Maps

This map gives an overview of the S3 focus areas in the Swedish regions in 2019. The major S3 domains in Sweden shown in the map provide a good overview of the key specialisation areas in Sweden. It is possible, for example, to check which Swedish regions have “green”, “sustainable”, “environment” at their smart specialisation domains (marked in green in their respective infoboxes for the domains in the figure). The information illustrated in the map can assist Swedish regions when they are considering opportunities for S3 synergy and co-operation with each other. In Sweden, the Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth (Tillväxtverket) is a central actor in assisting regions in their work with smart specialisation. Tillväxtverket promotes opportunities for cooperation between the Swedish regional S3 processes and provides relevant information and learning seminars related to S3. Read the digital publication here.

This map shows the Nordic Regions that have registered on the EU JRC S3 platform, status as of October 2019. The regions that have registered on the S3 platform receive practical advice and broadened opportunities for international networking. In October 2019, there were 182 EU regions registered on the S3 platform, as well as 18 non-EU Member State regions. Of these regions, 38 are Nordic. It is worth noting that, as a non-EU member state, Norway has seven registered regions on the platform. Registration on the S3 platform is by no means a guarantee of success of a regional smart specialisation process, but it indicates the willingness of the region to learn more about S3 and to participate in international and interregional S3 cooperation through the possibilities provided by the S3 platform. The smart specialisation concept has been diffusing rapidly across Europe in the 2010s, as an increasing number of regions adopt it and design strategies departing from their own preconditions. The S3 platform in Seville, Spain, hosted by the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), was established in 2011 to assist EU countries and regions to develop, implement and review their smart specialisation strategies. The S3 platform provides information, methodologies, expertise and advice to national and regional policymakers, promotes mutual learning and transnational co-operation, and contributes to academic debates around the concept of smart specialisation. Read the digital publication here.  

This map shows the regional innovation scoreboard (RIS) in the European regions in 2019. The small map shows the innovation scoreboard at national level. The index shows the performance of innovation systems, classified into four main performance groups (leader, strong, moderate and modest). The European innovation scoreboard provides a comparative assessment of the research and innovation performance in European countries. It assesses the relative strengths and weaknesses of national innovation systems and helps countries identify areas they need to address. The Regional innovation scoreboard (RIS), a regional extension of the European innovation scoreboard, assesses the innovation performance of European regions on a limited number of indicators. The RIS 2019 covers 238 regions across 23 EU countries, as well as Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg and Malta are also included at country level. The RIS 2019 is a comparative assessment of regional innovation based on the European innovation scoreboard methodology, using 18 of the latter’s 27 indicators. It provides a more detailed breakdown of the performance groups with contextual data that can be used to analyse and compare structural economic, business and socio-demographic differences between regions. The Nordic regions are doing well in an overall RIS comparison regarding innovation performance. There are, however, considerable differences in innovation performance between the Nordic regions. For example, the capital regions have higher levels of innovation performance than more rural and peripheral regions, according to RIS 2019. This is often due to the critical mass of companies and the spatial significance of the proximity of firms and entrepreneurs, enabling knowledge-sharing and spill-over effects. Read the digital publication here.

The map shows universities and other educational institutions on post-secondary and tertiary level located in the Arctic. The red circles indicate a location of a university, college, or campus areas within the Arctic. The size of the circle corresponds to the number of educational institutions in a specific location. There is a high density of educational education institutions around Anchorage (Alaska), in Iceland, the Faroe Islands and the Arctic Fennoscandia (see zoom-in maps). In the Yukon (Canada), the Yukon College is the main educational institution, which has several campus areas across the region. In the Russian Arctic the largest centres with higher educational institutions are in Murmansk, Naryan-Mar (Nenets), Nizhnevartovsk (Khanty-Mansi), Salekhard (Yamalo-Nenets), and Yakutsk (Sakha).

This map shows the household access to high capacity fixed broadband for all Nordic municipalities in 2016. The blue shading indicates the percentage of household with access to high capacity fixed broadband speed of at least 30 mbit/s in 2016. The darker the blue the larger the percentage of household with access to high capacity fixed broadband speed in the municipality, while the brightest colours represent municipalities with a low share. The grey colour indicate municipality with no data. High capacity fixed broadband coverage enhances access to digital solutions in both rural and urban contexts across the Nordic Region, thus making these areas good places to live, work and run a business domestically and across national borders. At a municipal level the household coverage by high capacity fixed broadband shows a more varied picture than that at the regional level. The average figure for Nordic municipalities was 63% in 2016, with more homogeneous figures in Denmark and Sweden than in Norway and Finland. The variation between neighbouring municipalities reflects the decision at the municipal level to prioritise investments in broadband infrastructure development as well as the nurturing of a favourable climate for the establishment of data centres requiring fast broadband networks, among other things. Fifteen Nordic municipalities, located in Sweden and Norway, had already reached the 100% mark for household coverage by high capacity fixed broadband in 2016. In Sweden, these municipalities are located in both the capital city region and in Skåne. In Norway, they are found in the more remote and rural parts of Møre og Romsdal (e.g. Giske), Troms (i.e. Lavangen) and Finnmark regions (Båtsfjord). Municipalities having values above 90% are mostly located in capital city regions as well as in more rural contexts in Jylland (Denmark), southern Sweden and northern Finland and Norway. One explanation for…

This map shows the Next Generation Access (NGA) network coverage in European regions in 2016. The blue shading indicates the percentage of household covered by NGA broadband in European NUTS 3 regions. The darker the blue the larger the percentage of household covered by NGA broadband in the region, while the brightest colours represent regions with a low share. Regions with relatively small territories and important population densities stand out in terms of high NGA network coverage, e.g. urban regions in the Netherlands and Switzerland. Capital city regions also have high NGA network coverage scores, while the more rural regions continue to lag, e.g. in parts of France and Poland. The Nordic countries are characterised by having almost no differences within their territories, i.e. no large variation in terms of NGA network coverage, unlike the clear regional differences in countries such as France or Italy. All regions in the Nordic countries score in the range of 65% to 95% of households having NGA network coverage, except for Etelä-Pohjanmaa in Finland which has a coverage range of 35% to 65% and the Danish statistical region of Østjylland and the capital regions of Denmark and Iceland with scores between 95% and 100% respectively. The relatively high figures for the Nordic Region can in part be explained by the existence of national and regional digitalisation strategies over the last decade or so. In Denmark, as well as in the other Nordic countries, digitalisation has long been on the national agenda. One of the main goals of these strategies has been to increase the growth and productivity of the business community – and to make it easier and cheaper to establish digital infrastructure. The regional level has an important role to play in the development of digital infrastructure, hence the relevance of the elaboration…

This map shows the change in the expenditure in research and development (R&D) between 2007 and 2015 in the Nordic Region. The blue tones indicate regions with a positive change in the R&D expenditure between 2007 and 2015. The red tones indicate regions with a negative change in the R&D expenditure between 2007 and 2015. The darker the colour, the stronger the change. The grey colour indicates no data. The bars indicate the value of expenditure in R&D in million euros, the light brown for 2007 and the dark brown for 2015. The values of 2007 expenditures were adjusted to 2015 price level. High levels of Research and Development (R&D) expenditure are viewed as a vital enabling factor for innovation which is one of the key policy compo­nents of the Europe 2020 Strategy. At the regional level in Finland, most regions have shown a downward trend in R&D expenditures both in percentage and in real terms. This reflects the chal­lenging fiscal policy and economic conditions expe­rienced in Finland after the global financial crisis in 2008 and the difficulties faced by the ICT sector, where R&D is highly concentrated, as well as the inability of other industries to compensate for the decline of the ICT sector. Åland on the other hand has shown a positive trend in R&D ex­penditures, although having very low values in abso­lute numbers for both years. Sweden has experi­enced a dramatic decrease (< -6.1%) in R&D expenditures in Värmland, Blekinge and Gotland which was in large part, if not entirely, caused by the relocation of important R&D facilities/resources. Similarly, some major closures and redundancy notifi­cations led to substantial cuts in R&D spending in Skåne in 2015, despite the increasing number of start-ups. For Iceland, availa­ble data for the 2013–2016 period indicates a steady and stable increase in…

This map shows the location of the European eco-innovation parks in the states of the European Union (EU) and Iceland in 2014. The eco-innovation parks are eco-industrial parks and eco-innovative areas combining residential and industrial activities. The establishment of eco-industrial parks is one way to promote eco-innovation, resource efficiency and the circular economy. They create new and innovative business opportunities and improve ecosystems. The blue colour indicates the EU-member states having at least one identified eco-innovation park in 2014. The circles indicate the location and the type of the eco-innovation parks (green, in use; yellow, under construction; brown, planned; red, stopped). The grey colour indicates no data. A clear spatial concentration of eco-innovation parks can be observed in the Ruhr area and around Leipzig (Germany), in southern Belgium, south-western and northern Netherlands, western Switzerland, along the “arch” stretching from Turin via Pisa to Udine in North-East Italy, around Barcelona as well as around some national borders in the industrialised parts of north-West Europe namely Germany-Netherlands-Belgium-France and Switzerland. Eco-innovation parks differ in many respects, for instance regarding energy and material flows (e.g. waste heat, steam, power; wood chips, bark, ash, pulping chemicals), number and size of companies involved and jobs created, public sector involvement and finally, in terms of (the drivers behind) their evolution. The latter means that some parks evolved and expanded around a few economic activities and companies (e.g. saw mills) to include further activities (e.g. pulp mills, power plants etc.), while others were intentionally planned and put into operation.

The map shows the Skolt Sámi Land and the borders of national states in 1949. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. During the Second World War, the Skolt Sámi land was the stage of violent acts of war. After the war, borders were again redrawn. The Soviet Union took the Petsamo area from Finland. The Skolt Sámi of Petsamo were given new settlement areas in north eastern Finland. In Norway and the Soviet Union, the Skolt Sámi remained an invisible minority. In all three countries, there was very little space for the Sámi. It took decades before the human rights of the Sámi received any attention. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the Skolt Sámi Land and the borders of national states in 1920. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. The borders through the Skolt Sámi Land were redrawn after the First World War. Newly independent Finland obtained the Petsamo area and thereby access to the Arctic Ocean. The Skolt Sámi living in that area became citizens of Finland instead of Russia. In Norway, the Skolt Sámi suffered from Norwegianization. On the Russian side, the Skolt Sámi were persecuted due to Stalin’s minority group policies. It became difficult to follow seasonal migration routes, a typical of the Skolt Sámi way of life. The Skolt Sámi of Suenjel area were the only ones able to carry out this traditional lifestyle. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows how the borders of the national states in 1826 divided the Skolt Sámi Land. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. Drawing the borders in 1826 has had a dramatic effect on the Skolt Sámi. Neiden and Pasvik areas were divided between Norway and Russia. The Skolt Sámi lost extensive parts of their living areas and their rights. They became citizens of two countries. Due to a growing number of immigrants, the competition for resources and land increased. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the historical Skolt Sámi Land, the monastery of Petsjenga and the fortress of Kola. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. The Russian tsar gave Skolt Sámi areas to the monastery of Petsjenga in 1556. The monastery operated a very successful business in reindeer herding, cooking salt and fishing. Petsjenga and Muetke sijdds were repressed under the monastery’s rule. The tsar had placed his officials at the fortress of Kola, in order to look after his interests in the northern areas. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows some of the borders in 14th century around the Skolt Sámi Land. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. In 1326, the treaty of Novgorod led to the Sámi being taxed twofold. The Sámi areas were under pressure from both the east and the west. Karelian and Norwegian settlements spread to the north. Karelians collected taxes from the Sámi, as they themselves were obliged to pay taxes to Novgorod. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the assumed distribution of ethnic groups in Northern Europe around year 500. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps),  Martin Skulstad, Rethink. and Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design) and Christian Carpelan (reconstruction of the areas). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the location of the seven Skolt Sámi sijjds. The word sijdd refers both to a geographic area and to the people who use it. The Skolt Sámi are an indigenous people with a unique culture and history. In the past, the Skolt Sámi knew exactly which areas belonged to their sijdd. If necessary, the borders of the sijdd could be redrawn by oral agreements. There were strong social ties between the Skolt Sámi areas. Marriages across sijdds were common. In some places, this sijdd system continued until World War II. In the past, the Skolt Sámi moved between several dwelling sites throughout the year. During winter, all the families of the sijdd moved to a common winter settlement. The Skolt Sámi lived on fishing, hunting and gathering. They also kept some reindeer and sheep. The resources of the sijdd were considered collective property, however movables and buildings were owned by individuals. This map shows the water bodies (lakes and rivers) according to their historical extent and location, before they were dammed up or given new courses during the 20th century. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the location of the seven Skolt Sámi sijjds. The word sijdd refers both to a geographic area and to the people who use it. The Skolt Sámi are an indigenous people with a unique culture and history. In the past, the Skolt Sámi knew exactly which areas belonged to their sijdd. If necessary, the borders of the sijdd could be redrawn by oral agreements. There were strong social ties between the Skolt Sámi areas. Marriages across sijdds were common. In some places, this sijdd system continued until World War II. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main project page. 

The map shows the location of the Skolt Sámi Land. The Skolt Sámi Land is the home area for the indigenous Skolt Sámi people. The Skolt Sámi are an indigenous people with a unique culture and history. Starting in 1826, various state borders were drawn through the Skolt Sámi homeland. Today, at least a thousand people can claim Skolt Sámi ancestry. Most of them are citizens of Norway, Finland and Russia. The Skolt Sámi Land is located in an area which today is divided between Norway, Finland and Russia. The map was produced for the exhibition Saaʹmijânnam – The Skolt Sámi Land in Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum in Neiden, Norway. The map is the result of a collaboration between Äʹvv Skolt Sámi museum (responsible for the reconstruction of the Skolt Sámi areas and the exhibition), Yngvar Julin (concept of maps and exhibition architect), Nordregio (base maps) and Rethink. and illustrator Ruth Thomlevold (graphic design). Back to the main page. 

Total number and share of employees in technology and knowledge-intensive sectors