The new growth alliance is part of a declaration signed by the Nordic business ministers and the Nordic ministers for Nordic cooperation. The overall aim of the declaration is to strengthen the Nordic region’s competitiveness and increase cooperation on some of the region’s most urgent challenges.
Sindre Bornstein, CEO of Nordic Innovation, participated in the Nordic business ministers’ meeting. He says:
“With this declaration, the Nordic governments are signaling a clear ambition to further strengthen Nordic competitiveness. Our region and our business community are uniquely positioned to take a leading role at a time when the global societal model is undergoing change. This requires us to stand together and build on our respective strengths.”
The new growth alliance will:
- Work to improve access to private risk capital for Nordic companies
- Promote Nordic companies’ position within future technologies
- Work to promote the development of civilian industries relevant to security policy, such as strengthened resilience and defence industry
- Strengthening the Nordic region’s capacity within critical raw materials
- Accelerate the green transition and electrification
- Reduce companies’ administrative burdens through digitalization and automatization
“The Nordic growth alliance paves the way for even closer, broader and deeper cooperation between the Nordic countries in strategic areas such as quantum technology, the space industry, critical minerals, and access to capital for fast-growing companies. At Nordic Innovation, we have hands-on experience in these areas, and we look forward to contributing to the success of the alliance,” says Sindre Bornstein.
Analysis of Nordic competitiveness
The declaration draws upon the recently published report ‘Competitiveness in a Nordic Perspective’, which highlights the need for common Nordic initiatives to support companies’ ability to scale as well as the importance of reducing critical dependencies.
The analysis, which is commissioned by the Nordic Council of Ministers and prepared by Copenhagen Economics, concludes that:
- Since 2000, productivity has increased by approximately 25 percent in the Nordic region, compared with 43 percent in the United States
- In the Nordic region, risk capital amounts to around 0.11 percent of GDP, compared with 0.91 percent in the United States
- The Nordic region has a higher share of high-growth young companies than the EU average, but faces greater challenges in scaling them globally
- The Nordic region has around half as many unicorn companies as the United States per capita
- The Nordic region performs significantly above the EU average in terms of innovation capacity
- The Nordic region combines high productivity with high employment and relatively low greenhouse gas emissions.
Key priority of the Presidency
Nordic competitiveness has been a key priority of the Danish and Faroese Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2026. The focus follows a broader discussion on European competitiveness prompted by the Mario Draghi report published in 2024, which highlighted the substantial challenges that Europe is facing in terms of competitiveness.
To gain a better understanding of the specific challenges and opportunities for Nordic competitiveness, the Nordic Council of Ministers commissioned the report ‘Competitiveness in a Nordic perspective’ together with the Danish and Faroese Presidency.
Read more about the Presidency
As stated in the bylaws, Nordic Innovation is committed to enhance entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness in Nordic businesses, and the Presidency’s focus on competitiveness therefore aligns directly with Nordic Innovation’s mandate.
In 2026, Nordic Innovation has contributed to strengthening Nordic competitiveness in several ways. In addition to supporting new innovation projects, Nordic Innovation has provided insights through reports such as ‘Barriers to Commercialization in the Nordic countries’ which examines four main barriers to why new Nordic innovations are failing to reach the market, and ‘State of the Nordic innovation ecosystem’ which explores how the Nordic region can strengthen its innovation power.
We are looking forward to contributing to the Nordic ministers’ declaration and continuing our work to strengthen Nordic competitiveness.
