On 23 August, Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre and Health and Care Minister Ingvild Kjerkol presented the “Roadmap for the health industry” But what does it mean?

The roadmap shows first of all that the Government must have an investment in health as an industry, and that this investment will be coordinated between several ministries with the Ministry of Trade and Fisheries (NFD) and the Ministry of Health and Welfare (HOD) as the leader in this work.

“The purpose of the roadmap is to show the great breadth of the government’s policy to promote and strengthen the healthcare industry in Norway. The road map will set out the best possible course going forward, and contribute to a “new lease” for the healthcare industry,” writes the Government at the outset. This means that the roadmap primarily shows what ambitions the Government has for the healthcare industry, and what initiatives they will emphasize. It is also correct to see this roadmap in the context of the Government’s export initiative “Hele Norge eksporterer”, where the health industry is singled out as one of four new export initiatives, which will lead to Norway increasing its mainland exports by 50 per cent by 2030.

Here are the points we consider most important from the road map:

• Siva is assigned to investigate how the healthcare industry can benefit to a greater extent from the catapult scheme. It is being considered to establish a separate center for the industry (NFD).
• HOD must make arrangements for business to have access to public health data. Continuation of Norwegian participation in EU programs (especially Horizon Europe and DIGITAL). Contribute to mobilizing Norwegian applicants from the healthcare industry towards EU programs and schemes.
• Instruments such as Investinor, Innovation Norway’s instruments, and Norwegian participation in InvestEU can stimulate the building of competent investment environments and access to capital for profitable projects in the healthcare industry (NFD). Pursue an active business policy that contributes to good overall framework conditions that facilitate private investment and further growth.
• Ensure increased awareness in the public sector about procurement responsibility.
• Focus on export promotion. The Hurdal platform aims for a 50 per cent increase in Norwegian exports by 2030 (excluding the oil and gas sector) (NFD).

Norway Health Tech is positive about the roadmap.

– Last year, the three NCE clusters Oslo Cancer Cluster, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster and Norway Health Tech laid the foundation for a Norwegian investment in health technology testing through the establishment of HealthCatalyst. In the roadmap, the Government has mentioned the catapult scheme, and that they are considering establishing a separate test center for the industry. This is very important, and something we support, says CEO of Norway Health Tech, Lena Nymo Helli.