How Norway’s health and life science industry will succeed in boosting exports

“Norway has many good individual players and strong competitive advantages, such as world-leading research environments. But to make it to the top globally, we need to commercialise more, produce more and export more. And like in sports, we need to systematise cooperation and play as a team. This is what our national export initiative on health and life science is all about,” says Tone Varslot Stave, head of the export initiative at Innovation Norway.

The Norwegian Government has set ambitious goals to increase Norwegian exports. It launched an export reform in 2022 with the aim of increasing export revenue – excluding oil and gas – by 50 per cent by 2030. The goal of the health and life science initiative is even more ambitious. It seeks to double export revenue from NOK 22 billion (roughly USD 1.94 billion) in 2021 to NOK 50 billion (roughly USD 4.40 billion) in 2030.

“Thirty of the largest Norwegian health exporters accounted for 25.5 per cent of a total of NOK 27 billion in export revenue from the health industry in 2023. The fastest way to double export revenue is by having the very best companies take the lead, with the next best riding on their coattails,” says Heidi Blengsli Aabel, Chief Commercial Officer at Vitalthings and head of the project board of the export initiative.

To quickly take a visible position internationally, Innovation Norway has gathered the hardest hitters in the field. Thirty-six companies have been selected to function as a national team, paving the way for other Norwegian health and life science companies. Based on criteria set by the project board, the companies were segmented into two groups: those with over NOK 100 million (roughly USD 8.8 million) in export revenue in 2023, and those with NOK 5 to 100 million (roughly USD 439 800 to 8.8 million). In addition, Innovation Norway invited several companies with export revenue below this.

“It is un-Norwegian to focus on a few, but with limited funds, it is important to prioritise. Export initiatives are not just a project – they are a shared vision to ensure growth, sustainability and better health, both in and outside Norway,” says Blengsli Aabel.

In autumn 2024, Innovation Norway and the project board organised a gathering for the largest export companies in the country and those with the greatest capacity to become so. The companies had the opportunity to express their needs and suggest activities that could yield the best effect. The companies were pleased to have their input taken seriously and to meet with companies in other segments of the health and life science industry, which they pointed out rarely happened.

“It is important to emphasise that the initiative comes in addition to current funding schemes at Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway. These schemes will enable more companies to participate in the coming years,” says Varslot Stave.

Norway has a well-established health and life science industry, with exports of NOK 27 billion (roughly USD 2.38 billion) in 2023. It also has world-leading research environments in the fastest-growing fields globally. Moreover, Norway’s unique health data is invaluable for developing new medicines, research and innovative health services. With high value creation per person-year, the industry has enormous export potential.

To be successful, Norwegian players must be mobilised with all their expertise and innovation power. In addition to annual allocations in grants and loans of NOK 780 million (roughly USD 68.69 million) from Innovation Norway and the Research Council, Innovation Norway and industrial clusters in health and life science will be implementing a variety of measures, programmes and campaigns to support the industry.

“We facilitate international growth for the breadth of Norwegian health and life science companies on many fronts, with everything from health accelerators and export campaigns under the auspices of Team Norway to advisory services and export programmes. We support companies in various phases of development, from start-up to scaleup and internationalisation, with the aim of strengthening Norway’s competitiveness globally,” says Varslot Stave.

“Together,” she concludes, “we will create a new export adventure with Norwegian health and life science players.”