Advisers Thordur Reynisson and Emil Gejrot gave a presentation about Nordic Innovation, an organization under the Nordic Council of Ministers working to connect, strengthen and support businesses across the Nordic region. In this work, Nordic Innovation also supports the Nordic vision for 2030: that the Nordic region will become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by that year.
Reynisson described how Nordic Innovation has been working in eight different thematic programs over the past four years. One of these programs is Sustainable Ocean Economy, the aim of which is to make the Nordics the leading region for sustainability in the ocean economy. Following an initial mapping of strongholds, the program was split into three separate work packages on ocean biomass, marine co-location and marine testbeds. Nordic Innovation is currently funding two projects related to ocean biomass, while concrete activities related to marine testbeds are still being developed. The second work package on marine co-location has thus far included a hackathon, funding for two pilot projects (OFFWOFF and Nordic BioBuz, mentioned above in this report) and several events – including this conference.
Gejrot then introduced the most recently completed work: a report on barriers to co-location in Nordic seas. In the report, written by a freelance journalist on commission from Nordic Innovation, stakeholder interviews and literature reviews are used to identify the most pressing obstacles to the realization of marine co-location in the Nordic region. Barriers mentioned include:
Regulatory hurdles
Environmental problems
Technology gaps
Security concerns