28 Jun 2023

New Project Unlocks New Opportunities for Regional Businesses

Last week, the joyful news was announced that the project "Innovationskraft för grön omställning" (Innovation for Green Transition) was granted funding from the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. This creates opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises to receive support in developing their innovation efforts and seizing the business opportunities that come with the green industrial transition. As a result, North Sweden Cleantech welcomes two new collaborative partners.

Northern Sweden's business sector is expanding, and North Sweden Cleantech is a collaborative platform that has been supporting small and medium-sized enterprises in green technology, clean energy, and sustainable solutions in Västerbotten County and Örnsköldsvik municipality for the past seven years. The previous collaboration is strengthened through the "Innovation for Green Transition" project with two additional collaborative partners, Piteå Science Park and BizMaker, which in turn means that the geographic area is expanding to include Norrbotten and the entire Västernorrland County. By expanding the geography, a shared, cross-border regional innovation ecosystem is also developing, creating more opportunities to address the region's challenges.

- It is incredibly exciting that we have secured funding for this project, which will bring benefits to businesses in northern Sweden and contribute to sustainable growth. By simultaneously strengthening regional collaboration, from Sundsvall to Luleå, we are establishing a robust innovation system within cleantech that supports innovative solutions and can address the challenges facing the region, says Anna Mård, CEO of Skellefteå Science City, the project owner.

The "Innovation for Green Transition" is a three-year project aimed at enhancing the sustainable growth and competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and capitalizing on the opportunities arising from the green industrial transition in northern Sweden. By showcasing and providing access to innovation environments and testbeds, the project strengthens the capacity of SMEs to develop innovations resulting in new and improved products and services. Additionally, the project aims to enhance small and medium sized enterprises access to knowledge and tools for systematically working with innovation and to increase innovation collaboration between SMEs and major actors, industrial establishments, academia, and research institutes.

The project owner is Skellefteå Science City, and the other partners are Arctic Business, BizMaker, Piteå Science Park, RISE Processum, Umeå Municipality, and Uminova Innovation.

The project runs from January 7, 2023, to October 31, 2026, with a total budget of 27 million Swedish kronor. The project is financed by the European Regional Development Fund, Region Västerbotten, Piteå Municipality, Skellefteå Municipality, Umeå Municipality, Örnsköldsvik Municipality, RISE Processum, Arctic Business, BizMaker, Uminova Innovation, Piteå Science Park, Skellefteå Science City, PiteEnergi, Övik Energi, Skellefteå Kraft, Umeå Energi, Umeå Kommunföretag, and Vakin.