NORDIC INNOVATION REPORT 2015:08 // DECEMBER 2015 The Nordic Digital Ecosystem Actors, Strategies, Opportunities The Nordic Digital Ecosystem Actors, Strategies, Opportunities Authors: Lars van Marion Rambøll Management Consulting Jon Honerud Hovland Red Tape Crossing December 2015 Nordic Innovation Publication 2015 The Nordic Digital Ecosystem Actors, Strategies, Opportunities Nordic Innovation Publication 2015:08© Nordic Innovation, Oslo 2015 ISBN 978-82-8277-080-4 (Print) ISBN 978-82-8277-079-8 (Digital) (URL: http://norden.diva-portal.org) Authors: Lars van Marion Rambøll Management Consulting Jon Honerud Hovland Red Tape Crossing Publisher: Nordic Innovation, Stensberggata 25, NO-0170 Oslo, Norway Phone: (+47) 22 61 44 00. E-mail: [email protected] www.nordicinnovation.org All Nordic Innovation publications can be downloaded free of charge as pdf files from http://norden.diva-portal.org Cover photo: 123RF Limited Copyright Nordic Innovation 2015. All rights reserved. This publication includes material protected under copyright law, the copyright for which is held by Nordic Innovation or a third party. Material contained here may not be used for commercial purposes. The contents are the opinion of the writers concerned and do not represent the official Nordic Innovation position. Nordic Innovation bears no responsi bility for any possible damage arising from the use of this material. The original source must be mentioned when quoting from this publication. Nordic Innovation Stensberggata 25, NO-0170 Oslo, Norway Phone: +47 47 61 44 00 [email protected] www.nordicinnovation.org Ramboll Hoffsveien 4, NO-0213 Oslo, Norway Phone: +47 22 52 59 03 www.ramboll.com Red Tape Crossing Sandsværveien 119, NO-3616 Kongsberg, Norway Phone: +47 93 00 87 91 [email protected] www.redtape.no TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 10 2. Methodology ...................................................................................................................................... 12 3. The Nordic Public Landscape ................................................................................................... 14 3.1 Denmark ................................................................................................................................................................15 3.2 Finland .................................................................................................................................................................. 21 3.3 Iceland .................................................................................................................................................................. 27 3.4 Norway ...................................................................................................................................................................31 3.5 Sweden ..................................................................................................................................................................37 4. The Potential for Nordic Collaboration ................................................................................45 4.1 The strategies and beyond .......................................................................................................................... 45 4.2 What do the Nordic stakeholders tell us ................................................................................. 47 4.3 Possible cases for further Nordic digital collaboration ............................................... 52 5. Conclusions and Recommendations .................................................................................. 57 5.1 Key findings ........................................................................................................................................................57 5.2 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................................61 5.3 Recommendations .......................................................................................................................................62 Appendix 1 6. The Nordic Digital Eco System ................................................................................................63 6.1 The actors of Denmark .............................................................................................................................63 6.2 The actors of Finland .................................................................................................................................70 6.3 The actors of Iceland .................................................................................................................................77 6.4 The actors of Norway ................................................................................................................................81 6.5 The actors of Sweden ...............................................................................................................................93 Appendix 2 7. Maturity and Receptiveness of the Nordics ....................................................................101 7.1 Rankings and comparisons ................................................................................................................101 7.2 Assessment of Nordic governments’ maturity ...................................................................120 7.3 Summary of recent reports, benchmarks and assessments .................................123 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of figures and tables Figure 4.1 ................................................................................................................................................. 47 Figure 4.2 ................................................................................................................................................ 48 Figure 4.3 ................................................................................................................................................ 49 Figure 4.4 ................................................................................................................................................ 49 Figure 4.5 ................................................................................................................................................ 50 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Executive summary This report describes possibilities for Nordic digital collaboration by providing an overview of the actors in the Nordic digital eco-system and their characteristics, an analysis of the actors’ will and abilities to collaborate, and a discussion of potential business cases for such collaboration. It seems evident that the public actors see benefits in enhanced Nordic knowledge sharing and joint projects in the area of digitalization. The results indicate that the actors believe such collaboration can: a) Provide more efficient ways of developing and delivering digital services within each country. b) Provide cross-border services to citizens residing and enterprises doing business in the Nordic countries. c) Spearhead European initiatives. d) Provide better market opportunities for Nordic-based ICT businesses. Through a mapping of the actors in the Nordic digital eco-system, and an analysis of recent international benchmarks, the report shows that Nordic countries have a comparatively high level of digital service provision. Furthermore, the countries have highly developed specialized sectors, which deliver many complex and high- quality government services. The modernization of the Nordic public sectors through digitalization seems to be backed by formal plans and political commitment. The strategic goals are basically the same and revolve around improving government services through the sharing of information resources between government agencies. The principle of “once-only” registration of relevant data, which is also embraced by the EU1 , appears to be common ground for the Nordic countries. Although the Nordic countries are high achievers, the study indicates that there are notable differences between the countries in terms of the topics they excel in. The ways in which the Nordic countries work towards achieving these goals also differ a lot. On the one hand, we find differences that can be explained by different national/political priorities. On the other hand, there are significant differences in how the countries govern their national digitalization efforts. The latter can be viewed as an obstacle to formalizing Nordic digital collaboration. The coordinating bodies of countries such as Norway and Sweden are to a lesser degree able to mandate such collaboration between agencies than their peers in countries such as Denmark, Finland and Iceland. 1 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-4919_en.htm 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The study indicates that most public actors are involved in Nordic collaboration of some kind. The Nordic countries look to one another for inspiration, and there are a handful of cross-national pilot projects and reports. The actors see the benefits of greater collaboration on digitalization within the Nordic region. However, the countries seem to lack formal arenas for knowledge sharing and coordinating joint projects. The report also indicates that there is a lack of political attention to Nordic digital