Innovation Speech 2024: Norway must pick up the pace on the EU's green carpet

Europe was the theme of this year's Innovation Speech. For 30 years, the EEA Agreement has secured Norway's access to the EU single market. In his speech, our CEO Håkon Haugli emphasised the need for Norway to make full use of its position within Europe.
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© Kilian Munch / Innovasjon Norge

'Norwegian businesses are part of Europe – more so than ever before. But things are moving quickly in Europe. This speech is therefore a wake-up call for us in Norway: We need to be where the action is. We need to be bold – and commercially minded. We need to pick up the pace,' said Haugli.

Our CEO made four recommendations in her speech:

  1. Accelerate the green transition
  2. The closest possible European cooperation on digitalisation and artificial intelligence
  3. More business guides in key export markets and in Ukraine
  4. A Norwegian scale-up initiative

New centre to help Norwegian companies navigate the EU

The European Green Deal was launched five years ago. According to a survey conducted by Verian on our behalf, Norwegian companies see the EU as the most important driver of Norway's green transition.

'The EU has rolled out the green carpet. But Norway's green transition is still moving too slowly. To pick up the pace, Norwegian companies need the same access to capital as their European competitors. Norway must seize the opportunities offered by the EU's green carpet,' says Haugli.

In the speech, we announced that we are establishing a dedicated 'Single Market Centre' as part of our export centre to help Norwegian companies navigate the EU. Here, companies can get answers to practical questions about trade with the EU, the EEA and Europe.

The entrepreneurship plan must be followed by a new scale-up plan

In last year's Innovation Speech, we called for a new plan for entrepreneurs. The plan will be presented to the Norwegian Parliament before the summer. We believe the next step must be a dedicated scale-up plan:

'We know that many promising entrepreneurs do not succeed in the scale-up phase. Many promising companies do not receive support from the EIC, the EU's accelerator. We in Norway should take responsibility for scaling companies that have every chance of succeeding. Norway needs an accelerator programme,' said Haugli.

Over the past three years, the EU has awarded more than NOK 8 billion to research and innovation in Norway, including NOK 450 million through the EIC. EIC President Michiel Scheffer was among the speakers at the Innovation Speech.

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Published 6 May 2024Last updated 10 Oct 2025
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