neering?? in 2002. While working at Hydro he saw the poten-tial to simplify the processes for the use of 3D –equipment in production and he developed the idea. The leadership at HYDRO did not wish to go further with the project. Eriksen decided to take part in a course at “Start up Salten” and set up a company in 2006 with Sjøfossen Business Development as the co-owner. The first clients were REC (solar cell producer) and Yara (production of fertilizer) in Glomfjord and in 2009-10 he made several large investments in high-tech equipment through financial support from Innovation Norway.

In 2010 INVIS successfully built a power station for Stat-kraft and later also won contracts with Aibel and carried out major projects related to the building of the Kristin petro-leum platform. This project went very well and INVIS received anISO certification in 2013. In 2014 INVIS established a new company, NB INVIS, in which the shares are split 50/50 with Scottish Surveys Ltd. INVIS Ltd. is also working in partnership with another company on 3D video and animation. INVIS Ltd. is located in Meløy in Nordland County. The company has received several prizes for its work.



purpose is often to develop new “radical” innovations. Knowledge production often takes place based on scien-tific methods and testing, and innovation happens main-ly after an initiative taken for research environments. Few companies in Nordland today stem directly from research results8. However, there is probably a poten-tial to achieve more company establishments, based on research results from R&D institutions in Nordland. The University of Nordland is developing its capacity by working with local companies to carry out further research.

Complex and combined innovation processes pro-cesses characterize companies who in various ways utilize scientifically and experience based knowledge from sources in their own innovation projects. This often occurs through experience in order for work at the company to be further developed through cooperating with researchers, and the expertise can be documented and further developed by generating new solutions. For example suppliers in Nordland searching for contracts in the oil and gas sector must document and certify the company, and not least develop products and services further through innovation. In order to create such com-bined innovation projects, companies need both a good client and a good supplier network, as well as a network to a research environment.

The main source of innovation in the companies of Nordland stems from experience-based innovation processes9. At the same time, there is great potential to strengthen innovation ability and competitiveness by increasing competence in the work force and strengthen-ing companies’ cooperation with research environments in the county, nationally and internationally10.

Regional innovation systemThe concept of a regional innovation system refers to the. actors and activities affecting learning, knowledge devel-

opment and innovation in an industry or a company in the region11. This can occur through the work market, applied research institutions, professional service pro-vision, local culture etc12. In order to be able to call it an innovation system, there must be contact and exchange of information, ideas and competence between the vari-ous actors within the system13. To simplify this, an inno-vation system can be illustrated as follows in Figure 1:

Note 8: The Resarch Council of Norway, Indikatorrapporten 2013Note 9: Mariussen (2013)Note 10: Mariussen (2013)Note 11: Asheim og Isaksen (1997), 2Note 12: Isaksen (2013)Note 13: Mariussen (2013), Isaksen (2013)Note 14: Fritt etter Isaksen (1997)

Example of a research-based innovation process: sterile salmon

In the beginning the business idea of sterile salmon was that sexual maturity has a negative effect on fish filet, as well as escaped salmon representing a threat for wild salm-on. Researchers at the University of Nordland (UiN) wanted to develop a vaccine that could be produced and sold by a commercial partner. In the project the researchers began by working with broodstock fish, but since very little broodstock actually exist, the need for vaccine islimited. The researchers then turned their attention to fry fish for which they have also developed automatic vaccination. All relevant literature was studied and it was concluded that it would be possible to devel-op a vaccine to sterilize the fish. Based on this, UiN applied for patent protection for the idea. The MABIT program granted a small amount of money so that the researchers could test the project in the laboratory. This experiment then enabled UiN to apply to The Norwegian Research Council for funding and the university was granted 10 million NOK to prove that the project can be carried out on salmon. The work is conducted by The Faculty of Biosciences and Aquaculture

Example of a combined innovation process: Heatwork Ltd.

Heatwork Ltd. is the sole producer in Europe of a heating/thawing concept. The company developed its products and services in cooperation with its clients, but also by actively using R & D. Research activity occurs within the company but also through cooperation with research institutes such as NORUT. Heatwork Ltd. has several patents and brand name protections.

The machines, produced according to European standards and norms, are mobile power stations, specially designed for many applications: frost thawing, concrete hardening, protection against frost, heating of buildings, hot water for central heating plants and other purposes. HeatWork’s main office and factory are located in Narvik and the company has recently moved into 3300 m2 top modern factory premises. HeatWork’s clients are mainly engineering, entrepreneur, petroleum, central heating, gardening leasing and power companies, as well as the Government. They selltheir prod-ucts andservices across Europe,and exporting is a key part of its continued growth strategy.

Other companies including suppliers

Place specific local conditions

Public authoritiesClients

Employees’competence,professionalqualification

Research anddevelopment (R & D),various competence

environments,incubators etc

Funding sources

Companiesthat imitate

technologicaldevelopment

Figure 1: Elements in an innovation system14. A regional innovation system consists of the actors and activities that affect learning, knowledge development and innovation in an industry or business within a region. This could be through labor, applied research institutions, business activities and serv-ices, local culture etc1. For such a system to be an effective inno-vation system, it have to be contact and exchange of information, ideas and expertise between the various players.

10

At present, there is not one innovation system in Nord land. At a higher political level, cooperation between various industrial organizations, the leadership at knowledge institutions and public actors such as The County Governor, Innovation Norway and Nordland County Council, represents one level of the innovation system. These actors meet through the network Part-nership Nordland, the VRI-council, The Competence Forum and other business networks etc. Each industry and company may also have its own innovation system. This concerns the actors that are included in the indi-vidual company’s network: the knowledge environments the company cooperates with, and whom the company does business with. Further knowledge about innovation policies and innovation systems is important. We need to understand which networks and cooperative activities companies are involved in today. This can enable, among other things, the identification of areas for improvement. The companies providing inputs to this innovation strategy have pointed out what they think ought to be strengthened in order to improve the innovation system. Here we refer to the companies’ input.

Innovation and geography in Nordland Knowledge development and innovation are linked closely together. The geography of Nordland needs to be taken into account in the development of companies’ innovation capacity. The cities have the largest knowl-edge environments and many commercial services are concentrated there. Smaller towns and thinly populated areas have fewer research- based companies, and are often characterized by companies that rely mainly on experi-ence- based innovation processes. In Nordland there are many large companies in the periphery and rural areas, but these companies depend in many areas on suppliers of high-quality services. The seafood industry is a good example of this. This industry is located in the periphery of the county, and yet still requires research services as production is based on research based knowledge. How-ever, only a small part of research services is located in the more peripheral areas of the county, with a few exceptions. Research activity and provision of business services for trade and industry primarily take place in the cities’ of Nordland and in other parts of the country. To develop a good service, and to connect the companies located in peripheral areas to relevant research environ-ments, providers and knowledge environments in the cities in Nordland, realize the importance of approach-ing and developing the innovation potential in Nordland. Nordland County Council has set up a project for urban development in Nordland. Developing the cities business community and knowledge environments is central to this work, to help strengthen these relationships, espe-cially for companies in peripheral areas in Nordland.

Specialization i NordlandHistorically speaking, specialization in Nordland start-ed by utilizing the county’s natural resources and the knowledge and experience of the work force. Industrial development started when natural resources, such as fish and minerals, were processed into products by import-ing technology and expertise and using energy as the main driver in the industrialization process. Later on research has the way for new technology and methods in the industry, as well as management of natural resources in a more sustainable way. Altogether, this has led to the development of an internationally competitive process-ing and marine industry. This development is not due to research having taken place in Nordland, rather the opposite. The major trades and industries in Nordland depend to a great degree on national and global research and innovation systems.

Nordland is a region with a considerable export sur-plus. Analyses15 show that the regional economy is more competitive than Norway as a whole, excluding the trade of oil and gas. Three export sectors are especially preva-lent in Nordland16:

• Seafood: fisheries, fish processing, aquaculture, the food and feed industry.

• Industry: process industry where metals, minerals, chemicals, metallurgical products and machines are produced, with the mining industry and the hydro-electric power industry as the main suppliers.

• Experience-based tourism: based on a strong tourism industry with nature as the important framework and The Lofoten Islands representing the cutting edge in the tourism industry nationally.

These three sectors are strongly interconnected with the mechanical and maritime industries. The maritime industry makes it possible to operate at sea and in coastal areas. In Nordland we have maritime companies which can handle complex logistics and technological challeng-es in harnessing the resources. The maritime industry is also important for transport activity in the export industries. The maritime industry has, during recent years, developed to become important for the increased petroleum activity in Northern Norway.

The companies in the three major industries (seafood, processing industry and tourism) are also important users of the commercial services sector. Commercial service companies are often knowledge-based and are important for connecting the nature-based and produc-tion-oriented process and the seafood industries to the regional economy. Private consumption, a growing hous-ing market and services for the public sector is part of this. In the process and the seafood industries, this can be illustrated as in Figure 2.

Note 15: Mariussen (2013)Note 16: Mariussen (2014b)



In Figure 2 the arrows show the purchase of prod-ucts and services between the different sectors, hereafter called transactions between the industries. The maritime industry in Nordland conducts 80 percent of its trans-actions in the region, while 90 percent of transactions in commercial services are carried out in the region. The maritime industry and commercial services are also pri-marily regionally oriented, but are closely connected to the export industries processing industry and seafood as well as tourism.

There is a need for companies in commercial services to sell their services outside of the county. Seafood com-panies and the process industry are continually cutting costs and jobs. Norway has a strong knowledge-based economy and much of the growth in jobs occurs in the field of commercial services. In order to create employ-ment it will therefore be essential to strengthen com-mercial services that are relevant for the remaining production oriented industries in the region. In this way more robust businesses for the future can be created.

In industry and seafood there are large variations in how integrated the companies are in the region. Aqua-culture and metallurgical/process industries are strongly connected to global and national markets, whereas other companies in the processing, seafood and maritime industries and commercial services are well integrated in the region.

A common challenge exists for the three major industries in Nordland: the dominating companies in the industry have their head offices outside the county and several are parts of global industrial companies. The major companies in both the process industry and aquaculture, are stock exchange quoted international companies. In tourism, hotel chains and transporters are

mainly large companies. Hence, the region is subject to decisions taken and promoted to areas outside the county for future development. Another approach is to look at which regional functions in the various industries are located in Nordland and how we can create regional spin-off effects from global industries through strengthening the related branches such as the petro-maritime branch, commercial services, leisure industry companies in cul-ture, agriculture, and food etc. In order to achieve this we need to study the relations between the companies in Nordland and assess where it may be important to increase trading activity in order to create a more robust and regionally integrated working life. This will involve studying deficiencies in the provision of existing goods and services in the region as well as looking at which parts of working life are especially important to develop for the whole of trade and business in the county.

There are considerable differences between the indus-tries in Nordland. Tourism has other challenges and opportunities that are different to, for example, the pro-cessing industry and seasfood. In many respects though, the same key issues s do keep appearing. As an example, all industries in the county are concerned about having sufficient access to qualified work staff. All the dominant industries in question are concerned with the manage-ment of natural resources in the region, and have differ-ent approaches to managing this. The various industries also have different innovation systems that need different measures to be strengthened. In the work on this inno-vation strategy, we have tried to describe innovation sys-tems and how innovation processes occur in the various industries. However, it is difficult to fully anticipate and document the nature and extent of innovation activity. This tells us that knowledge creation about the specific innovation processes and networks in the various indu-stries in Nordland should be high on agenda from now on. A common understanding and new concepts of coop-eration must be created in order to achieve better results.

Below is a description of the relationships between the industry sectors responsible for the major industries in Nordland. This field is at an early stage of development.

IndustryThe processing industry in Nordland is centered on metals and minerals, where all sectors are interrelated (see Figure 3). This consists of metals, metal products, machines, repair work and instalment of ICT and elec-trical equipment (cables). This metallurgical core is also related to chemicals, mining and electric power gener-ation. It is interesting that ICT and electric power are so central. However, Nordland does not have a strong electro-technical industry, which could have supported innovation by developing more green energy production. As shown in Figure 2, the industry also has important

Note 17: Mariussen (2014b)

Figure 2: Relationships within industry and seafood17. The seafood industry and processing industry in Nordland consist primarily of global operating companies that are part of national and global innovation system. They are present in Nordland with production activity. They are part of the regional economy as key players in regional clusters and networks of suppliers. Industries including the seafood industry are buying most goods and serv-ices from the maritime and business support sector. Both the sea-food sector and the industry is directly and indirectly important for the economy of Nordland.

Aquacultureand seafood

Global

Regional

Seafoodcluster

MaritimeCommercial

services

Green energycluster

Metallurgical

12

connections to other sectors such as the petro-maritime industry and commercial services.

The processing industry is composed of various types companies, some directed at global markets and others more regionally oriented. To develop an even greater diversity and regional connection to the economy of Nor-dland, we need to undertake further research into the dynamics between the companies concerned and how innovation processes occur in the industry.

The maritime sector partly overlaps this processing industry. The sectors are connected through the work market, specialist knowledge and a common educational system. The maritime sector especially consists of ser-vices to oil and gas, aquaculture, fisheries and oil pre-paredness, plastics, mechanical industry, production of machines, repair work and installation, shipping and sea transport. The major markets for the maritime sector are sea transport, construction and aquaculture.

In the processing industry, considerable develop-mental work has been going on for several years. The network Helgeland Oil and Gas stimulates cooperation in the supply industry to the oil and gas industry. This is an important network for the development of innovation capability in the industry. The same applies to the effort to strengthen R & D activity in the whole of the Helge-land area (the southern part of Nordland county). In the maritime sector, good developmental work continues around education and research, amongst other things, within the organization Maritime Campus. Work is also going on to strengthen Bodø as hub for security in the arctic. Through the research conducted on the Industrial strategy of Nordland, work is in progress to strength-en the competitiveness of the industry. A considerable amount of developmental work is taking place, and this will be further strengthened by pushing innovation fur-

ther up the agenda and building knowledge about the innovation potential of the different sectors.

Access to a qualified workforce represents a vital chall enge for the processing industry and the maritime industry in Nordland. This is about both vocational training subjects and higher education. There is a need for people who have completed apprenticeships. The same applies for engineers and people with other technological qualifications. It is therefore crucial to strengthen the work between the educational actors and industry in the region in order to develop good and relevant educational programmes and increase apprenticeships and jobs.

SeafoodThe seafood industry consists of fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing, the food and feed industry, as well as commercial services and the supply industry. Natural resources connect the various parts of the seafood indus-try together. Both the fisheries and aquaculture deliver raw materials to the fish processing industry. Fish pro-cessing and the fisheries provide input to fish feed pro-duction, as well as being the largest industrial supplier to aquaculture in the region. See Figure 4.

The seafood industry has a strong presence both in the regional economy and in the global market. The com-panies within aquaculture are more internationally mar-

Note 18: Mariussen (2014b)Note 19: Mariussen (2014b)

Metal products

Metallurgical

Mining

638023

Repair work and installation

Machines

Minerals

Electro and ICT

Chemicals

Electricity

3150509

44256

54488

10719

Figure 3: Transactions within processing industry18. The processing Industry in Nordland consist of a variety of bran-ches that are interconnected. Figure 3 shows which branches that buy goods and services from each other, the amounts are given in Norwegian kroner (NOK). It is particularly electrical power, which is important for many branches, but as the chart shows, there are significant relationships between several sectors of the industry in Nordland.

MaritimeCommercial

services

Otherfoodstuffs

Fish processing

Aquaculture

Fisheries

55389

1984132

187832

1027880

46096614957

Figure 4: Transactions in seafood industry19. Seafood industry consists primarily of fisheries, fish processing, aquaculture, food and feed industries. The natural resources connect the various parts of the seafood industry together. The size of the transactions specified in NOK in figure 4. The seafood industry buy goods and services from other industries, primarily business from the support services and the maritime industry. The seafood industry is a somewhat closed industry in the sense that they have little interaction and purchase of goods and services from other businesses in the region.



ket oriented than the companies working in white fish. The seafood industry has good internal relations, but has relatively weak relations to other parts of regional trade and business. The maritime industry and commercial services are the main suppliers to the seafood industry.

The aquaculture industry is based on extensive use of R&D. Several attempts are made to create even new innovations within this industry, such as transfer of knowledge and experiences from the farming of salm-on to the farming of other species, like cod, and thus establish a new industry. A number of companies made massive investments in these projects. This could have developed new companies and niches in but so far, this has not been a success. More R&D has to be carried out before these test projects can prove to be a sustainable industry.

The white fish industry still faces challenges with respect to fluctuations in raw material supply and the ability to produce during the whole year, as the salmon trade manages to do. Most of the white fish industry also lacks direct contacts with its markets. Through better dialogue with customers/buyers, the white fish industry can get input for new improvements and innovations in its core activity. This may be linked to technology for how to treat fresh material, quality improvements, logistics and other technological solutions in production. It is, therefore, important to strengthen the white fish indu-stry’s dialogue with clients and suppliers, and build more knowledge enabling innovation in this industry.

The strength of the seafood industry in Nordland is its access to high quality raw material and clean water, as well as the workforce’s strong seafood culture. There will be new opportunities for development and testing of new technology and production forms, farming new species etc. in the seafood business. An exciting example of this is the projects being undertaken to identify solutions for live storage of cod.

Analyses made of transactions in the industry show that the seafood business is an “introvert” industry20. It is quite limited in how much the industry buys products and services from other industries in the county. Much can therefore be achieved by extending the seafood industry’s cooperation with other regional industries. Exciting innovation opportunities can arise through closer cooperation with suppliers and innovation activ-ity in cooperation with the maritime sector etc. In the programme “Measures for Regional Innovation” (VRI) a project has been started to develop the supplier indus-try for the seafood trade.

The future in the seafood industry poses major com-petence requirements. It is important that employees to a greater degree are formally qualified to be able to make the necessary improvements in quality and to enhance the innovation in the industry. There is a need for peo-ple with various types of vocational education, as well as with competence from higher education in subjects like biology, technology and business. Central to the future

of the seafood industry will be a solid educational effort in relevant subject fields. In order to succeed, the educa-tional sector must develop their cooperation and offer programmes and courses and ensure good implementa-tion through, among other things, apprenticeship work placements.

Experience-based tourismTourism in Nordland is strongly linked to nature and culture experiences – experiences along the world’s most beautiful coastline.

Tourism is not an industrial sector in a traditional sense, but rather a value creation system consisting of several sectors /activities sharing that value creation based on travel and visits by Norwegians and foreigners. The value creation occurs through integrated interaction between transport, accommodation, food service, leisure activities, galleries, museums etc.

The concept of the experience economy is especially relevant in the tourism industry. This is because the con-cept is based on clients’ willingness to pay for superior experiences. Clients look for meaningful, comprehens-ible, integral and well-functioning delivery, and this all needs to be tailor-made to suit their needs. The focus on continual development of new experience products therefore becomes increasingly important.

Knowledge of experience design and how to offer the product to the clients is important in order to develop experience-based industries in Nordland. This know-ledge must also include how one is to work on compet-itiveness, profitability, and cluster development in the experience-based tourism trade. We are talking about innovation between companies and creating things together between clients and suppliers. A company cluster in the experience industry is composed of sev-eral types of activity and even cultural actors (“Cross-over innovation”). This perspective must be taken into account in the development of a future innovation sys-tem for the tourism industry. Often the experiences coin-cide with place development and an integrated part of the social structure at a destination. Public facilitation and services related to a destination will also be decisive factors for how the individual person comprehends his or her experience.

Some of the main characteristics in the development of experience-based tourism is the growth of networks between key companies and central development actors. In Nordland there is an innovation system with close connections between regional institutions but with weak contacts to the national and international networks. The central actors in this network are innovative companies, institutions running regional development, nationally and internationally, as well as regional R&D institutions. There is close interaction between the companies, the public measures in place and R&D.

Note 20: Mariussen (2014b)

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Destination companies in Nordland mainly focus on the market. The challenge in the future is to secure tools that also enhance innovation and product development. This means that we must work closer with the market and develop products based on local conditions.

There is a need to establish a knowledge base describ-ing the position for experience-based tourism in Nord-land. This should be done in order to strengthen the platform for innovation taking into account companies and cluster development, interaction with the public and the voluntary sector, knowledge institutions and R&D directed at the trade, destination development and mea-sures are put in place to develop the experience-based tourism.

Resource-based trade and industry development – spatial planning The economy of Nordland is built up around the exploi-tation of natural resources. Nordland has approximately 25% of total coastline of Norway, has a considerable tidal flow, several major mineral and metal reserves, oil and gas and considerable aquaculture and fisheries resources. In addition, nature constitutes the framework for grow-ing experience-based tourism. How we organize and regulate the use of natural resources in a broad sense will therefore become important in order to create future trade and business in Nordland. There is an ongoing con-flict between environmental and nature considerations between activities like tourism, agriculture and reindeer herding, and activities like energy development, the min-eral industry and aquaculture. The companies involved

A case study of spatial planning and concession treatment in the field of renewable energy

Nordland Research Institute has assessed a selection of devel-opment projects in the fields of renewable energy21. The objec-tive was to obtain knowledge and learn from previous spatial planning and concession projects. How did the process go? The study presents some interesting recommendations among which:

- There is large variation in how long planning and conces-sion treatment takes. In the examples studied, this takes from 2-10 years. The reason for this variation is among other things degree of achievement to national goals and strategies, the quality of the projects, the degree of conflicts and the involved interest groups.

- It is important to create legitimacy and trust in the process in order to gain quicker planning and implementation.

- Access to relevant knowledge is an important factor for creating necessary legitimacy. It is important to have a solid knowledge base in order to create the necessary balance between the various interests and in order to find good solu-tions for planning and implementation.

- Dialogue and cooperation early in the process is important to clarify the implementation potential of the project The County Councils spatial planning processes can to a greater extent start at a place and with integrated planning, instead of based on individual projects.

- The county councils spatial planning processes can to a greater extent start at a place and with integrated planning, instead of based on individual projects.

- Future innovation policy should develop a regional plan-ning system that creates opportunities for future industrial development, as well as realizing national and regional policy including energy and climate. It is important for this work to find good solutions to address environmental and nature con-siderations.

Source: Mariussen (2014a)

Whalesafari at AndøyaPhoto: © Marten Bril, www.visitvesteraalen.com



in the preparatory work for the innovation strategy high-lighted that land and sea spatial planning and concession processes take too long and are unpredictable. This cre-ates unstable investment conditions.

In order to obtain more knowledge about the rele-vant issues in spatial planning and concession processes, Nordland County Council has commissioned Nordland Research Institute to undertake research studies includ-ing a selection of renewable energy projects (see the text box)22. The study shows that there is great variation in how long the various spatial planning and concession processes take. This tells us that it is not necessarily the law (for example the law pertaining to planning and building) that is the reason why companies face chal-lenges with spatial planning and concession processes. We must search for other explanations.

Nordland County Council has extensive experience with various types of spatial planning casework. By tak-ing part in a number of different projects, we see that knowledge of spatial planning processes is an ongoing challenge at many levels. Spatial planning processes are relevant in all projects involving the use of land areas, such as the building of fishing quays, broadband infra-structure, renewable energy projects, building of new power lines, aquaculture and minerals activity. The operators’ lack of competence or ability to involve the important stakeholders often leads the project in the wrong direction right from the start. Many municipal-ities and other management authorities also face chal-lenges with respect to competence, and especially in large and complex cases.

The operator is responsible for fetching the necessary knowledge for his or her project. Objections and other kinds of discussions often arise because important issues are not assessed, and new knowledge has to be acquired. Early dialogue between the operator and the relevant stakeholders can help improve the process by highlight-ing important issues- Nordland County Council has started the process of testing projects with operators and will further develop the system for early dialogue.

In the field of renewable energy, recent data shows that several projects have received concession but have still not been built. This is because the project profitabili-ty is too low. The commercial assessments in the projects seem to come into the agenda too late for these projects, or the time span between application and received con-cession is too long and the cost increase in this period has been too big. It is therefore important for Innovation Norway and Nordland County Council to be concerned with profitability in the projects at an early phase. This means assessing whether, from a spatial planning point of view, it is acceptable to grant loans and fund pro jects involving the use of ground space and other natural resources. It is also important to achieve interaction between commercial development and spatial plan and concession case-working. In some projects there is a need to strengthen competence regarding commercial devel-

opment, while in other projects there is a need for more planning competence.

The nature of Nordland is a beautiful and vulner-able resource. Nordland is situated in The High North and management of resources must take place based on preconditions about future sustainable development. Knowledge must be developed in important areas adapt-ed to natural conditions existing in The High North. This is where Nordland can take a lead in the development of spatial planning management.

Analysis of the innovation potential23 of Nordland shows that the spatial planning and concession policy in Norway is important for regional development in the county. In industry, many opportunities exist to de vel-op new green industrial production. One of the precon-ditions here is predictable energy conditions regarding delivered volumes and prices. Nordland is a large net exporter of electric power. Weaknesses in the power transmission grid limit the export capacity out of the county, which leads to the situation that several renew-able energy projects are not profitable and therefore not developed. Therefore a strategy to increase energy demand in Nordland by initiating new industrial pro-jects using hydro electric power, is sustainable because it reduces the global emissions of CO2. Loss of energy in the transmission grid is also avoided. Such development is dependent on national industrial, energy and climate policy and spatial planning and concession case-treat-ment of the national authorities. The national level there-fore must be involved in these processes.

Nordland County Council will therefore initiate a development project that can lead to improvements in the spatial planning and concession processes. The project aim is to establish knowledge and methods for knowledge sharing and dialogue/cooperation between the operators, public planning authorities and stakehold-ers. Systematic work will be carried out together with national authorities in order to develop integral planning management in Norway.

Access to knowledge and a qualified work forceEducation and innovation: diversity and the roles of the school in the innovation systemEducation and research are important measures to sup-port innovation processes in both the private and the public sector, and public authorities have an important role to play in guaranteeing and enabling knowledge to be developed, made available and to be used. The role of education in innovation processes is diverse, and there exists a two-way relationship between innovation and school/education. On the one hand, the educational sect-or must take care of its important roles within a national

Note 21: Mariussen (2014a)Note 22: Mariussen (2014a)Note 23: Mariussen (2013)

16 PART 1: BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS

SALT Lofoten Photo: Espen Mortensen


Winner of “Female Entrepreneur of the Year”

in 2014 was SALT Lofoten AS

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and regional educational system. On the other hand, it is necessary that the school itself is capable of change, is future- directed and takes care to produce graduates with the relevant skills that are required in the work place and to enable them to carry out further studies24. The syllabus in the various subjects and the pedagogical practice should be designed to enable pupils and students to integrate skills and the ability to develop critical and innovative thinking skills professionally and personally. This requires an active student, competent school leaders, and able teachers who can balance the broader mission in educating students by addressing the specific needs of society, trade and industry.

International studies and documents point to higher education as well as vocational training as being import-ant hubs in an innovation system, and the actors in this sector represent an important “glue” between the various companies and institutions in such an innovation system. Education and schools have an important role as produc-ers of relevant knowledge of high quality, and schools can do a lot to facilitate development of entrepreneurial attitudes and skills in pupils, students and employees25.

During recent years, much has been done to map the relationship between innovation and knowledge and skills. Research shows that innovative societies require a combination of different knowledge and skill types,

as well as innovative workplaces supporting individual and organizational development and learning processes. It is important to be able to recruit the best people. An important finding in research is that there is solid evi-dence to suggest that there is a clear connection between access to higher education work force (universities, uni-versity colleges, vocational training) on the one hand and increased demand for technological and organizational innovation on the other hand26.

Working life is becoming more and more knowledge based. The development of competence, formal and infor-mal, is important for future value creation in Nordland. Business activities working systematically with compe-tence development in their organization will have a great-er opportunity to strengthen their innovation capability, competitive power and value creation over time. Small and medium-sized companies face particular challenges to put competence on the agenda and work systematically with competence development. There is therefore a need to have good interaction between the various actors who work together on competence development in working life. The consulting company NIVI Analysis presented

Note 24: OECD (2014)Note 25: OECD (2010) Note 26: Toner, P. (2011)Note 27: NIVI-rapport 2011-7

Welding at Mo IndustriparkPhoto: Rita Bogholm Engen



a report about the study centres in Nordland, the orga-nization, the results and their future role, in 201127. There is a need to have good actors who can be drivers for com-petence development in working life, i.e. to clarify the needs, to facilitate and connect the suppliers and those demanding competence. In this role as competence bro-ker for education, the upper secondary schools can play an active part.

We have to deliver regarding the central task Upper secondary education can play several roles in innovation in the trade and industry of Nordland. Per-haps the most important role it can play is to ensure that working life and trade and industry in the county is sup-plied with highly competent and relevant staff to cover the needs for skilled employees and leaders. This is there-fore a long-term area of work on quality, and relevance in upper secondary education as an important corner stone in our regional innovation system.

Ambitious goals have been set for upper secondary education in Nordland. These were agreed on by Nord-land County Council in June 2013. The overriding objec-tive is that “Before 2018 75% of pupils and apprentices in Nordland are to finalize upper secondary education in the regular space of time prescribed plus two years”. As of today, a major gap exists between the status and

this objective. The main challenge is to improve the com-pletion rate in vocational programmes where at present many young people leave programmes between the 2nd and the 3rd and final year at a company (apprenticeship).

The central document for following up the develop-ment goals is “Better Learning: Strategy for 2014 -2018”. This strategy identifies the most important measures in the three main areas of effort: professional school lead-ership, professional teaching and professional vocational training. These areas of effort must be followed up by school owners, as well as by the schools themselves. The strategy emphasizes the importance of better interac-tion between schools and society, where the school as a regional development actor and their cooperation in local society must be included as part of the school’s core activity in all educational programmes.

The regional development role of upper secondary schools Upper secondary education should have an active devel-opment role both regionally and locally. This means being a cooperation partner and an instigator for devel-opment in trade and industry in the region. The various schools in our region have found different ways of fulfill-ing this role. OPUS (secondary school training centers) is for many schools an important tool. In Nordland County

Sundsfjord SmoltPhoto: Arne Sklett Larsen

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Council’s case 64/14 regarding the organization and run-ning of OPUS, upper secondary schools may adopt OPUS in order to raise the level of competence in working life, and to promote regional interaction together with other competence development actors. The schools need to keep a good dialogue with trade and industry in their own region, and develop and facilitate the relevant training.

In order to address society’s future work force require-ments and the goal of increased completion of vocational training/education, there is a need for more cooperation between school and working life in several areas. This work needs to be professionalized, formalized, and inte-grated into the training in a good way. The purpose for the cooperation is to support quality and relevance in the training to ensure that trade and industry have future skills requirements covered.

The educational sector of Nordland County Council will, in addition to the extra effort regarding OPUS, prioritize the following areas regarding the innovation strategy:

• Facilitation of good cooperation models for local cooperation between school, industry and other actors.

• Development of a digital tool that can lead to increased insight into regional industry increase the amount of apprenticeships available, provide a better basis for the choice of vocational subjects, syste matize and create greater predictability in cooperation between school and working life.

• Strengthen cooperation for completing vocat ional subjects especially in the fields of seafood and indus-try. It will be especially important to strengthen coop-eration with trade and business in order to increase access to apprenticeships.

• Develop initiatives to strengthen cooperation between the actors in education in the fields of maritime sub-jects and trade

Education and innovation: subject diversity is necessaryThe education sector works to promote innovation to develop trade and business and is not just limited to a single or a few subject areas. It is necessary to include a range of competences and subjects. Examples of such fields are as follows:

• Vocational colleges provide important educational programmes building on upper secondary education. Today there are five vocational colleges in Nordland. The Norwegian Ministry of Education has established a committee to study the vocational college sector in Norway28. One aim of this committee is to assess the possibilities for students progression between voca-tional colleges and universities/university colleges. The Committee’s report was produced at the end of 2014.

• Science is an important focus area. STEM subjects and technological knowledge are important for value creation and welfare, and this is an important compe-tence for future industry in our region. A three-year effort has been put into scientific subjects at upper secondary level and this has produced good results. Based on this experience, there is a need to continue and focus even more sharply on this area. Upper sec-ondary education can use several important activities to strengthen scientific subjects. Closer cooperation with primary, lower secondary, as well as higher edu-cation will be targeted here.

• Creative and cultural subjects are not just import-ant to maintain the subject range in education, from


Recruiting qualified personel is a key to innovation in the county.


a trade perspective, such subjects can form the basis for future employment in particular tourism and cul-ture-based businesses.

• The need for expert linguistic competence is also important, especially in the export and tourism county of Nordland. For example, Germany is our largest export market, with about 15% of total Nor-wegian foreign trade. Good foreign language skills represent an important success factor for trade and business in Nordland.

• Nordland is also a large agricultural county. A study conducted into future agricultural education in Nord-land29 emphasizes the importance of nature-based education being developed in a direction serving the skills needs of future agriculture. This study formed the basis for a County Council case in December 2014.

• The educational sector in Nordland should pay spe-cial attention to how upper secondary education can serve the competence needs in trade clusters given priority in the innovation strategy.

• Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial skills are key in education and training. The county has focused on this field for several years and the project “Young Entrepreneurship” plays a central role. There is a need to push forward in this field. Moreover, further research needs to be carried out on how teachers and pupils/apprentices can obtain a deeper knowledge of trade and business through special programmes, including practice and learning for working life (teachers) or pilot schemes for entrepreneurial apprenticeship during the apprenticeship period.

Recruitment and qualified work forceIn order to keep up with the welfare level, businesses need to create new work places and develop those we already have. The combination of great opportunities in trade and industry and the low population growth in Nordland is challenging. This is shown and docu-mented in the Government strategy Knowledge Gather-ing – Value Creation in the North30. In this document changing work force requirements are highlighted for the whole of Northern Norway. The population devel-opment also shows that the most important employment group in the population, i.e. those aged between 20 and 40, are considerably underrepresented in the county of Nordland compared to the country as a whole31. Pres-ently companies report recruitment challenges and this will continue to increase over the next decade. Access to qualified work force cannot, therefore, just be solved through educational policy and measures alone; there is not enough young people in the county to cover future needs when today’s post-war generation retire.

The nature of work force recruitment has changed. Previously an employer could mainly recruit locally and choose between several good candidates for the job. Putting it bluntly, recruitment was about sorting the queue of applicants and making the right choice. Today

recruitment has become a skill in itself. It is about sales and marketing as well as having specialized knowledge about other countries and new educational programmes. Recruitment has therefore become more expensive and demands different resources.

More and more employees in Nordland are starting their own companies, including those originating from other countries. In important trades and industries such as the fishing industry, building and construction work, transport, research and higher education, and health, the major employers have between 25% and 40% of foreign staff.

Many methods and tools are available to work with recruitment and these have been tested by various com-panies and public actors – some with more success than others. The needs vary between companies and therefore the measures to be used have to vary. Moreover, the chal-lenge is not over when the recruitment process is com-plete and the new employee has started work. The major challenge is getting the newly employed employee to stay. Nordland has for over 20 years been the county with the highest decrease in population in Norway. The age group between 20 - 40 years old are most likely to leave the county. Another recruitment challenge in Nordland is the increase in temporary employment. This prevents professional development.

Recruitment of the work force is the responsibility of the individual company. Trade and industry in Nordland consists of many small companies that will face chal-lenges in managing demanding recruitment processes. The lack of work force is now starting to become a major societal challenge that many actors in Nordland should address together. Nordland County Council will there-fore invite companies and branch organizations in one or more of the major trades and industries in Nordland to participate in a development project about recruitment.

Trade and industry-directed higher education and research The University of Nordland and Narvik University College are vital to the development of Nordland and Northern Norway. The institutions have developed considerably and today educate highly skilled students for trade and industry. New study programmes have been added and the relevance of these programmes to trade and industry in several subject fields, has radically improved. Nordland County Council has invested con-siderably in developing the University of Nordland in the fields of seafood and tourism, the High North, maritime subjects as well as other subjects. In the field of inno-vation and entrepreneurship, the academic environment of UiN leads the way in Norway.

Note 28: http://www.regjeringen.no/nb/dep/kd/dep/styrer-rad-og-utvalg/utvalg-for-gjennomgang-av-fagskolene.html?id=735487 Note 29: Trøndelag FoU (2014)Note 30: NHD (2014)Note 31: Indeks Nordland (2014)

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The R&D strategy of Nordland County Council de cid-ed to strengthen research activity in the county so that Nordland increases their country average for R&D. Since 2001 there has been stable growth in research activity in Nordland, both measured as index-regulated and in terms of absolute costs32. At the same time, research development in the rest of the country has been even stronger. This means that if Nordland is to catch up with the rest of the country and achieve the goals set in the R&D strategy, a R&D activity in the county needs to rad-ically increase. In the final report from the government’s Knowledge Gathering – Value Creation in the North it is stated that R&D investments and competence develop-ment will result in major impact for trade and business in Nordland33.

The university and university college sector has con-tinued to grow in Nordland during recent years, primar-ily driven by the expansion of the University of Nordland. At the same time, there has been a fall in R&D acti vity in private trade and business. The fall in Nordland amounts to 22% from 2007 to 2012, whereas the country as a whole had 5% growth. Therefore, the development of more research activity is a critical challenge, particularly for small and medium-sized companies.

There are not many R&D institutions and commer-cial services companies in Nordland and those that do exist are not of significant size. At the same time, com-panies and their R&D challenges and knowledge needs

vary. A large part of trade and business knowledge acqui-sition needs cannot be covered adequately in Nordland. We have to both stimulate more cooperation with other experts in and outside Nordland, and also become spe-cialists in Nordland in important fields. It is a challenge to mobilize more R&D activity in trade and business without having regional actors who can motivate, carry out regionally relevant research and not least provide networks to other experts outside Nordland. In order to get companies to use more R&D in their development work, a system of regional R&D brokers in Nordland will be established as part of the VRI programme (Measures of Regional Innovation).

The University of Nordland and the other research institutions are continually developing but R&D capacity in the county is still limited, and consequently not all subject fields can be covered. It has been acknowledged for a long time that technological development and edu-cation is a field in which R&D activity and trade and business needs do not correspond well. Narvik Univer-sity College and Norut are important actors, but do not cover the needs of trade and business sufficiently. This particularly applies to the Helgeland area of Nordland but also the Salten area. Work has therefore been going on for a long time to strengthen technological education

Note 32: The Research Council of Norway 2013, indikatorrapportenNote 33: Minsitry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries (2014)


Simulator at Bodin upper secondary school and tertiary vocational college.Photo: Trond-Erlend Willassen


in more parts of the county, as well as increasing R&D activity. Campus Helgeland is an important move to help build a strong knowledge environment for the whole of the Helgeland region. Engineering education has been established, starting in 2014, and R&D activity is also increasing. In Bodø engineering education has also started, as from 2014. The development of the Maritime Campus at University of Nordland and Bodø Maritime College in Bodø are other important examples. To cre-ate better collaboration between education and research, and to help meet the knowledge requirements of trade and industry, Nordland County will in the future pri-oritize education and research activity in fields that are important for trade and industry in the region.

Research activity is international and results and rel-evance are compared against strong competition from other research environments. If research institutions in Nordland are to compete at this level, the environments must be strong within their respective specializations. This means more focus must be given to enhance research activity in Nordland. Nordland County Council will help develop a strong knowledge base of research activ-ity within the various institutions in Nordland, partic-ularly those relevant for trade and business in the region. An example of an important trade and industry directed project is the development of a Centre for Research- Driv-en Innovation in Experience-Based Tourism.

Strong expert environments in the fields of innovation and business developmentIn order to create value from new ideas, competence in business development is needed. There is a need for thor-ough knowledge about market opportunities, business models, financial solutions, ownership models, access to networks, etc. Such knowledge must also, in many cases, be related to particular business sectors. In the county of Nordland there are several incubators, know-ledge parks, a research park, an new research park being developed, as well as several business gardens/ innova-tion centers. Innovation Norway is the most important actor in financing projects within innovation projects and entrepreneurship. These actors have provided an important input to the strategy: to share and exchange knowledge on business development, innovation and entrepreneurship. The innovation centers and Innova-tion Norway want to achieve closer cooperation and have a lead role. Nordland County Council will follow up on these initiatives to help create a common learning arena for innovation and clarify the role of innovation centres in the county. There is a need for stronger expert centres in business development in the various parts of the county.

ET NYSKAPENDE NORDLAND – INNOVASJONSSTRATEGI FOR NORDLAND 2014–202024

Rocket launching from Andøya Space Center as seen from Andenes lighthouse. Photo: Kolbjørn Blix Dahle, Andøya Space Center


PART 2: OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES

AND MEASURES

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ObjectivesThe innovation strategy for Nordland has three objectives:

1. To increase the competitiveness of trade and industry by strengthening the innovative ability of companies.

2. To grow employment in commercial services and innovative supply companies.

3. To achieve an innovation system in Nordland with good interaction, learning and cooperation between central actors in trade and industry, the work market, education, research and various public sector fields.

Strategies The objectives must be followed up using more concrete strategies. Based on analysis and initial discussions and the objectives set for the work, the following strategies are to be developed: • To stimulate increased innovation in trade and indu-

stry in Nordland, with special emphasis being put on:- Developing innovative destinations in Nordland.- Strengthening innovation processes in the supply

industry.- Strengthening cooperation within the seafood

industry, including white fish, with supply trades, clients and industry in Nordland.

- Stimulating growth in commercial services• To strengthen access to competent and qualified

work force.- Strengthening the cooperation between school,

society and trade and industry, developing a supply structure in upper secondary school and strength-

ening pupils’ and students’ competence in innova-tion and entrepreneurship.

- Further develop the University of Nordland’s strong trade and industry-focused study and research activity.

- Developing strong expertise in innovation and business development.

- Strengthening companies’ knowledge about and measures for recruiting a qualified work force.

• More effective spatial planning and concession pro-cesses.

Measures In order to follow up the challenges, opportunities and strategies defined above, various types of measures must be used. The measures are to be developed and possi-bly changed along the way as the innovation process is implemented. The measures are to be included in the Development Programme for Nordland and are to be assessed in the annual budget processes.

Innovation in trade and business• By building relations between R&D and trade and

industry in Nordland we can strengthen knowledge about innovation in trade and business.

• The County Government wants to concentrate effort with special emphasis on small and medium-sized companies in its further work on innovation policy in Nordland, and assess how dialogue and cooper-ation with this target group can be strengthened in a well-structured way.

• To build better interaction in the innovation system in Nordland by creating a common knowledge basis

PART 2: OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND MEASURES

Based on the analyses and assessments of the innovation potential of Nordland described previously, there is a need to develop objectives and strategies for further work. The objectives must be realistic to achieve. The innovation strategy will be mea-sured by how we create results in trade and industry.


and conceptual system, clarifying roles and responsi-bility and developing methods and measures to stim-ulate increased innovation in trade and business. As part of this endeavor, an innovation forum is to be established in Nordland.

• To develop work on clusters and networks in Nordland by putting more effort into innovation and R&D in the cluster projects. As part of this, new clusters are to be stimulated and work is to be done to ensure long-term benefits in the cluster efforts beyond today’s measures. It is important to involve small and medium-sized companies in this work.

• To develop work on entrepreneurship in Nordland, especially regarding how new business start-ups with growth potential are assisted by Innovation Norway and the innovation centres in Nordland.

• To build stronger competence in developing business, innovation and entrepreneurship on a regional basis. The innovation centres in Nordland will be central actors in this work.

• To establish an open innovation meeting place under the auspices of The Doctoral Scholarship Programme for Nordland. Researchers and students are to assist with knowledge about innovation through dissemi-nation of research results from the expert innovation centres in Nordland.

• To use R&D stimuli measures targeted at building strong expert environments in chosen trades and industries. Work is to be done to create trade and industry, relevant to educational and research envi-ronments in Nordland, of high quality in order to compete with national and international research programmes.

• To strengthen the R&D effort relevant for companies through the so-called VRI-project, and to find good ways to continue this after the completion of the VRI- project in 2017. A system with competence brokers in Nordland will be established to help strengthen small and medium-sized companies R&D work.

Access to knowledge and qualified work forceEducation• To develop appropriate models for systematic coop-

eration between schools, working life and other regional actors. The development of a digital tool for interaction between school and trade/working life is to be included as part of this. The purpose of this measure is to ensure the achievement of societal goals regarding increased quality and relevance in education through completion of vocational train-ing/upper secondary education. The recruitment of a work force based on the needs of industry are also an important element in this endeavor. The development of a digital tool is to help with better systemization of the work and provide a better overview of the vari-ous actors involved, is an important part of this. The development work to be sought will be carried out

in cooperation with The National Centre for ICT in education, a national pilot project. Knowledge of and information about regional working life and local companies is important in order to make well-in-formed educational and career choices. The actors in industry need the cooperation with the school sector to be systemized, and the measure is to help achieve a good balance between industry’s needs and educa-tion of work force.

• To develop the structure of study offered in upper sec-ondary education. The school structure in Nordland requires further development to correspond better with the trade and industry structure in the coun-ty. Closer cooperation must be established between upper secondary schools and employers with regard to the study programmes offered. In this work, actors such as OPUS, the career centres, the vocational training centers, the study centers and the pupil follow-up service amongst others must be brought together. With regard to upper secondary education the apprenticeship situation is unsatisfactory and one of the main reasons for the completion rate being low. Popular subjects lack apprenticeship schemes. This especially applies to electro, many technical subjects, and industrial production (TIP), and not least health service subjects. In other educational programmes, especially service and communications, technical subjects for building, plant, and food service, there is a lack of applicants and the available apprenticeship places are not filled up. Here the challenge is a lack of applicants and recruitment through the educational system.

In The County Council case number 070/14 it was established a regional cooperation body in which schools, vocational training offices, and industry/sectors were represented. The aim of this is to be an advisory body at county level with regard to determining the study offer structure in upper secondary education. The body has an important role in coordinating the study offer provision and as an actor in a future regional competence market.

It is especially important to strengthen vocational training provision and apprenticeship places relevant for the processing and the seafood industries. Nord-land County Council will assume its responsibility by assessing whether in cases of supply and funding, it can have a requirement on the use of apprentices. In addition the supply contract may require apprentice places to be established for the project in question, on the basis of sector need34.

Nordland County will seek to strengthen coopera-tion between educational actors in maritime subjects and trade and business.

• To strengthen pupils’ and students’ competences in innovation and entrepreneurship. Vocational sub-ject pupils are an important target group in order

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to increase innovation activity. The apprenticeship period is an important practice period. In relation to this, it may be desirable for the individual pupil to start his or her own activity/business. Methods are therefore to be tested to enable increased entrepre-neurial activity in vocational training. Here training in the food and tourism trades needs to be integrat-ed. In higher education the qualifications framework determines its learning goals that degrees in higher education address innovation and entrepreneurship competence. This would mean an integration of the work on innovation in bachelor, master and PhD study programmes.

• To stimulate increased cooperation between the Uni-versity of Nordland and trade in order to strengthen educational and research activity at the university. The university needs to increase its range of cours-es in cooperation with trade and business. This means, amongst other things, building a research park, establishing a strong maritime campus, build-ing competence environments in preparedness and stimulating strong research environments in tourism, seafood, innovation and entrepreneurship, energy and industry, as well as important research for trade in The High North region.

• To establish regional structures to facilitate educa-tional offers in accordance with industry, actors must act as catalysts for developing professional compe-tences. This includes clarifying the needs of work-ing life, arranging for various flexible competence measures corresponding to the need by brokering offers to various educational providers. Together with national authorities, work has to be done to put in place basic financing for a study center function or education competence broker.

Recruiting qualified work force• Nordland County Council is to report the experience

gained from the ongoing living settlement project. The findings are to be disseminated with partners in the private and public sector.

• Nordland County Council will invite companies and branch organizations with major recruitment requirements to take part in an integrated recruit-ment project to strengthen companies’ competences and activities in the recruitment process.

Mo IndustriparkPhoto: Rita Bogholm Engen



More effective spatial planning and concession processes• A project is to be implemented, aimed at developing

knowledge, cooperation between planning authori-ties, to develop new methods for dialogue in spatial planning processes etc. The objective is to create more effective spatial planning and concession processes.

ImplementingThe County Council has overall responsibility for imple-menting this strategy, as well as for making any changes in the overriding policy. The County Council will follow up the strategy in its annual budgets and in the revision of the Development Programme for Nordland County Council. The County Government holds the delegated responsibility for managing the strategy and reporting back to The County Council.

The strategy is mainly about strengthening several elements in Nordland’s innovation system and about the interaction between the various actors. A project board will handle the operative management and ensure imple-mentation of the strategy and this board will consist of some of the Heads of the Departments in Nordland County Council. The management group is to be led by the Director of Economic Development.

Operative follow-upThree areas of responsibility have been defined to follow up the strategy. The work on implementing the strategy is to be separated into three projects:

• The Innovation Project, with responsibility held by Nordland County Council’s trade and development department.

• The Education Project, with responsibility held by Nordland County Council’s education department.

• The Plan Project, with responsibility held by Nord-land County Council’s culture and environment department.

The projects must be organized according to the needs of each project. In addition, resource groups are to be established for each of the projects, amongst other things to ensure interaction with trade/business and other rel-evant parties.

Participation in Interreg-projects will be considered in order to implement the innovation strategy. The pro-ject will lead to learning and comparison with other rel-evant groups.

The work is to be financed through regional develop-ment funds, the county budgets, applications to regional research funds, Interreg-programmes and other financial sources.

Freeriding at Blåtinden in Vågan municipality.Photo: Espen Mortensen

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The innovation strategy will create effects for trade and industry in Nordland. The work therefore needs to be discussed with industry along the way. Trade and industry representatives should, therefore, be invited to meet the political leadership and provide input to the various projects directly.

Result objectivesTo follow up the development of the various strategies, results orientated goals and indicators must be set, in order to monitor progress. The management group is responsible for defining the indicators within the three target areas:

1. Increased competitiveness in trade and industry through strengthening companies’ innovative capa-bility.

Competitiveness is to be measured through the growth of in the economy of Nordland, and the innovation capability is to be identified through developing innovation studies for Nordland. Statis-tics Norway’s innovation study and Innovation Nor-way’s new system for performance management will be the starting points for developing the indicators for measuring innovative capability

2. More employees in commercial service provision and more innovative supplier companies.

Statistics Norway’s trade and industry statistics are to be used to monitor the development in the trades and industries in question. Consideration much also be given to how innovation can be measured in supplier companies.

3. An innovation system in Nordland with good interac-tion, learning and cooperation between central actors in trade and industry, the work market, education and research and various parts of the public sector.

In order to measure interaction development, gap analyses are to be carried out - as well as various qualitative studies. Nordland Research Institute has conducted an initial analysis as part of the initial work on the strategy. This provides a solid basis for establishing data to show the development over time in the strategy areas to be worked on.



Litterature (Norwegian and English)

Asheim B.T og Isaksen A. (1997): Regionale innovasjonssystemer – en teoretisk diskusjon, i Isaksen A. (red) Innovasjoner, næringsutvikling og regionalpolitikk, Høyskoleforlaget, Kristiansand, ss. 51-79

Asheim B.T. og Isaksen A. (2001): Regional innovation policy towards SMEs: Learning good practice form European instruments. STEP-gruppen Oslo.

European Commision (2012): Guide to Research and Innovation Strategies for Smart Specialisations (RIS 3).

Isaksen A. et. al (2013): Can small regions construct regional advantages? The case of four Norwegian regions, European Urban and Regional Studies April 2013 20: 243-257, first published on March 29, 2012.

Kunnskapsparken Bodø rapport (2014): Indeks Nordland 2014, Kunnskapsparken Bodø, Bodø.

Mariussen Å. et.al. (2013): Smart 4H – Forslag til Smart spesialisering for Nordland. Nordlandsforskning, Bodø.

Mariussen Å. et al. (2014a): Challenges for smart strategies in resource based regions: The case of wind energy in Nordland. Nordlandsforskning, Bodø

Mariussen Å (2014b): Weak bridges and missing sectors in Nordland, Working paper, Nordlandsforskning, Bodø.

Nilsen J. og Langset M. (2011): Studiesentrene i Nordland – organisering, resultater og framtidig rolle. NIVI-rapport 2011-7.

Norges forskningsråd (2013): Det norske forsknings- og innovasjonssystemet – statistikk og indikatorer. www.forskningradet.no/indikatorrapporten

Nærings- og handelsdepartementet m.fl. (2014): Framtid i nord, Sluttrapport fra Kunnskapsinnhenting – verdiskaping i nord.

OECD (2005): Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, 3rd Edition, OECD, Paris

OECD (2010):, The OECD Innovation Strategy: Getting a Head Start of Tomorrow, OECD, Paris

OECD (2014):, Measuring Innovation in Education: A New Perspective, OECD, Paris

Toner, P. (2011):, Workforce Skills and Innovation: An Overview of Major Themes in the Literature, OECD Educa-tion Working Papers, No. 55, OECD Publishing.

Trøndelag FoU (2014):, Framtidig naturbruksutdanning i Nordland, Rapport 2014:12,

Political documents and cases (in Norwegian only)

Bedre læring: Strategi 2014-2018

Felles politisk plattform for posisjonen - 2013-2015

FoU- strategi for Nordland 2013-2025

Fylkesplan for Nordland 2013-2025 Regional Plan

Politikk for marin verdiskaping i Nordland, FT-sak: 018/13

Industristrategi for Nordland – prosess, mineral- og leverandørindustri, FT-sak 043/13

Organisering og drift av OPUS, FT-sak 64/14

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The County Council of Nordland has, in the common political platform, ambit-ions to develop a more proactive industrial and business policy. The County Council wants to develop the industrial and business policy in Nordland to facil-itate the development of a good framework for a competitive and innovative industry and business. In the regional plan for Nordland the county’s parliament jointly adopted the vision "Innovative Nordland." The ambition we have set in the innovation strategy are high: we will create a more competitive business environment through increased innovation in enterprises. It is important that we, together with partners in the public sector, academia and industry, create opportunities for future innovative companies and jobs in Nordland.

Afterword County Councillor Tomas Norvoll

Nordland County [email protected]

Adress: Prinsensgate 100

8048 Bodo

Norway

TLF: +47 75 65 50 00

Photo: Geir Johnsen

Documents

INNOVATIVE NORDLAND - bodin.vgs.no...Statistical studies1 show that, compared to other coun-ties in Norway, there are too few company start- ups in Nordland, and that limited jobs