How Norway can succeed in exporting health industry solutions

- Norway has many strong individual players and competitive advantages, including world-leading research communities. But to compete at the highest level globally, we need to commercialise more, produce more and export more. Like in sport, we also need to take a more systematic approach to collaboration and work as a team. That is what our national export initiative is all about,' says Tone Varslot Stave, Head of our healthcare export initiative.

The Norwegian Government has set ambitious targets for increasing exports. The major initiative 'All of Norway Exports' aims to increase export revenues excluding oil and gas by 50 per cent within five years. The target for the healthcare initiative is even more ambitious: to more than double export revenues from NOK 22 billion in 2021 to NOK 50 billion by 2030.

- Today, 30 of Norway's largest healthcare exporters account for NOK 25.5 billion of the healthcare industry's total export revenue of NOK 27 billion in 2023. The fastest way to double export revenue is to support those leading the way, who can then help others follow, says Heidi Blengsli Aabel, Chair of the Health Export Project Board and Chief Commercial Officer at Vitalthings. 

To quickly establish a clear international position, we have brought together the leading companies in the sector. The group comprises 36 companies that work as a national team, paving the way for other Norwegian healthcare companies. Based on criteria set by the project board, we divided the companies into two groups: those with export revenues of more than NOK 100 million in 2023, and those with revenues of between NOK 5 million and NOK 100 million. We also invited selected companies with export revenues below this level.

'Focusing on a select few may feel un-Norwegian, but with limited resources, we need to prioritise. The export initiative is more than just a project – it is a shared vision for securing growth, sustainability and better health both in Norway and abroad,' says Blengsli Aabel.

In autumn 2024, we and the project board brought together Norway's largest exporters and the companies with the greatest potential to join their ranks. The companies had the opportunity to share their needs and suggest activities that would have the greatest impact. They welcomed the opportunity to have their say and noted that companies from different sectors rarely meet.

- It is important to emphasise that this initiative is in addition to our existing schemes and those offered by the Research Council of Norway. These schemes will enable more companies to take part in the years ahead, Varslot Stave adds.

Norway has a well-established health industry, which exported goods and services worth NOK 27 billion in 2023, as well as world-leading research communities in the fastest-growing fields globally. Norwegian health data is valuable for developing new medicines, advancing research and creating innovative health services. With high value creation per full-time equivalent, the health industry has significant export potential.

To achieve this, we need to mobilise the full expertise and innovative power of Norway's healthcare sector. In addition to NOK 780 million in annual grants and loans from the Research Council of Norway and us, we and the clusters offer a range of initiatives, programmes and campaigns to support the industry.

'We enable international growth for a wide range of Norwegian healthcare companies on many fronts, from healthcare accelerators and export campaigns with Team Norway to advisory services and export programmes. We support companies at different stages of development, from startup to scaling and internationalisation, with the aim of strengthening Norway's global competitiveness,' says Varslot Stave, adding:

‘Together, we will create a new export success story with Norwegian health sector players.’