In 2017, the Norwegian Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, set the mission to increase Norwegian exports whilst accelerating the green shift. As part of the undertaking, together with expanding Norway’s position internationally, Scandinavian Design Group in collaboration with Innovation Norway, developed The Explorer; Norway's official, digital marketplace for green technology.

The service has two purposes – firstly, as a showcase for innovative Norwegian solutions, and secondly, as a matching service between Norwegian and international companies. The Explorer presents technology across a range of industries with solutions linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Norwegian companies can now connect with global opportunities resulting in increased export of green technology aligned with the world’s need for sustainable solutions.

With a straight-forward and accessible interface users can quickly and easily navigate directly to the solution aligned with their sector, goals and needs. Keeping it personal, each solution has a company representative whom users can get in touch with at the click of a button.

The Explorer has become a catalyst, inspiring Norwegian companies to contribute and work together to showcase forward-thinking, green solutions on a global scale – a national effort to promote innovative products and services to reposition Norway in order to secure future growth and value creation.

The national launch of the The Explorer took place at Norway’s annual Innovation Speech on May 31st 2018 and was introduced by Prime Minister Erna Solberg and previous Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland. The international launch took place at the Greentech awards in Berlin, May 2019 presented by Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. The Explorer has been well received by Norwegian business leaders and politicians and has been used as a positioning tool while communicating to a global audience to promote pioneering sustainable solutions.

The impact has been impressive. Statistics from March 2020 show traffic of 100,000 visitors per month from more than 200 countries, where 1 in 3 have made new contacts. There are now 310 approved and published solutions and over 85 inspirational articles about how Norway is contributing to our sustainable future.

The world now has a new digital marketplace for Norwegian companies with clean-tech solutions and foreign investors with specific sustainability needs. This is an important first step to meet our goal of doubling Norwegian exports by 2040 in-line with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals.