National Budget: More green loans and grants for businesses

‘In 2025, we will offer strong schemes for the green transition. The national budget strengthens our role as a green industry and innovation bank,’ says Håkon Haugli, our CEO.

The government proposes a new call for proposals under the 'Green Platform' initiative and will maintain funding for the Environmental Technology Scheme at its current level. Together with the loan scheme for green industrial financing, this strengthens our offering to companies driving green business development and innovation. The government also proposes increasing funding for bioeconomy projects under Bionova, which is part of our organisation.

'We are also pleased to see initiatives supporting entrepreneurs, tourism and healthcare innovation. This shows that the government recognises the need for innovation and transformation across sectors,' says Haugli.

We receive assignments from eight government ministries and the county authorities, with total funding of more than NOK 5.5 billion.

The government proposes allocating us NOK 4 million for a new health innovation accelerator programme.

'It is encouraging to see the government recognise the need for healthcare innovation. The healthcare sector faces major challenges, but the solutions being developed also create export opportunities. With its technology and expertise, Norwegian industry is uniquely positioned to seize these opportunities,' says Haugli.

The government proposes increasing funding for our startup schemes by NOK 52 million.

‘We depend entirely on entrepreneurs, so this increased focus on entrepreneurship is welcome. At the same time, we need to step up our efforts to help companies scale. Together with the Research Council of Norway, we have proposed a public-private accelerator for technology companies with significant potential for next year’s national budget,’ says Haugli.

The government proposes increasing our tourism remit by NOK 10 million.

'Tourism is an important industry throughout Norway. This increase will enable us to work even more closely with the industry to develop Norwegian tourism,' says Haugli.

The government proposes cutting funding for the cluster programme by NOK 26 million.

'This will affect the future of the clusters. As a result, there may be fewer clusters in the years ahead,' says Haugli.

The government is not increasing funding for our export activities.

'Over time, we have had to close offices in several export markets. Norway has ambitious export targets, while our capacity to support Norwegian companies has gradually been reduced,' says Haugli.