Key take aways - Building Nordic Innovation Bridges

Infrastructure Exists — But Access, Scale, and Visibility Remain Major Barriers

While the Nordic region possesses a strong foundation of testbed infrastructure, innovators across sectors report persistent challenges in finding, accessing, and scaling within these environments. Participants emphasized that the issue is not a lack of infrastructure, but rather the difficulty of coordinating and utilizing what already exists.

A number of recurring concerns emerged in the discussions:

Limited visibility: Many innovators simply do not know which facilities, capabilities, or openings are available across the Nordic countries.

Barriers to scaling: Large-scale industrial test environments are often scarce, difficult to access, or prohibitively expensive.

Geographic constraints: Remote locations and travel limitations reduce practical use and collaboration opportunities.

Cost pressures: High prices, in combination with limited SME budgets, create a “catch-22” that prevents promising concepts from progressing.

Across discussions, participants called for stronger coordination, shared visibility, and more accessible pathways to scale promising innovations.

Funding Gaps Undermine Testing, Scaling, and Network Coordination

Innovation development and the operation of testbeds in the Nordic region are increasingly constrained by funding limitations. Testbeds often lack sufficient resources to operate effectively, upgrade their capabilities, and remain relevant in fast-moving technology areas.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face additional challenges when transitioning innovations from lab-scale development (TRL 4–6) to market-ready solutions (TRL 7–10), due to limited funding models that support this critical scaling phase.

At the same time, cluster managers, network coordinators, and connectors—roles widely recognized as essential for fostering collaboration and innovation—struggle with a lack of sustainable funding.

Participants consistently emphasized the need for new hybrid funding models that do not rely solely on universities or public grants, enabling more resilient and adaptable support for both testbeds and the networks that drive innovation forward.

Human Networks Matter More Than Platforms

A clear message emerged from discussions: while databases and digital tools are helpful, it is people who make the connections that drive innovation.

Participants repeatedly highlighted that trust-based, personal relationships accelerate innovation far more effectively than digital platforms alone. Face-to-face interactions were described as essential for matchmaking, fostering collaboration, and solving complex problems.

Community nodes often generate early-stage ideas, and testbeds provide the means to scale them—but human connectors are needed to bridge the two effectively.

As a result, any Nordic innovation system must prioritize relationship-building infrastructure alongside physical infrastructure, ensuring that networks of people are as robust and accessible as the technologies they support.

Need for a Nordic “Knowledge Bridge”: Shared Information and Complementary Strengths

Participants emphasized the importance of exchanging knowledge across regions and sectors to strengthen innovation throughout the Nordic region. Sharing testbed capabilities was seen as critical to avoid duplication and to leverage complementary strengths, while learning from each other’s methods, technologies, and pilot projects was highlighted as a key driver of improvement.

Many called for the creation of a Nordic-wide platform—anchored by people, not just data—to ensure a continuous flow of information. This “knowledge bridge” is widely regarded as the single greatest benefit of a connected Nordic testbed network, enabling collaboration, scaling, and cross-border innovation in ways that isolated efforts cannot achieve.

Circularity, Market Competence, and Real-World Testing Must Advance Together

Participants stressed that testbeds must evolve beyond purely technical infrastructure to support the full spectrum of innovation needs. This includes enabling circular resource use and the valorization of residual streams at scale, while also fostering commercial competence through pricing strategies, market analysis, and business model development.

Large-scale and offshore real-world testing, which more accurately reflects operational conditions, was highlighted as essential for validating innovations. Integration with academia was also emphasized, supporting lifelong learning and facilitating technology transfer.

In short, modern innovation requires testbeds that combine technical, market, and system-level competence, ensuring that solutions are viable, scalable, and sustainable in real-world contexts.

A big THANK YOU to Nordic Innovation that is funding the Nordic Nexus Network Phase 1 project!