Innovation Norway is a state-owned company and a

national development bank A national development bank is a development bank created by a country's government that provides financing for the purposes of economic development of the country. List of development banks Americas * Business Development Bank of Canada * Brazili ...

. The company's programs and services are intended to stimulate entrepreneurship in Norway. Its head office is in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, and an office in each of the Norwegian counties. It also has offices in 30 countries around the world. The company has over 500 employees worldwide and has supported maritime transportation, biotechnology,

thin film A thin film is a layer of material ranging from fractions of a nanometer (monolayer) to several micrometers in thickness. The controlled synthesis of materials as thin films (a process referred to as deposition) is a fundamental step in many ap ...

, and

alternative fuel Alternative fuel, known as non-conventional and advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels like; '' fossil fuels'' (petroleum (oil), coal, and natural gas), as well as nuclear mat ...

History

Innovation Norway was formed in 2004 through the merger of four governmental organizations. These organizations were: * The Norwegian Tourist Board * The Norwegian Trade Council * The

Norwegian Industrial and Regional Development Fund Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

(SND) * The Government Consultative Office for Inventors (SVO)

The “Sommarøy” controversy

In the summer of 2019 Innovation Norway were involved in the production of a spoof news story about the island

Sommarøy Sommarøy is an old fishing village in the western part of Tromsø Municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. It is located about west of the city of Tromsø and is a popular tourist destination due to its white sand beaches and scenery. ...

. The story claimed that due to long days in the summer and long nights during winter, inhabitants didn't have the need to follow international conventions of time. The aim of the spoof news story was to advertise Northern Norway. The advert was originally presented as a legitimate news story, and its multiple false claims were only discovered after the story had been disseminated world wide. The company was strongly criticized for their promotional strategy. Innovation Norway has since issued an apology regretting their lack of transparency and vowing to scrutinize their routines.

References

External links

Innovation Norway's English pages

Innovations offices abroad
{{authority control Government-owned companies of Norway