Ladies and Gentlemen,

Introduction

I’ve been given the honour of opening the fist Nordic Science Park Conference in this century! The practice of arranging annual meetings entirely dedicated to science parks and the transfer of experiences and information related to science parks is of vital importance. In this way, the participants of these conferences are doing what is often recommended in modern innovation literature: "Learning by interacting" and keeping the network dynamic and alive!

Four years ago the Nordic Science Park Conference was held in Tromsø. Since that time, we have moved some steps forward here in Norway in the understanding of how important it is to create new industries, to get more business from research and stimulate entrepreneurs of all kinds. Similar trends can be observed in most developed countries. The terms ‘globalisation’ and ‘the new economy’ have now become a part of everyday vocabulary. And increasingly, attention is being focused on exploitable areas of science and technological development.

In this speech I will give a short description of main actors in the national and regional innovation environment. I will then mention some recent elaborated national and regional aid schemes relevant to the science parks and the creating of new business. In this particular field I will also give some information concerning important governmental work that presently is going on in Norway. Representing the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, I will give you some notions of what is to become important issues in the white paper on regional policies which is to be presented to the Parliament around in early spring 2001. But first of all, let me first give you a brief presentation of the present situation in the Norwegian economy.

2. Norwegian Economy

A lot of research concerning the Norwegian economy, clusters and enterprises have been effectuated recently. The results of the research have given rise to some preoccupations in political as well as in industrial circles. It seems obvious that the Norwegian industry has to become more knowledge intensive, innovative and international than at present. I am convinced that this is the case for all the Nordic countries. Innovation and internationalisation are crucial dimensions in our economic policy and will have to be of even greater importance in the decades to come.

The activity in the Norwegian oil and gas industries will be reduced by 50 % in 20 years time. Statistics tell us that Norway will need 800 000 new jobs and 200 000 enterprises in the next 20 years to maintain the present level of welfare and employment. In this period of time, the number of jobs in the oil industry will probably be reduced by 50%, and the growth rate in the mainland industrial sector will have to be doubled from 1 to 2% a year. These figures are now well known to many Norwegians, perhaps not so much to our friends from the Nordic countries.

Furthermore, it is expected that half of the newly established enterprises in Norway will be gone in 5 years. 25 % of all the existing enterprises in Norway today have been established the last three years. Generally speaking, Norwegian enterprises only exist for 9 years. And these enterprises are very often located in central areas of the country.

As you can see, there is a great turnover of enterprises in Norway. This situation, very briefly described, imply that the work for innovation and development of enterprises have to be given high priority in future policies. To succeed, we need to create a culture and attitudes favourable to entrepreneurs.

Without any doubt innovation is one of the most serious challenges in Norwegian industries. Innovation includes the fine art of creating new games and new rules of the games, not just in improving old ones. Norwegian enterprises invest less in innovation than companies in our competing countries. The rate of innovative enterprises in Norway is quite lower than the OECD average. The Swedish enterprise is, as an example, twice as innovative as the Norwegian enterprise. In Finland, the public expenditure on R&D is twice as high as in Norway. Without any doubt, In Norway, we do not invest enough in innovation, and lack of commercial innovation is the result.

Science Parks and the regional innovation system.

I will now turn to national and regional innovation systems in Norway. I find it relevant to give å very brief introduction to the most important bodies of the Norwegian innovation system. Certainly, these bodies will be mentioned in other speeches during this conference.

The Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund (SND) is the central institution for public funding of industrial and regional development in Norway. Its main supporters, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, provide the general financing of SND’s main instruments. SND has a range of instruments at its disposal for the strengthening and development of trade and industry in the regions as well at a more national level. SND is the main instrument for regional development and is organised with regional offices in every county municipality in Norway. SND also has responsibilities in fisheries and agriculture.

The Research Council of Norway (NFR) bears overall responsibility for national research strategy and manages nearly one third of public-sector research funding. One of the principal tasks of the Research Council is to promote co-operation and co-ordination among Norwegian research institution and to raise the general level of knowledge in society. Other important objective is to encourage innovation in industry and the public sector. The Research Council is to also called upon to offer strategic advice to the Government on science and technology issues. The Council draws its fund from several ministries. The Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development provide funds to different programmes aiming at technology transfer and innovation in the target area of regional development. These programmes are most often co-financed with the Ministry of Industry and Trade like the FORNY-programme - the programme for research-based innovation that I am sure you are familiar with.

The Research Council do not have local offices as the SND, but is now developing

co-operation strategies with the SND and the local offices of SND in some fields.

SIVA, The Industrial Estate Corporation, is to foster the development of industrial estates and business parks in areas where the private sector property marked does not fulfil this function and where socio-economic factors make it disirable to stimulate local business activities. The aim is to help to create added value and enhance employment prospect in outlying districts. SIVA is increasingly developing instruments to stimulate new business starts-ups, innovation and networking in the districts concerned. And of course, SIVA is involved in the majority of the science parks in Norway. SIVA is organised as a state corporation financed by the Ministry I represent.

Moreover, Norway has got four universities, 26 state colleges located all over Norway, and a relatively large sector of R&D institutes which are semi private. Moreover, there are 8 unites named science parks in Norway and a number of "parks" of various kinds, some connected to state colleges and known as knowledge parks some more independent business parks.

I hope this short introduction made it easier for you to place different Norwegian innovative bodies on the map. The potential these institutions have to play a more substantial and active part in the national and regional innovation systems is evident. It is not only a question of increasing the budgets, but also a question of management, legal frameworks, regional collaboration and attitudes.

National and regional Policies an processes related to Science Parks and the creation on new enterprises.

Both national and regional innovation policies relevant to the creation on new enterprises and the commercialisation of R&D results have been more focused the last few years. In Norway, this is certainly true in political rhetoric, but also, I’m glad to tell, in terms of budgets and instruments.

People, organisations and political parties seem to agree that an important objective in both national and regional policies must be to stimulate collaboration between universities, colleges, research institutes and small and medium sized enterprises and in this way encourage innovation and growth.

The FORNY-programme (Programme for research-based innovation) was given a large increase in terms of budget this year. Strengthening the FORNY- programme - the Norwegian science parks get more zest as well. As many of you may know, the FORNY - programme is a central pillar of the science parks. With a somewhat more comfortable economic situation, other R&D institutions in the regions are now being included to this programme.

In 1999 the Ministry of local government and regional development gave SIVA the task of developing a concept of business incubators. The goal is to develop more research-based business development. These incubators are now being set up in close connection to the established Norwegian science parks. I hope experiences from the Nordic countries and Great Britain will enlighten us! I do look forward to the presentation of best practice in business incubation in Great Britain by Mister Elvestad later this after noon.

For the last couple of years, SIVA has been working on the implementation of a concept called "Business gardens". "Business gardens" are aimed at stimulating the development of attractive, local centres of competence that can contribute to the future development for business based on local initiative.

In addition to these quite recent initiatives aiming at researched – based innovation and the development of enterprises, a seed capital fund was set up in 1997 including one national "Start up fund" and four regional funds administrated by the SND. In 1999, the Ministry of Industry and Trade provided additional financing to the regional funds in order to reduce risks. Private capital at the regional level is now being raised to mach this public supplementary money. Hopefully, these funds will stimulate the growth of new enterprises and risky projects including, I hope, giving some of the more vulnerable an risky projects – in the proper sense of the term - a fair chance.

Recent studies and work:

In 1999 a committee was publicly appointed to elaborate on different instruments to stimulate industrial investments in research and development and to examine support measures aimed at encouraging investments in R&D by enterprises, and SMEs in particular. Both different, direct support schemes and tax schemes were to be analysed. This committee, led by the professor Mister Arild Hervik, presented its conclusions this spring. The main proposition consists of introducing a tax reform stimulating enterprises to invest in research and development by offering tax reduction. Propositions concerning new ways of stimulating the innovation environment play part of the concluding chapters as well. These proposals are now being discussed within the Government.

Another committee appointed by the Ministry of church,- education and research – The committee of commercialisation – is now working on questions concerning intellectual property rights in the public sector. In Norway researchers and professional teachers within universities and colleges have until now full commercial rights for his/her own idea. The latest white paper on research policies in Norway (1998-1999) clearly states how vital it is to endorse commercial exploitation of research results. The first of October this year, the committee will present its work proposing different measures to improve the terms for commercialisation of results from scientific work. the propositions include legal and regulatory changes. This is certainly not an easy question, as Sweden and Denmark have experienced. Of course, the committee of commercialisation will draw upon experiences in all the Nordic countries.

I will also like to mention that Government participates in the establishment of an information technology centre at Fornebu in the outskirts of Oslo. This centre will, hopefully, and with your help, be a new and important factor in the existing network of science and technology parks in Norway. I think it is important, not only from a regional development point of view, but also for the success of the new centre, that we succeed in establishing good relations between the centre at Fornebu and the existing science parks all over the country.

Far from representing the total picture of existing and new instruments relative to innovation policies, the above-mentioned novelties and recent political processes clearly show that things really are moving in Norway.

Not to forget, the Ministry of Local development and Regional Development is now working on a white paper on regional development that is going to be presented in springtime next year. This policy document is to determine developmental strategies at the regional level for the next four years. These strategies and political implications will contribute to encourage regional innovation to a greater extent.

The white paper will focus on main strategies for regional development in the years to come. What might be of special interest for this audience is the strategy concerning the development of the environment surrounding the enterprises in the regions. This strategy includes:

• strengthening industrial innovation and commercialisation
• development of attitudes and environment favourable of entrepreneurs
• collaboration between different companies, R&D and educational institutions
• the restructuring and development by enterprises and regions at their own terms

And the implications of this strategy will very likely be:

• The existing instruments aimed at regional development will heavily focus on enterprise collaboration and networking;
• Public bodies will have to develop skills to enforce co-operation between various actors in the regional and national innovation systems.
• Specific regional needs must determine the use regional development instruments. Buttom – up strategies must be developed.

Concluding remarks

The urgent task of identifying new ways of translating research into enterprise has still to be developed.

I do look forward to get more information concerning science parks in the Nordic countries. I am especially eager to learn more about what seems to be the most central challenges the science parks are facing across the Nordic borders and especially what policies seem to be most suited to meet these challenges.

Policies encouraging innovation and the creation of new enterprises based on knowledge have got to be founded on national and regional conditions. However, the international perspective must never be forgotten. Innovation policies should take into account global patterns. These patterns are, as we know, in constant change.

This is the first Nordic Science Park Conference in this century. Last year, the main challenges in the economy and the entire society were main topics in a number of millennium – speeches. Now let us turn to the more practical and operational side. Let us focus on questions starting with "in what way" and "to what extent".

I wish you all a challenging and interesting conference here in Trondheim and the centre of Leif Eriksson Nyfotek! Leif Eriksson discovered America many centuries ago. Let all the effort this man invested in expeditions and discoveries under very primitive conditions inspire us all.

I wish you all a rewarding conference.

Thank you for the attention!