Trondheim Tech Festival 2026: Speech by Ambassador-Designate Peter Van Kemseke on the EU-Norway shared agenda for innovation and competitiveness

Dear Mayor,

Dear innovators and entrepreneurs,

Ladies and gentlemen,

Trondheim is the very first place outside Oslo that I am visiting in my new function as Ambassador-Designate of the European Union to Norway.

Many places will follow.

But starting here is no coincidence.

Because Trondheim is exactly the kind of place where Europe’s future is being built.

Here, universities work with industry.

Researchers work with entrepreneurs.

And ideas move from the laboratory into the real world.

That is precisely what Europe needs.

Because the world around us is changing fast, and so our Europe’s needs.

For many years, we took a few things for granted.

We assumed energy would remain affordable.

That global trade would remain open.

That our security arrangements would remain stable.

In other words: we assumed that the world would remain predictable. That it would continue to be as we hoped it to be.

It didn’t.

Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has changed Europe.

Unfair economic competition has changed Europe.

We are again confronted with high energy prices.

And we see that our dependency on certain technologies and critical raw materials risks being weaponized and making us vulnerable.

We have drawn the necessary lessons, and we started working towards a Europe that is more competitive, more independent and more innovative.

And these three goals belong together.

We need a competitive economy so we can invest in security and climate action.

We need reliable energy and reliable supply chains so our economy is protected.

And we need innovation so our economy is ready for what comes next.

And, naturally, we need all three at the same time.

No pressure!

So let me make this a bit more concrete.

First: competitiveness.

Europe has enormous strengths.

A Single Market of 450 million people and 34 million businesses.

World-class researchers.

A highly skilled workforce.

More than 80 trade agreements — the highest number worldwide.

And something that is becoming increasingly valuable:

Stability – we have stable democracies.

Predictability – we have predictable policies.

The rule of law – crucial for investments.

But we also have a challenge to face.

A lot of companies start in Europe.

Too few scale in Europe.

And sometimes the biggest obstacle to growth is not technology, talent or ambition.

It is paperwork and red tape.

If you are an entrepreneur with a great idea, you should spend your time developing that idea.

Not on navigating 27 national systems.

Not on trying to understand more than 60 different company forms.

And certainly not on becoming an expert in administrative procedures you never dreamed of learning.

That is why in March the European Commission has proposed EU Inc. — a 28th regime.

One simple set of company rules that apply across the Single Market.

The objective is simple:

Make it easier and faster to start a company.

Make it easier to grow that company.

And make it easier to compete globally.

At the same time, we are cutting administrative burden by 25% for business and 35% for SMEs — what we call the “Deep Housecleaning”.

And I think entrepreneurs will agree:

Sometimes a little housecleaning is good.

Competitiveness also means fair competition.

Of course, Europe remains open to trade.

Our prosperity depends on it.

But open does not mean naive.

When European companies are excluded from certain markets, while competing against companies from those markets, benefiting from unfair subsidies, we have to act.

And we are, through targeted Trade Defence Instruments.

But we also need to do our own homework – and that’s a third element of competitiveness.

We need a genuine Single Market — not one that stops working when you cross a national border.

And this matters directly to Norway.

Norway is not an EU Member State. So Norway is not part of the decision-making.

But through the EEA Agreement, Norway is part of our Single Market.

Norwegian companies operate in the European economy.

They sell into the European market.

They are part of European supply chains.

And how.

Last year, more than 65% of Norway’s total exports went to the European Union.

So, when we in Brussels remove barriers inside the European Single Market, it also matters to Norwegian businesses.

And it matters to the entrepreneurs in this room.

Second: independence.

It is clear that in a world of power politics, we cannot depend on one single supplier for critical materials, strategic technologies, digital systems — or our defence.

That would be irresponsible.

And, frankly, expensive.

Energy is the obvious example.

For many years, the European Union has been far too dependent on imported Russian energy.

I believe we have drawn the right conclusions.

We diversified — with trusted partners such as Norway.

Last year, Norway supplied a bit more than 30% of all the natural gas imported by the European Union.

Norway became our largest supplier.

And this helped Europe break its dependency on Russia.

But there is also a broader lesson to draw: the EU still imports most of its energy.

And when war broke out in the Middle East, last February, we saw fossil fuel prices rise.

Household bills went up.

Industrial costs went up.

Since the beginning of the conflict, we paid an additional €100 billion for imported fossil fuels — without getting a single molecule of energy more.

That is a very expensive way of learning about dependency.

That’s why we stay the course on the clean energy transition.

We need more homegrown energy:

Renewables.

Nuclear, in the case of 12 Member States.

Stronger and smarter grids.

More battery storage.

And here again, in the clean transition, Norway is a natural partner — particularly in areas such as floating offshore wind and carbon capture and storage.

We already have examples.

On September 7, Yara International opened a new facility in the Netherlands, capturing up to 800,000 tonnes of CO₂ every year.

That CO₂ will travel across the North Sea, arrive in Øygarden, and be stored beneath the seabed on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Dutch industry - Norwegian infrastructure - European funding.

Working together to cut emissions — and to deploy technologies that could eventually be replicated and decarbonise industries around the world.

That is what partnerships should look like.

And I hope to find many more examples like this during my time in Norway.

The same applies to other areas where Europe needs greater autonomy.

Take defence.

Over the past five years alone, Europe has increased its defence investment by almost 80%.

When we produce more together and procure more together — from satellite navigation and secure connectivity to ammunition — we strengthen both the EU and NATO.

Or take critical raw materials and rare earths, where Europe remains more than 80% and 90% dependent on China.

Here too, when it comes to reducing our dependency, the EU and Norway are natural partners.

Which brings me to my third point: Innovation.

Europe has brilliant researchers and engineers.

Our job is to make sure they have the opportunity to turn research into companies — and companies into global leaders.

Particularly in the technologies that will shape our future.

Chips.

Semiconductors.

Advanced materials.

Cloud.

Artificial intelligence.

In Europe, we are putting the tools in place to support these technologies.

For instance, the first European Chips Act, presented exactly 3 years ago, triggered €52 billion in investments.

We have now, in June, launched Chips Act 2.0, with should lead to shorter permitting procedures and stronger international cooperation.

And Norway is fully part of this.

Here too, we already have strong examples.

Under the European Chips Act, Norway has established the semiconductor competence centre CC-NorChip, helping companies adopt advanced technologies and find funding.

Under the Digital Europe Programme, Norway has two digital innovation hubs: Nemonoor and Oceanopolis.

And I will soon visit AI-Mind, an EU-funded project involving Norwegian researchers who have developed AI tools to help identify dementia much earlier, thereby drastically improving the quality of life of these patients.

That is an excellent example of what technology can do when properly used.

But here is also the challenge.

Europe does not only need to invent technologies.

We need to use them.

Last year, around 20% of EU businesses used AI technologies.

But we see a huge difference between bigger and smaller companies.

Among large enterprises, the figure was 55%.

But among small enterprises, only 17%.

That gap matters.

We have to make sure that technologies reach the businesses that actually drive our economy.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is an ambitious agenda.

To turn this ambition in reality, you need one more thing: funding.

A lot of funding.

Public and private.

Some of it is already there.

We have established the new Scaleup Europe Fund, precisely because Europe has a scaling problem.

A company can have brilliant researchers and a brilliant product — and still struggle to grow because it cannot raise enough capital on our continent.

So the company looks across the Atlantic.

And sometimes the capital goes first.

Then the company.

And then, unfortunately, the talent follows.

The Scaleup Europe Fund aims to address this by mobilising €5 billion in public and private capital for promising technology companies.

The first investments have already been made.

For Norwegian founders with global ambitions, this is an opportunity worth watching closely.

Then there is Horizon Europe.

It is already well known here.

Norwegian participants have received more than EUR 1.8 billion under the current programme, in areas where Norway is particularly strong — from maritime industries to advanced materials.

And the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework includes €175 billion for Horizon Europe from 2028 to 2034.

Roughly twice the size of the current programme.

And then there is the wider EU budget, the “Multiannual Financial Framework.”

Right now, there is a lot of discussion on the volume, on the €2 trillion that the Commission proposed for 2028–2034.

Rightly so.

Bu it is also worth looking at the design: it is designed differently from the current budget, simply because the world now is different from the one in which the current budget was created.

The proposed MFF is more flexible. Simpler. And more focused on the three priorities I have talked about today:

Competitiveness. Independence. Innovation.

Take the new European Competitiveness Fund.

It focuses on four broad areas:

The clean transition and industrial decarbonisation.

Digital leadership.

Health, biotech and the bioeconomy.

And resilience, security, defence and space, with €131 billion proposed.

The budget is now being negotiated, with the goal of reaching agreement before the end of this year, so it can start on 1 January 2028.

When we get it right it will give an answer to some important questions:

Where do we, as European Union, to invest in?

Which technologies do we want to develop?

Which companies do we want to see scale?

In other words:

What kind of economic power do we want Europe to have in the 2030s?

Whatever the final outcome of the negotiations, the overall direction of travel is clear.

And I hope Norway will be part of that journey.

Because my invitation to you is very simple:

Think European.

Because the biggest economic opportunities will come from: 

• building European partnerships
• joining European ecosystems
• connecting to European value chains.

That is where a good Norwegian idea can become a European business. And potentially a global one.

I very much look forward to working with you on this exciting agenda.

Thank you.