The Nordic Cultural and Commercial Houses and Nordic Innovation join forces

The Nordic Cultural and Commercial Houses (NCCH) project is to receive backing from Nordic Innovation in order to support their work in emerging markets. The goal of the NCCH is to unlock synergies between business, diplomacy and culture both on a Nordic and local level. This is achieved by co-locating Nordic diplomatic functions with incubator offices and demonstrating Nordic best practice in clean tech, urban planning and design.

The managing director of Nordic Innovation, Roger Bjørgan said:

“It’s quite clear that different Nordic businesses with activities in emerging markets see a value in a closer cooperation between the Nordic countries in these markets. The concept of NCCH could help realise these synergies, while strengthening the Nordic brand to the benefit of the Nordic countries and businesses throughout”

In practice, NCCH’s will be Nordic landmark buildings in key growth cities. They’ll contain all five of the Nordic countries’ embassies and diplomatic functions, office and living space, and showcase Nordic culture. They could potentially even contain schools and kindergartens.

The decision for Nordic Innovation to move forward was made after dialogue with the Nordic Ministries of Foreign Affairs, private sector organisations and potential investors. The next steps agreed were for the project to work on a concrete case to test if the business plan and the political support from the Nordic countries is strong enough.

Jakarta as a test case

From a shortlist of ten, the city chosen to be the test case was Jarkata, Indonesia, as it was high on the priority list for both the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and large Nordic companies who will eventually rent space in the buildings.

The confidence is high in the project as the Foreign Ministers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden are already looking beyond Jakarta and issued a joint statement declaring: “We would like to see more Nordic co-locations, and we look positively at continuing the work to clarify the conditions for the NCCH’s”

In line with other Nordic Innovation initiatives

Importantly, NCCH is also in line with Nordic Innovation’s key priorities, as the buildings themselves will be excellent living showrooms for best Nordic practice for liveable, smart and sustainable cities, which fits perfectly with the Nordic Built Cities lighthouse project. They’ll also line up well with Nordic Innovation initiatives within creative industries, #NordicMade, and efforts of setting up soft landing zones for Nordic companies. Finally, it opens up for new types of public private partnerships across the Nordic region as well as developing new innovative financing models.

Contact:
Bardur Orn Gunnarsson
Director of Communications
Nordic Innovation
Stensberggata 25 | NO-0170 Oslo
+47-47225432
b.gunnarsson@nordicinnovation.org