1. OVERVIEW: NORWAY
Anne H. Worsoe
Director, Innovation Norway, San Francisco
Stanford School of Engineering
European Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program
February 7th, 2011

2. Norway: Highlights
- Population approx. 5 million
- One of the highest per-capita income in the world: $53,000
- One of the most heavily taxed countries in the world,
but 28% corporate tax and zero cap gains
- Unemployment rate 3.5% - lowest in Europe
- Ranked 3rd in Gallup’s happiness survey
- Poverty almost nonexistent – generous welfare system
Norway’s total petroleum production,
bnNOK (2007)
- Oil & gas operations ¼ of GDP
- …but will not last forever
- What when the oil runs out?
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3. Focus on R&D, innovation & entrepreneurship
- Norwegians are ”Technology Optimists”
- Rates of start-up creation among
highest in the world per capita*
- 12% increase in # of startups 2010
- Low business startup costs
#VC investment (Norway) 2010
Oil&gas - Lots of cellphones
18%
Other
- Plenty of secure Internet servers
29%
ICT - High quality/low cost R&D
20%
Life sci/
Med Cleantech - The perception that working
15% 18%
hard gets you ahead
*According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 2010 3

4. Some Norwegian finalists @Red Herring
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5. A Norwegian Silicon Valley success story
- Meltwater Group: Global SaaS-provider, B2B
- Established in 2001, 100mUSD in 2010
- 820 FTEs in 26 countries, 18.000 customers
- #25 of the 200 fastest growing companies
in Europe (Dun & Bradstreet)
- Always profitable, no VC funding, no debt
- ”In Silicon Valley… for each new customer and employee,we
compete with the world’s most competetive companies. It’s
inspiring and fun.”
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