CONNECTING THE NORDICS & JAPANNewsletter ＃3
July 31st, 2020

Welcome to the Nordic Innovation Ecosystem newsletter #3
The Nordics are global leaders within Govtech - technology that enables a more efficient deliveryof public service.
Nordic e-governanceAccording to the annual E-Government Survey released by the UN last week, the six New Nordic
countries were all amongst the 13 top ranking e-government countries of the world (Denmark # 1,Estonia # 3, Finland # 4, Sweden # 6, Iceland # 12, Norway # 13). No other region has a more thoroughly digitized public sector, and a population more willing and able to interact online.
One reason for this Nordic pioneer status is a strong tradition for close collaboration between
public authorities and local startups, and an open-mindedness for new technology and alternative
solutions (as also mentioned in Newsletter # 2).
In a recent poll, 47% of public officials said that they were looking to connect and work with startups. Similarly, 53% of the startups wanted to increase their level of engagement with public officials.
Stronger partnerships in a time of crisis
The COVID-crisis will undoubtedly increase this willingness to collaborate. Lockdown measures
have led to a massive surge in demand for new solutions that cater to remote education and work,
diagnostics and disease control, digital government and financial services.
Public officials increasingly see innovative tech startups as key to mitigating the societal effectsof the pandemic. Innovators and entrepreneurs increasingly realize the benefits they can offer tothe wider public sector, citizens and society.

A new database for COVID-related startups
Reflecting this development, the Council of Nordic Ministers (the official body for intergovernmental cooperation in the Nordic Region) last month released the Nordic Baltic Tech Startup Database
to “showcase technology responses to COVID-19 in the region”.
The database provides an overview of 140 startups addressing COVID-19, overviews by sector andecosystem, and a comprehensive list of measures implemented by the Nordic and Baltic countries
that directly respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
While the COVID-crisis definitely has shaken up the startup ecosystem across the Nordic and Balticregion (81% of startups experienced income loss due to the pandemic), the long term perspective
may be more bright, especially for Nordic Healthtech, Edtech, Govtech and Fintech companies
responding to the pandemic.

SHORT NEWS FROM THE NORDICS

NOThe Norwegian EdTech leader Kahoot! enters the ranks of unicorn companies
with a total valuation of $1.4 Billion, experiencing significant growth throughout the COVID-19 lockdown.

FISparkmind.vc is launching the first €40 million EdTech venture capital of its
kind in the Nordics, with Finnish startup Fuzu as their first investment.

FINewCo Helsinki has launched its own startup database fully covering thecity’s ecosystem actors incl. residing startups, investors, accelerators andmore.

SEDigital therapeutics startup SidekickHealth and pharma giant Pfizer launcheda digital medication management and lifestyle platform across Europe.

DK

COVID-19 has sparked the initiative of 50 startups, including unicorns Unityand Tradeshift, to establish an industry association for startups to represent
themselves stronger politically.

EE

Estonia launches a digital nomad visa, allowing remote workers to live in Estonia and legally work for their employer or own company registered abroad.

NOBlueye Robotics has raised 10M NOK from existing investors for their multipurpose underwater drone.

SEThe startup Indivd has got its “anonymous facial recognition” technology
approved by the Swedish Data Protection Authorities, initiating several test
pilots with retailers.

NORDIC COVID-19 UPDATE
On 1 July 2020 the European Union lifted travel restrictions to and from the Schengen-area forseveral non-European countries, including Asian countries Japan, South Korea and Thailand.
Travellers from these countries can now visit Europe for business and leisure, and are no longer
required to self-quarantine for 14 days. Chinese citizens may also visit Europe, if China lifts its
restrictions on European countries.
For other non-European countries, including the USA, non-essential travel is still temporarilysuspended. Travel restrictions are updated every 14 days depending on the current infection rate
and the level and quality of surveillance and testing in the respective countries.

INTERVIEW WITH ENTER ESPOO
What does your organisation offer and why is
the Japanese innovation ecosystem interesting to you?
Enter Espoo is the leading innovation hub in theNordics, and we are interested in working withJapanese corporations and investors wanting
to tap into the Nordic innovation ecosystem.
Some of our initiatives include a soft landing service offering tailor-made services for Japanesecompanies and investors to explore Espoo’secosystem. We also coordinate matchmaking
events with Japanese participants, such as
Corporate-Startup Online Weeks and our annual investor-startup event Knights of Nordics.
What gains have you seen/do you foreseefrom interaction with the Japanese innovation ecosystem?
Japanese organisations are now actively looking for innovation partners and investment opportunities abroad, but are still mainly limited
to the U.S., Israel, Singapore and Central Europe. We believe that if Japanese organisations
choose to establish themselves in the Nordics
they will benefit not only from the high level oftechnology, but also from social factors, suchas work-life balance, sustainable thinking andwelfare institutions. To mention some goodcases, Espoo-based scaleup Sensible 4 successfully received Japanese investments recently. Sports tech scaleup company, Omegawave, has been selected as one of the finalists
for the Sports Tech Tokyo acceleration program.
Automotive component supplier DENSO, hasestablished an office in the deep-tech startup
hub at Aalto University, succeeding in recruiting high-skilled local staff and partnering withlocal companies.

Name: 		Mayumi Shimizu

Position:

Senior Business Advisor

Organisation: Enter Espoo
Location:

Espoo, Finland

Contact:

mayumi.shimizu@espoo.fi

What are the main barriers for Nordic techcompanies and investors to enter the Japanese market? ■Finding the right connections in these markets
and understanding the local business culture
Perhaps the biggest difference is that Finns are
more task-oriented, whilst Japanese are morerelationship-oriented. However, I often feel andhear that Finns and Japanese get along witheach other.

NORDIC EVENTS - ONLY DIGITAL• 27-28.08

Join Latitude59, the flagship startup and tech event in Estonia, the world’s first
digital society (Hybrid physical/digital event).

• 15-16.09

The Copenhagen Fintech Week is a digital conference bringing Nordic innovation
sustainability, fintech to a global audience with 1,000 participants from 30 countries in 50+ sessions.

• 17-18.09

TechBBQ Digtial, Scandinavia’s largest tech summit to connect Nordic startups
with international investors and stakeholders.

EDITORSPeter Johansen
Project Manager
pj@asia-house.dk
Julian Morié Hara Nielsen
Japanese Consultant
jni@techbbq.org

Innovation Lab Asia is a project collaboration
between Asia House and TechBBQ funded by
the Danish Industry Foundation.
For more information:

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