Contact
Þóra Valsdóttir
Project Manager
thora.valsdottir@matis.is
The Icelandic Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers was in the years 2014-2016 and the program was named The Nordic Bioeconomy Initiative, or NordBio. As a result, a project was launched, "Innovation small producers - Nordbio"Where the main emphasis was on following up and further supporting small producers following innovation projects carried out under the NordBio presidency program. A report from that project can be found at Matís website .
The main objective of the innovation projects for small producers was to have a direct economic impact through innovation and value creation in the Nordic bioeconomy, thus strengthening regional economic growth. Work was done on 17 innovation projects.
The experience of the projects was that knowledge and training are necessary for ideas to come true and to enable producers to meet all food safety requirements.
The Nordbio innovation projects have shown that the use of some kind of "innovation credit" can be an effective way of encouraging innovation, knowledge transfer and technology to increase the value of living resources. It has been shown that there is a great need to offer this type of grant to small producers and entrepreneurs in order to stimulate innovation and unleash the power of imagination.
It would be a great incentive to establish a fund that can contribute to innovation in the spirit of the Nordbio projects, especially in light of the opportunities that now lie hidden in the increase in the number of tourists making their way to Iceland.