Our roadmap

The NSG&B roadmap defines the major strategic steps towards strengthening cross-border trade, supporting Nordic integration, and towards establishing an ecosystem based on the business data of Nordic SMEs. 

The roadmap should not be regarded as a five-year plan set in stone, but more as an effort to present the probable actions needed to realize the NSG&B potential, step by step.
 

Roadmap visualised

Capabilities and milestones

The Roadmap presents capabilities and main areas of alignment from 2020-27, as well as milestones for the same period. The critical timeline summarises the milestones from the roadmap and highlights the critical steps.

The Roadmap defines the milestones which are identified as required to realise the vision

  • By 2021 a public private advisory board has been established to support the implementation of the NSG&B roadmap
  • By 2022 70 percent of the Nordic SMEs use a digital business system
  • By 2023 SMEs can freely choose to move business data between business systems
  • By 2023, sales and purchases can be handled digitally by default in compatible formats
  • across the Nordic region systems
  • By 2023 80 percent of the Nordic business systems have implemented common tools (APIs) so service providers can access an SME’s data with appropriate consent
  • By 2024, 80 percent of the invoices sent in the Nordics are digital
  • By 2025 the Nordic SMEs have saved 500 million EUR by using smart services and real-time data
  • By 2027 the Nordic countries are the most integrated region in the world

The Roadmap identifies six solution areas to support the realisation of the vision

The solution areas have the SMEs needs and working processes in focus. The six solution areas are:

  • Solution area 1: Digital Business Documents
  • Solution area 2: Product Information
  • Solution area 3: Open Accounting
  • Solution area 4: Simplified Reporting
  • Solution area 5: Born Digital 
  • Solution area 6: Reliability and Data Quality

The NSG&B roadmap is the result of several years of unique Nordic collaboration under the leadership of a common Nordic steering group consisting of the General Directors of the five Nordic Business Registries.

NSG&B builds on national strengths and the collaboration has brought together people with different competences and experiences in an open and innovative setup. The programme organisation set up in 2018 to develop the roadmap, has almost doubled in size from around 30 persons in the start, to include more than 50 persons from more than 15 governmental organisations The work has been carried out in working groups across countries and institutions, in a semi agile set up with weekly virtual meetings and common digital workspaces

By working together in this way, the responsibility and ownership for NSG&B is shared. This is a great asset to further Nordic integration. The common experience is that the Nordic countries in collaboration can do more and do better than each country could do on its own. NSG&B has also influenced and contributed to national initiatives in the area, such as the Real Time Economy in Finland and Automatic Business Reporting in Denmark.

The add on achieved only by Nordic collaboration is a dedicated engagement for furthering Nordic integration where businesses can operate easily across borders.

  • By supporting compatible digital standards, it becomes easier to automate processes and to do business cross borders in the Nordics, which contributes to growth
  • By aligning standards across the region, it also becomes easier for the service providers to offer services in a larger Nordic market, and thus increase the services available and the competition for the benefit of both the service providers, the Nordic SMEs and the region as a whole
  • By helping Nordic companies become more competitive and better suited for international competition, the Nordic market presence is strengthened globally and a common Nordic market will be more robust than each national market on its own
  • By utilising the business data for the benefit of SMEs and other parties, the Nordic region, already being a digital frontrunner, may also lead the way for the European Union with a fair and beneficial use of business data
  • By making a Nordic model for the shared development of the common digital ecosystem, core Nordic principles of transparency, trust, sustainability, and the safeguarding of democratic rights are supported

NSG&B will make companies’ economic data securely accessible and usable for the purposes of innovation and growth. This will create a more transparent and integrated region in which it is easier for Nordic companies to trade with each other, file reports with public authorities, and develop new digital solutions with the help of better and more accessible data.

Real-time data will give companies a better overview of their financial situation and make it quicker and easier for companies to, for example, obtain a credit check from a bank for a loan. Real-time data will make it easier for companies to do business in a timely manner and will also create increased liquidity in the market.

On 1 September 2020 the Nordic Ministers for Trade and Industry approved and launched the Roadmap for realisation of the Nordic Smart Government and Business ecosystem (2021-27). The Nordic Ministers decided to continue the investments in Nordic Smart Government and Business and allocated 27 MDKK for the implementation of the Roadmap in 2021-24 (norden.org). 

Nordic Smart Government and Business has now entered the next phase, in which the public and private sectors will work together to implement concrete initiatives. A first step is to expand the use of electronic invoicing across the Nordic Region so that for example an invoice from Sweden can be easily received in Denmark.

Roadmap and Implementation plan