Norrbotten
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1 Introduction to Regions4GreenGrowth ... 3
1.1 Background ... 3
1.2 The project Regions4GreenGrowth ... 3
1.2.1 Peer Review methodology ... 4
2 Focus of the Norrbotten Peer Review ... 5
2.1 Peer review of Norrbotten ... 6
3 Introduction to the context of Norrbotten... 8
4 Regional policy, organisation and cooperation ... 10
5 SWOT analysis... 12
6 Recommendations ... 13
6.1 Ambitions, goals and policy ... 13
6.2 Organisations ... 16
6.3 Project development ... 19
6.4 Financing ... 21
6.5 Communication ... 22
7 Long term commitment and work ... 24
Annex I – Stakeholders of Norrbotten ... 25
Annex II – Programme of the Peer Review ... 32
Annex III – Peer review and host team ... 35
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1 Introduction to Regions4GreenGrowth
1.1 Background
Stemming from the EU Climate and Energy Package, the EU, its Member States and regions have defined ambitious energy strategies, setting firm targets for an increased share of renewable energy sources, more energy efficiency and lower carbon emissions in order to make Europe’s energy supply sustainable and future proof.
However, a major obstacle for widespread introduction of renewable energy production capacity and energy efficiency measures is the fact that actors (public and private) - willing to invest in sustainable energy installations and infrastructure - often have difficulties to attract financial means to support their investments. The private financial sector (banks, investors) is often hesitant to invest in sustainable energy. Public funding is an alternative or complementary source for these investments. But the financial volume of national financial support schemes in most EU countries is limited and they often lack continuity or are difficult to acquire.
Regions4GreenGrowth is an initiative of EU regions that have defined high sustainable energy ambitions and now encounter this obstacle.
1.2 The project Regions4GreenGrowth
Regions4GreenGrowth is a consortium of 13 partners from across Europe, who endeavour to equip themselves with stronger regional policy instruments, mechanisms and approaches to improve access to finance and speed up investments in sustainable energy projects (e.g. renewable energy generation capacity, energy efficiency measures).
Project activities include the collection and documenting of effective policy instruments in this field from partners and other actors. Through the exchange of good practices and by participating in Peer Reviews, the partners will tackle the specific challenges of each partner region and draft tailor made packages of policies and instruments to speed up sustainable energy investments. These recommendations will then serve as the basis for the development of regional Action and Implementation Plans. Project achievements will also be documented in a Guide on Methods and Implemented Good Practice, which will be widely disseminated.
4 structure for investments in sustainable energy, developed by Flevoland and Greater Manchester, will be passed on to the partners via Master Classes, as well as implemented in 3 partner regions.
Overall, Regions4Greengrowth provides an opportunity for regional representatives to exchange their experience and learn from one another, while delivering concrete recommendations, which in turn will produce tangible results in the improvement of regional policies.
1.2.1 Peer Review methodology
The approach and methodology of R4GG are geared towards identifying, exchanging and transferring effective regional policy instruments and mechanisms to improve access to finance for sustainable energy projects.
R4GG applies the peer peview methodology, which involves a one-week mentoring visit undertaken in each partner region by a group of international experts in order to assess the regional strategy, policy and actions with regards to investments in sustainable energy. Peer reviews are held to help local authorities understand how well their current policies work and support them in making tangible improvements.
A peer review tackles the issue from different angles, in accordance with the host region’s focus. When selecting the most appropriate focus, the region takes into account its specific energy/investment needs, current policies and its own strengths and weaknesses.
During the peer review visit, the peers hold meetings with local energy/investment stakeholders in order to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the host region’s policies. Based on their experience, the peers will then issue a series of recommendations on how to improve policies about investments in energy.
After the visit, the Peer Review team prepares a report compiling their recommendations on how to spark investments in the sustainable energy sector and answering the specific needs and questions of the host region.
The region then considers the conclusions and prepares an Action Plan, setting out how it intends to implement experts’ recommendations.
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2 Focus of the Norrbotten Peer Review
The following goal was formulated before the Peer Review:
How to create a platform for innovators/entrepreneurs, investors and potential customers for the commercialization and financing of potential business ideas within the clean tech sector?
The questions formulated by the host region are as follows:
What is missing and what could be developed in the innovation and the financial system of our region, for the clean tech sector?
Which barriers and drivers accelerate commercialization and financing of business ideas within the clean tech sector?
How to increase private financing in the initial commercialization phase?
Which steps should be taken to set up a platform?
Which actors should be part of such a platform and which roles should they hold?
How to involve the customer needs (industry, the public sector) in the business development process within the platform?
How to make business ideas more attractive to invest in?
How to develop the business case and the business team around the idea?
How to get the innovators/entrepreneurs to a system thinking, i.e. to match ideas and cooperate with each other in order to deliver system solutions for potential customers?
How to involve the public procurement to the platform?
How do we get an outside perspective, an external point of view, on the business cases?
The expected outcomes of the peer review are:
Knowledge about the opportunities on how to increase the commercialization and financing of the clean tech sector in our region
Knowledge about the role of the public and private actors and funding within the business development and commercialization of ideas within clean tech
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2.1 Peer review of Norrbotten
This action and implementation plan of Norrbotten is based on the results of the peer review in Norrbotten and is in line with with regional, national and EU ambitions and goals.
The peer review in Norrbotten took place between the 14th and 18th of October 2013 and was conducted by a group of experts from Pravoha (RO), Észak-Alföld (HU), Lazio (IT), Noord Brabant (NL) and Västernorrland (SE), in order to assess the regional strategy, policy and actions with regard to investments in sustainable energy.
The aim of the peer review was to help regional and local authorities understand how well their current policies work and support them in making tangible improvements.
During the peer review week the experts met with actors from national to local level: the Swedish Energy Agency, the regional energy agency – Nenet, regional public bodies as the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten and the County council of Norrbotten, regional organizations as CENTEK, Arctic Business Incubator and Solander Science Park and with entrepreneurs as Sunpine AB, Meva AB, Biosling AB, KYAB AB and Evertec AB. The peer review team also participated in the spring board meeting of Connect Norr. During a spring board entreprenuers present their business case to a board of professionals in different areas of expertise, who offer their competent advice for business development.
Ond the last day of the peer review week, the preliminary recommendations were presented to and discussed with the stakeholders of Norrbotten.
A description of the stakeholders that participated during the peer review week is found in Annex I, the full agenda can be found in Annex II and the peer review team and host region in Annex III.
After the visit, the peer review team delivered a report, on the 29th of April 2014, compiling their recommendations on the specific needs and questions of the host region - Norrbotten.
The region then considers the conclusions and prepares an Action Plan, setting out how it intends to implement the recommendations. The action and implementation plan for Norrbotten has been developed with the participation of the County Administrative Board, the regional energy agency – Nenet and
7 the business development department of the Univeristy of Technology in Luleå, as well as in accordance with regional context and strategies. The action plan also takes into account the specific energy and investment needs, current policies and ambitions, as well as regional strengths and weaknesses.
The County council of Norrbotten appreciates all the effort and the valuable input of the peer review team in contributing to the development of the clean tech sector in the county of Norrbotten.
This action and implementation plan has been politically approved by the board of the County council of Norrbotten.
Luleå, October 30, 2014
__________________________________
Kent Ögren
County Councillor of Norrbotten
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3 Introduction to the context of Norrbotten
General indicators
The county of Norrbotten is located in the northernmost part of Sweden and it is the only county in Sweden sharing a land border with two countries – Finland and Norway. It is the largest county of Sweden, with an area of 97.256 km2, covering almost 25% of the Swedish land area. Norrbotten has a population of 249.436 people, which represents about 2,8% of the total population in Sweden.
The county has 14 municipalities and most of the population (~70%) live on the coastal areas nearby the area of the municipality of Luleå, which holds 75.383 inhabitants.
Norrbotten is a very secure and stable county - geologically, politically, socially and digitally. Sweden has not been to war since 1814, the seismic activity is extraordinarily low, and the county is highly ranked regarding technology readiness, ICT use and broadband quality.
Luleå Univeristy of Technology has state of art research in mining technology and energy/environment and collaboration between research, business, public sector and political institutions is important for the development of creative and innovative environments.
Being a part of the expansive Barents region, as well as one of the two EU regions in the hot spot of the Arctic area, the county holds a strategically important location in the European transport system as well as in international affairs.
Natural Resources
Covering such a large area the county is benefitting from a rich variety of resources and business opportunities. The county has vast forests, mountains and rivers that are contributing a great deal to the welfare of Sweden as hydro power, tourism, forestry, wood and paper industry. The raw material based industry is the backbone of the economy and 90% of the iron ore extraction in Europe takes place here. Climatic advantages is used for cooling server rooms and cold climate testing; Facebook built its first server hall outside the USA in Luleå.
Energy indicators
Total energy supply in the county is around 32 TWh of which 42% is fossil fuels (coal, coke, heating oil, petrol and diesel), 38% RES (bioenergy, hydro and wind) and 20% (other materials like rubber tyres etc.)
9 There are 20 major hydro power plants producing almost 18 TWh, 0,5 TWh is produced from wind (another 12 Twh planned) and 1,3 TWh CHP and power plants. These plants are owned more or less by public companies, Vattenfall being the biggest of them, generating roughly half of the total energy produced in the county. The main power source, Luleå River, is twice the size of the Hoover Dam in the USA, and generates 4200 MW of green electricity and thanks to this river, Norrbotten has an electricity surplus of up to 50%.
Thanks to our long history with extensive energy usage industries as steel, pulp and mining, the county holds a very stable electricity grid, with an extremly high capacity and redundancy - there has not been a single disruption within the high voltage lines since 1979.
The average final energy usage is relatively high in Norrbotten, calculated per capita (122 MWh annually, compared with the national average of 45.5 MWh), the biggest reason for this is the energy usage of the basic industry, in combination with the low population of the county. The basic industry is very energy intensive and stands for 75% of the total energy usage. The households and transports use around 9% each, while the service sector makes up to 6%.
Agriculture, forestry and fishing operations make up small part of the energy usage; 0,4 %.
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4 Regional policy, organisation and cooperation
The County Administrative Board is a public body, a regional authority of the state level, present to implement the national policies at a regional level. The board is responsible, in cooperation with other regional stakeholders, for the development of the regional strategies, such as the Regional Development Strategy, Regional Innovation Strategy, Regional Climate and Energy Strategy and Regional Climate and Energy Action Plan. It offers co-financing for EU and regional projects strategy, up to 50% of the project budget, for the implementation of the regional development.
The County council of Norrbotten is the only political entity on the regional level, elected by the county electorate and its main responsibilities lie within the public health care system. Its activities are mostly financed by taxation revenues. It is the the biggest employer of the county, with approx 7000 employees and it runs health care, dental care and education. It also supports culture, public transportation and regional development.
The County council of Norrbotten supports EU and regional projects that strengthen regional competitiveness, by offering regional development funding. The funding is for project in areas of growth and with growth conditions as described in the regional development strategy for Norrbotten.
The 14 municipalities of the county are organised together on regional level within the Association of Municipalities (Kommunförbundet).
Norrbotten holds a Regional Energy Agency of Norrbotten (NENET), which is owned and financed by the County council together with the 14 municipalities of the county. The goal of NENET is to increase the share of RES and the use of EE measures. Main target groups are municipalities, SMEs and organizations.
There is a structured cooperation between regional organisations in the county.
Managed by the County Administrative Board, the steering group of the regional climate and energy strategy consists of public actors as the Luleå University of technology, the County council, The Swedish Forest Agency, The Swedish Transport Administration, the association of local authorities.
Together with other relevant actors, the group works with the development of regional climate and energy strategy as well as with the regional climate and energy action plan.
11 Regional policies and targets
The Regional Development Strategy is the strategic framework for funding from the EU programmes and for regional projects. The regional climate and energy strategy is stated as a criteria for funding as well.
The region holds a climate and energy strategy from 2008. This plan states, among many other things, that a safe supply of sustainable, price worthy and quality checked energy is essential to common welfare and to the companies.
The work is focused around three perspectives: Sustainable growth, sustainable transport and sustainable spatial planning and design. A big challenge is to achieve growth without increased energy use. The strategy is complemented with an action plan running three years at the time.
The climate and energy action plan, from 2013, states actions for specific sectors:
• Industry,
• Construction and housing,
• Forestry and agriculture,
• Traffic and infrastructure and
• Municipalities and county council.
All the regional strategies as the regional development, innovation and climate and energy strategy have energy as a focus area for regional development.
Regional targets on renewable energy and energy efficency
Norrbotten County has the following objectives by 2020 compared to 2005:
• 43% RES share (36% in 2005);
• No oil used for heating;
• 25% decrease in specific heat use (kWh/m2) in buildings;
• 20% increased efficiency in the industry sector;
• 10% RE in the transport system;
• 20% more efficient transport sector.
The vision for 2050 says that the negative climate impact of Norrbotten should be limited and that county shall have a transport system based on renewable fuels and electricity, that all physical planning and design shall be “climate conscious”. Regional actors shall be nationally leading concerning development of clean tech and the efficient use of RES. The prioritized energy sources are hydropower, wind power and bio energy.
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5 SWOT analysis
The key findings of the Peer Review in Norrbotten region are summarised below in an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis). The strengths and weaknesses are described in more depth in chapter 5. The opportunities make the link to the recommendations in chapter 7.
Helpful Harmful
Internal origin
Strengths
Regional strategies developed by a balanced blend of partners
High interest and support from the public authorities for the clean tech
development
Ambitious targets for RES and EE in regard to the 2020 targets
Big university with high R&D potential in cooperation with industry and public partners (triple helix)
Profitable industries
Abundant natural resources for clean energy resources
Strong support mechanisms (ABI, ALMI, CONNECT, CENTEK etc.)
Very active public sector
High number of small clean tech businesses
Availability of regional funds for RES
High potential for EE and RES due to the presence of the energy intensive industry
The Regional Energy Agency
Weaknesses
Lack of a large enough pool of spin-offs, start-ups etc. to provide enough new businesses / jobs in the end
Serious funding gap in the early stage for high quality innovative entrepreneurs
The industry is not formally attached to the execution of the action plan
Connection between the regional / municipal decision making and consistent execution of the policies
The division of regional development tasks between several organisations
Lack of entrepreneurship
The systems in University are not stimulating entrepreneurship
Private funding of LTU is strongly dependant on one industrial partner
External origin
Opportunities
Sweden is a strong brand name
Intensify scouting and screening for innovative spin-offs and start-ups at the University
Enough public funding is available
Green public procurement
Development of the clean tech sector creates new jobs
Government can change taxation and economic environment to make the clean tech more friendly
The Swedish Energy Agency
Threats
The industry structure
A few large companies dominating the industry
Lack of medium sized enterprises
Lack of entrepreneurship attitude
Lack of diversity
Lack of a strategic allocation of public funding in the capital chain
The Swedish bank sector is risk averse
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6 Recommendations
Based on the context, regional strategies and ambitions as well as regional strengths and weaknesses, the following actions, to the peer review recommendations, have been developed in a regional cooperation, mainly together with the County Administrative Board of Norrbotten, the regional energy agency - Nenet and Luleå University of Technology.
6.1 Ambitions, goals and policy
Recommendation 1: Responsibility of regional development
The County Administrative Board of Norrbotten is present to implement the national policies at a regional level. The board is responsible of the regional development and offers regional project funding for the implementation of the regional development strategy.
The County council of Norrbotten is the only political entity on the regional level, elected by the county electorate and its main responsibilities lie within the public health care and dental care. It also supports culture, edution and public transport, and regional development. Its activities are mostly financed by taxation revenues. The County council supports EU and regional projects that strengthen regional competitiveness, by offering regional development funding.
The peer review team found the present division of regional responsibility between different partners quite contra-productive, as a mean for regional development. In spite of this organisational "chaos", the peer review team thought that the public sector has managed to lead the work with policies and action plans, thanks to the fact that the officials from the different public actors work together as a team. The team found it though a somewhat fragile construction, dependent on a small number of devoted officials.
The peer review team further states that is outside their mission to make any suggestions about regional reorganisation, but they see the need for it in the long run.
Action 1:
The ownership of regional development differs in the 21 counties of Sweden. The responsibility of the regional development lies with the regional politically elected bodies, called regions, in 17 of the 21 counties of Sweden, but in four counties, of which one is Norrbotten, the ownership of the regional development lies within the regional office of the state level, the County Administrative Board. Norrbotten did apply to become a region, to have the
14 body – the County council – but, the application was denied for this political election period, ending 14th of September 2014. However, there is a process in Sweden leaning towards regionalization and a new opportunity will arise for Norrbotten, with the new four year political election period starting 15th of September 2014.
On the regional level of Norrbotten, the County council of Norrbotten and the County Administrative Board have decided to work on a common virtual project office. The purpose of this project office is to improve the cooperation between the two organizations and to improve the handling process of incoming project applications for public co-financing. This is to give better support to project idea owners, to improve the quality of projects, to learn from each other in the evalution process of a project and to be more active in the follow-up of projects. Action started in May 2014 and it is a joint responsibility of the County council and the County Administrative Board.
Recommendation 2: Involve SMEs
The peer review team found that there is a structured cooperation between different regional organisations and this group works with the development of the regional climate and energy strategy as well as with the regional climate and energy action plan.
The actions described in "Action plan for climate and energy work in Norrbotten 2013-2015" are important and well connected to the specific challenges in the energy field of Norrbotten. The list of different actions within the specified fields (e.g. "Industry, Housing, Forestry..."), is an excellent summary of what has to be done. In spite of this the peer review team found some gaps that are needed to be filled to reach the ambitious goals of Norrbotten and described below.
The participant group that formed the regional climate and energy action plan lacks the particaption of SMEs. The peer review team thinks that the most dynamic part of business in Norrbotten, especially when it comes to green-tech sector, will be found among the SMEs and that they should be an active part of forming the regional climate and energy action plan.
Action 2:
The County council of Norrbotten is, together with the 14 municipalities of the county, owner of the regional energy agency, Nenet. These owners decided, at the ownership meeting in April 2014, to give Nenet a mission to investigate how a regional platform for the clean tech sector could be set up. By this decision the ownership directive for the regional energy agency states, since April 2014, an additional mission for Nenet to carry out an analysis on the development of a regional platform for the business development of the clean tech sector of
15 Norrbotten. For this purpose the County council has also decided upon an increase of the owner grants to Nenet.
This platform for clean tech should be composed by different regional and local actors, for the purpose of identifing possible business ideas, supporting the development of the ideas (through business support, financing, system solutions, networks, business delegation, procurement) in order to enhance the commercialization and financing of the clean tech ideas. The idea is to make it easier for the entrepreneurs to access and make use of business expertise and finanzing, before and during the commercialization process. The platform for clean tech could be a starting point to start involvning and acting together with the SMEs.
Action started in April 2014 and is assigned to the regional energy agency, Nenet. Related to this action are the good practices for a financing organisation of Flevoland, Noord Brabant and Manchester, which Nenet will look into in deeper later on.
Recommendation 3: Commitment to action
The peer review team lacked a formal commitment from the partners to actually do what is stated in the regional climate and energy action plan. They found that the different actions are not connected to a liable actor. The regional climate and energy action plan states that the different actions are distributed among the partners according to each party's abilities, but some sort of formal attachment would be necessary to get the job done.
Action 3:
The board of the County council of Norrbotten decided in December 2013 to apply for joining the Covenant of Mayors initiative as a regional supporting actor. By this the County council wishes to act as a role model and a driving force in the issue of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, and to inspire and support municipalities in their work, so that they can achieve the actions stated in the regional action planf for climate- and energy. The County council was approved to join and an agreement was signed in April 2014.
The owners of Nenet, decided at the ownership meeting in April 2014, to give Nenet a mission to carry out the activities within the CoM initiative in place of the County council of Norrbotten. By this decision the ownership directive for the regional energy agency now states, since April 2014, an additional mission for Nenet to carry out these obligations. For this purpose the County council has also decided upon an increase of the owner grants to Nenet.
Related to this action is the good practice of Abruzzo and their work as a regional coordinator within the Covenant of Mayors initiative inspiring
16 implementation of the CoM to the context of Norrbotten. This process started in March 2013.
As an action in line with this the County Administrative board of Norrbotten will prepare a regional sustainable energy action plan according to the template of the CoM. The Covenant of Mayors initiative can be used as a tool to create involvement and commitment for action with the municipalities.
Recommendation 4: Follow up of actions
The actions in the regional climate and energy action plan are described quite generally which leaves space for different interpretations. Because of this, an ongoing dialogue around what sort of actions lead to the stated goals, is of great importance.
Action 4:
For the time being, there is a follow up of the actions by meetings with the regional steering committee of the action plan, and also by a written dialog with the municipalities and other organizations. There is however room for improvement with more personalized and planned follow-up meetings/dialogues with the local actors as well. The County Administrative Board is the owner of this issue.
The Covenant of Mayours initiative can also be used as a tool to enhance the communication with and the follow up of the municipalities. Action started in December 2013 and is to be carried out by Nenet.
Since April 2014 until March 2017 the regional energy agency – Nenet, owned by the county council and the municipalities, is engaged in an Intelligent Energy Europe-project called Data4action, in which the aim is to develop effective data collection and access. With this updated and informative statistics can be used as a tool to follow up and to steer activities where the actual need is.
6.2 Organisations
Recommendation 5: Green public procurement
The public organisations could make substantial difference by making green demands in the procurement process. By these demands it is possible creating a local market for e.g. system-solutions within the RES sector.
Action 5:
17 The County council is already using green demands and life cycle cost analysis in its public procurement process, however, the council has an ambition to enhance this further on.
One action within this is that the County council of Norrbotten, together with the County Administrative Board and other regional actors, arranged in February 2014, a regional conference on Innovative public procurement. This kind of procurement can work as a driving force for change, to choose other products/solutions, to boost sustainable ideas by making green demands in the procurement process.
Furthermore, the County council is also supporting, by a letter of support in May 2014, a project idea of the regional energy agency, Nenet, dealing with green public procurement, which aims to foster effective collaboration in green public procurement between public authorities on the local, regional and national level.
The board of the County council of Norrbotten decided in December 2013 to apply for joining the Covenant of Mayors initiative as a regional supporting actor. By this the County council wishes to act as a role model to the municipalities and a driving force in the issue of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, increasing the green demands by the public sector and thereby boosting the demand for sustainable solutions.
Recommendation 6: Map of clean tech initiatives
Another important mission which the peer review team emphazised on for the public sector, is to map all the clean tech initiatives and identify all production done. This overview would be beneficial in order to get these companies to work together with offering system solutions and to grow outside Norrbotten.
Action 6:
The regional energy agency, Nenet, has initiated a mapping of the clean tech companies of Norrbotten, to be accomplished together with the business development department of the university. The platform for clean tech could be a forum for this mapping and for involving, acting together with and improving the cooperation between SMEs. Action was initiated in April 2014 and is the responsibility of Nenet and conducted by the business development department of the University of Technology in Luleå.
The County council of Norrbotten is developing its own database for external visiualization, for projects funded by the County council. Action was initiated in May 2014.
18 Due to cultural heritage and strengthened by the traditional industry infrastructure, which is featured by the presence of large companies as employers, the peer review team found that the employee attitude is general in Norrbotten. There is a low level of entrepreneurial spirit/attitude, more over entrepreneurs are not generally held in high esteem. As a consequence, entrepreneurial skills are insufficient. It is not rare that start up companies present their ideas to potential investors without “having completely done their homework” that is without preparing their business plan, marketing plan, financing plan and actions time schedule. The peer review team found that the company presentations often tended to be technology oriented rather than market oriented.
To boost entrepreneurship the peer review team recommended some steps to be taken. Firstly, earlier and more systemic education in entrepreneurship is needed in secondary and higher education. The presence of a strong technical university is one of the most striking strengths of Norrbotten and some sort of "centre for entrepreneurship" could be created within the university.
Secondly, screening and scouting should be focused upon, in order to identify and generate good ideas, within and coming out of the university.
Action 7:
The Luleå University of Technology is not within the area of competence of the County council of Norrbotten. However, the council is in close cooperation with the university and is thereby communicating with the university about the peer review recommendations and the university aslo participated in the peer review as well as has received the final report.
Since the peer review, the university has launched, in August 2014, a ‘Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning’, which is a new venture at Luleå University of Technology in order to develop entrepreneurship in society with a particular focus on the education sector. In addition to research, the centre will work with selected schools in the immediate area and train teachers in the education system in the topic of entrepreneurial learning.
Furthermore, the university has improved their work with commercialization of research. The university has now a business development department which is actively scouting for research ideas that could be commercialized and these business advisors then create a strategy of commercialization for the research idea, based on which the researcher can choose to either continue as an entrepreneur, to license the idea for others to carry on or to drop the commercialization.
19 The business development department of the university is also starting, the fall of 2014, a cooperation with the regional organization of Junior Achievement, in order to attract entrepreneurial students to the university by offering inspiration, support and help in further development of their entrepreneurship. The regional organization of Junior Achievement, which for the time being is working with students at the age of 16-18, will broaden their work with entreprenurship at the lower grades too, with students at the age of 13-15.
The regional energy agency, Nenet, established a cooperation, in November 2013, with the Luleå University of Technology and other business development organizations, for the purpose to together develop ideas, communicate and act with municipalities and local business actors.
The planned platform for clean tech should be composed by different regional and local actors, therein the Luleå University of Technology. Having the university in the platform could enhance the possibility of identifying potential ideas for further business development or maybe for further research. In any case, the platform could help all the different regional actors to be aware of and get knowledge about the ideas flourishing in the region.
6.3 Project development
Recommendation 8: Overview of projects
A comprehensive, systematic overview/database of running and planned projects is missing in Norrbotten. Neither was a database of the County Administrative Board nor the County council supported projects available.
Action 8:
The County council of Norrbotten and the County Administrative Board are since May 2014 working on a common virtual project office. The purpose of that is to improve the cooperation between the two actors and to enhance the handling process of incoming project applications for co-financing. This is to give better support to project idea owners, to improve the quality of projects, to learn from each other in the evalution process of a project and to be more active in the follow-up of projects.
Furthermore, the County council of Norrbotten is developing its own database external visiualization/use, for projects funded by the County council. Action was initiated in May 2014.
Recommendation 9: Develop the bioenergy sector
The county of Norrbotten, based on its excellent resources and practices, should be ready for the arising of international biofuel market and make every
20 example related to pulp and paper and chemical industries).
Action 9:
At the board meeting of the County council of Norrbotten, in January 2014, a decision was made to co-finance a project within the biomass-sector. This project is run by the municipality of Piteå, which is working together with the industry actors in the region. The purpose of the project is to analyse the energy flow model in the forest and pulp and paper industries, in order to get knowledge about how to efficiently make use of energy, waste/rest energy and bi-energy flows for possible new products and processes, for the development of the industries. This project is running during 2014.
At the regional perspective, a development of a regional strategy for the biomass sector is under analysis. This is an action owned by the County Administrative Board.
Recommendation 10: Encourage system solutions
System solutions should be encouraged and thus formation of clean technology/energy clusters is to be encouraged that can be innovative platforms of system solutions.
System solutions could also be facilitated by systematically collect and identify all the clean tech initiatives in the region (e.g. by the Council or NENET) and find ways to make them so as to give boost to their growth. There should be a platform created where the clean tech initiatives are brought together so that jointly they can seek (find) innovative system solutions and can cooperate with the regional eco system for business development.
Action 10:
The County council of Norrbotten is, together with the 14 municipalities of the County, owner of the regional energy agency, Nenet. These 15 owners decided, at the ownership meeting in April 2014, to give Nenet a mission to investigate how a regional platform for the clean tech sector could be set up.
By this decision the ownership directive for the regional energy agency states, since April 2014, an additional mission for Nenet to carry out the analysis on the development of a regional platform for the business development of the clean tech sector of Norrbotten. For this purpose the County council has also decided upon an increase of the owner grants to Nenet.
This platform for clean tech should be composed by different regional and local actors, for the purpose of identifieng possible business ideas, supporting the development of the ideas (through business support, financing, system solutions, networks, business delegation, procurement) in order to enhance the
21 commercialization and financing of the clean tech ideas. The idea is to make it easier for the entrepreneurs to access and make use of business expertise and finanzing, before and during the commercialization process.
Furthermore, for the development of clusters and export for business, the County council is co-financing a project, for the period of 2013-12-01 – 2014-12- 31, with the purpose gather clean tech entrepreneurs, the Arctic Cleantech Cluster, for the possibility to offer system solutions to bigger global clients.
6.4 Financing
Recommendation 11: Active strategy for development of entrepreneurship The Peer Review team recommends an active strategy on stimulating entrepreneurship, both in general as specific.
Action 11:
All regional strategies and action plans are of the responsibility of the County Administrative Board. This recommendation will be forwarded to the County Administrative Board for the future planning of strategies.
Recommendation 12: Revolving fund
The peer review team advices to start a (public) fund in this very early stage, which provides loans, that has to be paid back, but without the requirement to match it with private capital already in this very early stage. We think it will enlarge the amount of high-potential start-up companies that will survive this very early stage, and by that reach the phase that matching by private capital gets realistic. In the end, it will even enlarge the amount of companies that are really attractive for private investors.
This fund has to provide loans, no grants, and it should use a panel of experienced entrepreneurs and investment specialist to select the right proposals.
Action 12:
To stimulate entreprenurship, to identify potential business ideas and to facilitate/ease the financing of potential ideas, the platform is one way to start with this, as the platform should involve experienced business development actors as well as both public and private investors.
In fact since our peer review, the national level, the government is analysing the possibility of that the national regional development fund could hold a fund- in-fund solution where venture capital for RES and energy efficiency initiatives will be prioritised.
22 Furthermore, another idea/need has been identified in our innovation system since the peer review, and that is a need for an accelerator. This accelerator would be the step before entering an incubator (the Arctic Business Incubator in our region) and the purpose of the accelerator would be to, as fast as possible, secure early stage financing for a business idea. This idea of an accelerator is processed by the business development department of the university.
6.5 Communication
Recommendation 13: Improve communication
Currently there is no communication strategy put forward by a public body. It is very important for companies and investors to get all the information on RES in a clear, direct, concrete way.
The Regional Energy Agency (Nenet) has a great potential in promoting the usage of EE and RES in the region. It must work to intensify its role and obtain a solid position within the context of organisations regarding stimulating financing of EE and the use of RES at regional level.
Action 13:
Through the, before mentioned, clean tech platform, Nenet can strengthen its role and the platform could work as working group for the sharing and communicating the clean tech possibilities of Norrbotten.
Norrbotten holds on organization called Invest in Norrbotten, which is owned by the County council and the municipalities of Norrbotten. The mission of Invest in Norrbotten is to increase the knowledge of the advantages of the county as well as selling the regional opportunities to presumptive business founders and investors, both national and international. Invest in Norrbotten is a coordinating, supporting function at regional level and works very close with the municipalities.
The County council aims to strengthen the collaboration between Nenet and Invest in Norrbotten in order to improve the communication of the sustainable clean tech business opportunities within the county.
Recommendation 14: Import good practices from R4GG partners
Look into the possibility of importing good practice financial mechanism from the R4GG partner regions
The concept of DE-on Flevoland and the approach of Greater Manchester might be a possible solution for speeding up the energy transition towards a
23 more sustainable energy supply and developing cleantech business. In both situations public authorities are involved in establishing (revolving) investment funds to provide financing for RE-projects and in establishing a professional project development organisation.
Action 14:
The County council of Norrbotten, the County Administrative Board and Nenet will together organize a workshop for communicating the idea of the platform, for involvning regional and local actors in the development, in order to get active engagement in the work of the platform. In this workshop we want to show good examples from national and European level, thereby Noord Brabant and Flevoland, and Manchester are interesting for us, and we also want to involve a good Swedish example, as well as the National Energy Agency and the European Investement Bank.
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7 Long term commitment and work
The county of Norrbotten, through the participation of the County council of Norrbotten, has the privilege to be part of the R4GG project and thereby benefitting from the knowledge and experience of regions around Europe for the future development of our county. Eventough many regions are facing the same global challenges, the solutions often need to be adapted though, as each region has its own context, history, strength, weaknesses, threats and opportunities, which need to be taken into consideration.
When developing the actions and the implementation of the recommendations, it is important to remember wherein the County council has executive authority to act. As described before, the regional authority of the state level, the County Administrative Board has the ownership and the responsibility of the regional development issues in the county of Norrbotten.
Thus, those recommendations having to do with the County Adminitrative Board as well as with the Luleå Univeristy are not competence of the County council. However, the council has a close cooperation with both of these actors and both of them have also been part of the peer review process as well as the development of this action and implementation plan. Thereby, the implementation of the actions has regional commitment.
Many of the actions in this plan has a long term implementation process, in which many actors as well as financing is needed. The County council of Norrbotten will work closely with the relevant actors for carrying through the needed actions for further development of our county.
This process has to be an ongoing long term work, which needs political commitment and financing as well as active and dynamic work to be carried out in collaboration with actors and different sectors, on both regional and local level. The political will of the County council of Norrbotten is to act as a driving force and role model in this work.
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Annex I – Stakeholders of Norrbotten
www.nll.se
The County Council is the only democratically elected organization on the regional level. It has activities in the fields of health care, dentistry, arts and culture, education and regional development.
Within the area of regional development, organizations that have ideas on the county development can apply to the County Council to receive project funding.
www.lansstyrelsen.se/norrbott en
The County Administrative Board is a regional government authority with the responsibility for the county development and thereby also the responsibility, in cooperation with several regional actors, to develop regional strategies, i.e. the Regional Development Strategy, Regional Innovation Strategy, Regional Climate and Energy Strategy and Regional Climate and Energy Action Plan.
Companies, organizations and others that have ideas on the county development can apply to the County Administrative Board to receive different kind of funding.
www.bd.komforb.se
Kommunförbundet Norrbotten - The Association of the municipalities of Norrbotten - coordinates municipalities in Norrbotten and has an important role in the regional development work, as they take part in strategic discussions and the development of regional strategies with other relevant stakeholders as well.
www.centek.se
Centek is a business-driving company owned by LTU Holding. Centek works through regional and international collaborations and closely together with Luleå University of Technology. Centek wants to be a leading regional stakeholder that promotes growth through knowledge and innovations.
Centek guides entrepreneurs with business ideas through hundreds of EU programmes from where
26 others apply for funding.
Represented by: Emil Svanberg
www.a-b-i.se
Arctic Business Incubator is the northernmost incubator in Sweden and operates from Skellefteå in the south to Kiruna in the north. Their task is to realize the dreams of entrepreneurs, create regional growth, prosperity and a richer environment in Northern Sweden. Artic Business Incubator does this by developing the ideas of entrepreneurs into profitable business with international growth that generate jobs and export income to the region.
ABI is a Swedish company owned equally by LTU Holding, Norrlandsfonden, Längmanska Fund for Entrepreneurship and the Cities of Luleå and Skellefteå, as well as ALMI Företagspartner, Business Incubators for Growth BIG Sweden.
www.biosling.se
Biosling is a newly formed sales company that works with marketing and sales of the three self developed energy- and environment products Biosling, Slypen, and The sling pump. All three products are stems from the same unique patented principle which makes them profitable investments both for the customer, the environment, and the future. The products were developed and tested for a long period of time in cooperation with consultants, research facilities, and other specialists within the field.
Represented by: Thomas Sundqvist, Marketing &
Business Development
CONNECT Norr
www.connectnorr.org
CONNECT is a business network that promotes the development of growth companies. The model started at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and is now available worldwide. There are six regional offices in Sweden.
CONNECT is a nonprofit organization that offers support and advice for entrepreneurs and growth
