Main problem for Nordic startups: Talent

Lack of talented people continues to be the main problem of the Nordic startup ecosystem, said a report of the Rising North project.

“Talent was raised as the main challenge in the region, implying that finding and recruiting top talent is a serious problem for Nordic startups,” the report said.

Of the projects Rising North backed over its 3-year term of 2016-2018 – 21 percent of the total funding and 28 percent of the funded subprojects addressed the issue, for example by presenting the region’s tech scene to an international audience and bringing international talent together at Nordic events.

The Rising North project was an impact fund of 1.5 million euros to support the branding, cross-collaboration and internationalisation of the Nordic startup ecosystem. Rising North was managed by Startup Foundation, a non-profit entity behind various successful Nordic startup ecosystem activities including Europe’s leading startup event Slush and the hackathon Junction.

The fund financed a total of 40 pan-Nordic initiatives involving 97 different organisations. Each initiative had to involve a minimum of three different organisations from three different Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The average grant was 31,300 euros.

Rising North was built on the #NordicMade brand, which represents the ecosystem-level collaboration between various Nordic startup communities and other similar parties. #NordicMade will continue joint collaborative branding of the Nordic region by strengthening the coordination of Nordic organisations and gathering and presenting content from the entire region to represent the Nordics as a whole.