The majority of Nordic small and medium-sized companies that have established international operations with support from Nopef experience improved competitiveness, new opportunities for technology transfers and increased employment in their own company and with their Nordic suppliers. These are some of the findings in Nopef’s annual customer survey conducted in autumn 2017 and published in the Annual Report.

On average, every international establishment supported by Nopef has created 13 new jobs, of which 2 were in the Nordic countries. With the current project volume, Nopef is expected to facilitate approx. 500 new jobs annually, of which 75 are expected to be created in the Nordic countries. Furthermore, the customer survey shows that 58% of the companies had used or expected to use Nordic suppliers as a result of their international establishment.

The customer survey shows high additionality between the Nopef support and the international establishments of the companies. Of the respondents, 70% found that the support from Nopef had had a significant effect on their decision to carry out an international establishment. The customer survey also shows the long-lasting effects of the internationalisation, with 94% of the companies still operating in the project country three years after their establishment.

Every establishment has resulted in average investments of approx. EUR 900 000 and sales of approx. EUR 2 million over a three-year period. The Nopef support is therefore expected to contribute to approximately EUR 33 million in investments and EUR 74 million in sales annually. According to the survey, Nopef’s financing support has a multiplier effect of 17 for completed investments and 37 for international sales.

The customer survey is carried out annually among the companies that established operations in the project countries three years before. During the years 2009 to 2014, Nopef’s support resulted in 210 international company establishments, and Nopef has provided EUR 6.8 million in funding to these companies.

The Annual report 2017 can be downloaded here.