Norway has a plan to be a leading location for datacentres with a policy that will put it in direct competition with some of its Nordic neighbours.

Norway, in no mood to lag behind the rapid forward leaps recorded by near neighbours Sweden and Denmark, has rolled out an ambitious new strategy to position the country as a leading location for IT-datacentre operations.

The project development strategy now being championed by prime minister Erna Solberg’s conservative-led government, under its Norway As A Data Centre Nation (NADCN) plan, represents a shot across the collective bow of Denmark and Sweden.

These near neighbours have been hugely successful in using their cold climates and easy access to renewable energy to attract significant datacentre investments. The list of high profile global industry players that have, since 2010, invested in datacentres in Sweden and Denmark include Apple, Facebook and Google.

The NADCN strategy adopts an approach that includes regulatory and tax-based support. At the front-end, the stimulus plan includes the removal of taxes on plant and machinery for datacentres and data-centric enterprises alike.

The strategy also comprises reform legislation to fast-track the construction of datacentres. It aims to clarify planning regulations relating to the building of datacentres. Moreover, a new process is being implemented, at national and local council level, to simplify procedure requirements linked to public highway excavation works.

“This is a massively important national strategy. This government will cooperate with industry to not only stimulate project development and investment, but also create a working environment where regulations are simplified and costs can be kept low,” said Ketil Solvik-Olsen, Norway’s transport and communications minister.

The NADCN incorporates a range of financial support incentives covering the building of additional overseas fibre cables. It includes a state-private partnership proposal to co-finance the construction of a standby backbone network. This co-venture is expected to initially run as a pilot-scheme with capital input from Innovation Norway, the state-run national development finance organisation.

Significantly, and particularly from the point of view of investors, the NADCN plan includes enhanced government spending on IT skills. The initiative will fund an additional 1,250 student placements at universities and technical colleges across Norway by year-end 2018 alone.

“Norway does have the reputation for being a high-cost location. We need to play to our strengths. The growing IT segment in our third level educational system is one positive. Another, and one that will interest datacentre investors and operators, is our well-functioning power sector. We have large renewable energy resources offering competitive electricity rates,” said Torbjørn Røe Isaksen, Norway’s industry minister.

Norway’s datacentre sector is largely populated by small to medium-sized players like Basefarm, Evry and Digiplex. The Green Mountain facility at Rennesøy, constructed on the site of a former Nato munitions depot, is one of the country’s most high profile datacentre facilities. ICT-group Digiplex operates datacentres near Oslo, Fetsund and Rosenholm.

The scale and flow of new datacentre projects is showing concrete signs of rapid growth. Canada’s Hive Blockchain Technologies acquired the Norwegian-American Kolos project company in March. This project covers the building of a four story facility holding 70-MW of IT equipment in northern Norway. The facility has the potential to scale-up processing capacity to 1,000-MW. Strategically, Kolos will support HIVE’s blockchain and crypto-currency infrastructure business.

Ringeriks-Kraft is being linked to a co-venture with a Japanese investment partner to build a datacentre at a site located north west of Oslo. Additionally, the German IT manufacturing group Rittal plans to expand its newly opened datacentre in Lefdal, outside Oslo. The Lefdal Mine Datacentre, at full utilisation at around 120,000 square metres of white space, has the potential to become Europe’s biggest datacentre.

The NADCN plan has been simmering under the surface of the Norwegian government’s broader National ICT Development Strategy for several years. Norway has prioritised specific policy objectives that combine strong digital innovation and data-driven value creation. The obvious goal here is to create a sustainable and integrated approach to the development of the country’s ICT sector.

Norway, in order to achieve the specific targets set out in the NADCN, will need to scale-up investments in critical infrastructure such as new overseas dark fibre routes. The implementation of proposed tax incentives will also be important in the NADCN’s overall vision. Understanding the need to elevate Norway’s tech-image globally, the Norwegian government plans to also channel funding into marketing projects designed to bolster the country’s reputation as a cost-competitive cold-climate location for datacentre investments.

TechRadar Pro heads to Oslo to find out why Norway can be the biggest Scandinavian success story yet.

When it comes to the latest big tech breakthroughs, many people would think of California, Singapore or China as the world’s top locations for vibrant start-ups.

Norway’s economy has traditionally focused around the sea, with oil, gas and fishing among its most famous industries. However as the world gradually comes round to realising these resources are somewhat finite, many Norwegians are instead turning to technology to make their fortune.

TechRadar Pro headed to the land of ice and snow (aka Oslo) to speak to some of the country’s top start-ups and investment firms to find out just how close Norway is to being the next big technology success story.

To begin with, that last sentence may have been somewhat of a misnomer. Norway has had several major technology successes in recent years, including the likes of Kahoot, Vivaldi, and probably the most notable, Opera Software.

Former Opera vice president and chief commercial officer Rolf Assev quit the company after 12 years service in the corporate world, and now helps head up Oslo’s StartupLab, a dedicated space for fledgling Norwegian firms to grow and prosper.

“When we started six years ago, no one believed in us, because no one believed you could make money of early stage tech start-ups,” he tells TechRadar Pro at StartupLab headquarters, on the campus of Oslo’s main university.

“People believe we have never done start-ups in Norway…but we have!”

At first glance, StartupLab seems similar to the many start-up accelerators found in San Francisco or around London’s Silicon Roundabout. Teams of four or five sit around wheeled wooden desks (to ensure easy movement around the floor) or huddle round screens, talking excitedly in meeting rooms.

However Assev explains that behind the calm facade, the selection process is extremely tough as the Norwegian technology scene continues to develop. StartupLab accepts only one in every 10 applicants it receives, he reveals, meaning that competition is fierce to get in.

Assev explains that although Sweden has traditionally been Scandinavia’s leading technology hub, Norway is fast catching up. The traditional levels of investment pushed into the west coast of the country, home to the fishing and utility industries, is now instead being focused inland to the cities – offering a great opportunity for tech start-ups.

For StartupLab, it is often the founders themselves that make companies an attractive proposition, Assev says. He highlights Magnus Wanberg, the CEO of reMarkable, an e-screen company that had to take on the likes of Samsung and Google, and Karen Dolva, founder of No Isolation, which builds robot companions for the elderly and children with learning difficulties, as proof that investing in people who believe in their ideas (and plan for the long term) can be the key for success.

“We believe in the founders,” he notes, “we believe they are the best people to find out where a company is going.”

Businesses, especially start-ups, in other countries often fall victim to a model of rapid initial growth, before being sold or amalgamated into larger companies, Assev says. However in Norway, thanks to much of the investment into start-ups coming from within the country, rather than from abroad, domestic companies are able to keep their independence, and grow organically to achieve greater levels of success.

“There is no one doing the same model that we are doing,” he adds, “we did this not to make money, but to give back.”

“We don’t know what the next steps are just yet – we just know we want to have global successes…and be the place for the best start-ups in Norway.”

Over in Oslo’s picturesque old town, a snowball’s throw from the ornate 17th century cathedral, another organisation is looking to encourage the next generation of Norwegian tech start-ups to break into the big time.

Tharald Nustad and Anders Lier head up Nordic Impact, an angel investment firm that looks to back technology start-ups that are able to do good for the planet.

Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, is well-placed to push this agenda, having long been a key location for new technology fields – from green energy to electric vehicles

Lier, Nordic Impact’s executive chairman, notes that technology can “lift the country out of the oil dopmaine, into the new world,” with banks, cities, universities and corporate machines all working together to help support a vibrant Norwegian start-up scene.

Lier notes that the dawn of a new “unicorn economy” could be coming to Norway within the next few years – one with the potential to rival the oil boom of the 1970s, which has helped transform the country into the model for progress it is now.

“It’s the right time for Norway to leave the oil industry,” he says, “we need to find a new future.”

“We think more of the learning society – being smart doesn’t mean you do the right stuff.”

Lier notes that Norway is able to benefit not just from abundant natural resources, but thanks to its oil wealth, can enjoy national cash reserves of around £1 billion – which he believes could be invested into technology.

However Nordic Impact is not just focused on the next big thing or technology trend however, as the company looks to instead solve the big issues facing modern society within the next few decades.

“Looking from above, the question is what is the future of society?” Lier notes, “We don’t really know, but it will be a world of abundance.”

With less than five thousand working days left until 2030, the need for ituitive, intelligent technologies is becoming more pressing by the day, and this requires new, non-linear business models – such as that provided by Nordic Impact.

“We are optimistic about the future,” he adds, “but we can’t just leave it to the technology…we have to be on top of it.”

“We have the DNA to take risks.”

Along with innovation though, collaboration is the key to ensuring humanity benefits from the boost technology can bring.

Nustad, a serial tech entrepreneur and the founder of Nordic Impact, notes how new technology has helped bring people together over the past decades, but adds that physical interaction is important as ensuring we use the latest tools.

Lier again references No Isolation as an example of the good work their investment has helped fund, and states that success will come not just from good technology or good business processes, but how companies work with the communities that surround them.

“There shouldn’t be any competition to try and save the world,” he observes.

The firm now looks to encourage investment in Norway through its own efforts. This May, it is set to host the Katapult Future Fest in Oslo to show off both the good work done by its existing benficiaries, and highlight the potential of both the city and Norway as a whole to investors both at home and around the world.

“Those in the know, know Norway,” Lier notes.

Ultimately, it seems that the excitement around Norway’s technology scene is well-placed. A young city, open to new ideas, and ready to benefit from a wealth investment – all of this seems to contribute towards the recipe for a success story. The future of the world when it comes to technology may well be found in Scandinavia, with Norway right at the heart of the action.

(techradar)