Rural Innovation Stimulation

The main objective of Rural Innovation Stimulation (RIS) is to stimulate the innovation capacity of both start-ups and established business actors in the border region. It also aims to show how to improve the conditions for innovation outside the big cities. This is done, among other things, by developing and testing structures for investor networks and building a collaboration platform between established companies and startups.

Lack of early-stage investment capital is a challenge to the country's innovative capacity. The problem is most acute in smaller cities - more than 95% of early-stage investment capital currently ends up in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö. The aim of RIS, an Interreg project between Sweden and Norway, is to show how to overcome the challenges to innovation even in small towns.

The project is focused on the geographical areas of Fyrbodal, in northern West Sweden, and Östfold in southern Norway, and it is hoped that the project's experiences and results can then form the basis for application in other regions outside the major cities. By creating a general model that is repeatable, independent of individuals and sustainable in the long run, more important innovations will be available in the future.