Locating our North Star
A vision for Nordic competitiveness
By pursuing ambitious, business-led missions together, the Nordics can turn their combined scale into a lasting competitive advantage and set the pace for Europe.
Executive summary
Together, the Nordicsi are a leading European middle power. While the five sovereign nations that make up the Nordics—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—are individually small, they are together the equivalent of the world’s 12thlargest economy. While they collectively represent just 5.2% of Europe’s population, the Nordics command 7.6% of Europe’s total GDP, which is larger than that of Spain; 12.2% of total market capitalisation, close to that of Germany; and 9.4% of the continent’s R&D spending and 10.1% of its defence spending, both more than Italy.
The Nordics have what it takes to lead in Europe and a track record to prove it. Strong institutions, deep savings, abundant resources, high trust, and world-leading standout companies give the region a solid foundation. History offers examples of what the Nordics can achieve together: From the passport union to the mobile phone standard, Nordic cooperation has contributed to broader European progress.
But there is room for the Nordics to make faster progress. While the region has since 2000 led Europe in growth in GDP per capita and productivity, that growth has been 28% and 41% lower, respectively, than that of the United States. The Nordics also struggle to scale young companies, and they face new headwinds in security, trade, demographics, technology, and climate. Many of the answers require a scale that no Nordic country can reach alone.
Ambitious, business-led Nordic missions could be part of the answer. These missions are not cooperation for its own sake. Each targets an area where Nordic collaboration delivers a step change in what is possible: scale that no single country can reach alone, speed that five closely aligned countries can achieve faster than Europe as a whole, and bolder innovation made possible by sharing capabilities and risk. Led by the private sector, the missions turn the Nordics’ combined strengths into concrete projects.
Concrete missions across four areas. The proposed missions span capital markets, energy, technology, and defence—from keeping standout companies at home to building global technology leadership. Beyond these four broad areas, further potential remains to be explored in critical areas such as critical minerals, health, and food.
Now is the time to move from diagnosis to action. Our proposed missions offer pathways for turning a shared diagnosis of Nordic competitiveness into concrete action. But they are a starting point for discussion rather than a fixed destination. Coalitions convened through Nordic Compass could then take them forward from the Nordic Compass Summit in Gothenburg, adapting, combining, or adding missions as the work develops.
Download the PDF below to read the full vision paper.
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