A step change for transformation

By CEO Håkon Haugli

We help businesses across Norway grow. We do this because Norway needs a strong and sustainable business sector to tackle society's greatest challenges, including the climate crisis and war in Europe.

In this report, we look back on the past year. You can read about some of the highlights in this foreword, while the full report offers insights into innovation, growth and exports across Norwegian business and industry.

In 2023, we provided NOK 7.1 billion in support to businesses through a combination of grants, loans and financial guarantees.

For every krone we provided in funding, businesses secured an additional NOK 1.50 in private financing. This meant that Norwegian businesses received almost NOK 20 billion in total funding with our support in 2023.

Almost all businesses (96%) say that the support they receive from us makes a decisive difference.

For several years, we have increasingly focused our support on projects that contribute to the green transition, and we accelerated this shift in 2023. We are proud of this, and we will step up the pace of the transition even further in 2024.

One of the most important things we do is support businesses as they grow from small start-ups into large companies.

Businesses we support grow more than comparable businesses that do not receive our support. In 2023, the additional growth was 15 percentage points, rising to 21 percentage points for entrepreneurs.

For growth companies, succeeding in international markets is also crucial. Since 2020, we have focused our export efforts on the companies most likely to succeed – and the markets offering the greatest opportunities. This approach delivers results.

In 2023, Norwegian companies reported winning export contracts worth NOK 6 billion through processes we supported. At the same time, our international presence has gradually been reduced by almost 100 full-time equivalent positions. This makes it more difficult to maintain our activity in Norway's key export markets.

Another milestone in 2023 was the launch of Bionova. Through Bionova, we aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support business development in agriculture, forestry and aquaculture.

Bionova is an integral part of Innovation Norway. This gives Bionova customers easy access to our other services and enables them to benefit from our presence throughout Norway.

Bionova's schemes have long been part of our offering. By establishing Bionova, we have brought them together and focused our efforts on reducing emissions in sectors that account for a significant share of Norway's greenhouse gas emissions.

Finally, I would like to thank our customers, commissioning partners, employees and business partners for everything we achieved together over the past year. When we look back on 2024 a year from now, I hope we can report results that are just as positive as those for 2023.