Call for proposals: Nordic Talent Attraction and Retention

Call for projects strengthening talent attraction and retention in the Nordics for selected enabling and critical technologies.

Official deadline: Wednesday 27 May 2026 at 13:00 CET 
Available funding: NOK 4 000 000
Funding decision: June 2026 
Project start: August 2026
Project duration: 2026–2028

Nordic Innovation invites proposals for two projects designed to strengthen talent attraction and retention in the Nordic countries. Access to talent and a skilled workforce are essential for building, maintaining, and developing a competitive Nordic region. 

Nordic Innovation seeks two projects that present new solutions for talent attraction and retention, while strengthening innovation and competitiveness among Nordic companies. The projects should contribute to building strong innovative ecosystems and enable companies at different stages of growth—from collaboration between university environments and corporations to efforts enforcing Nordic startups, scale ups or established areas of businesses. 

Projects should address talent attraction, retention, or a combination of both. Proposals are encouraged to take a holistic approach, recognizing that effective talent strategies often require integrated efforts across attraction, onboarding, development, and long-term retention.

Talent in this context includes highly skilled individuals from within the Nordic region, the EU and EFTA countries, as well as from outside Europe. Projects are encouraged to consider international talent flows broadly and develop solutions that enhance the Nordic region’s ability to attract and retain global talent.

This call is part of the thematic program Nordic Growth & Capital Attraction, which focuses on growth, capital attraction, and internationalization as key enablers for innovation and company development. A lack of skilled talent represents a major barrier to innovation and competitiveness in the Nordics. This call contributes to making both investment capital and other growth factors—such as skilled labour—more accessible to Nordic innovation-driven companies. 

The program also supports the realization of the Nordic Vision 2030, which aims for the Nordics to become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. 

The goal of this call is to improve access to talent and skilled labour for Nordic companies developing solutions within selected critical technologies. 

A shortage of talent is a key barrier to developing innovative solutions and scaling companies in the Nordic region. This challenge is also evident across Europe. The report The Future of European Competitiveness (Draghi, 2024) identifies skills gaps as a major cross-cutting barrier that risks weakening Europe’s global competitiveness. 

Talent attraction and retention are critical for building the next generation of Nordic unicorns because innovation depends on highly skilled, motivated people. In a region with relatively small populations, competition for top talent is intense, making it a key differentiator for startups. Companies that create strong cultures and offer growth opportunities can retain expertise long enough to scale globally. Moreover, diverse and international talent brings fresh perspectives that fuel breakthrough ideas. Ultimately, the ability to attract and keep the right people determines whether a promising startup can evolve into a billion-dollar company.

During the current three-year period (2025–2027), Nordic Innovation is investing in projects related to enabling and transformative technologies. Therefore, this call highlights three technology areas from the EU’s 2023 list of critical technologies, as a basis for Nordic talent attraction and retention projects: 

• Quantum technologies are among the most strategically important emerging technologies, with applications across healthcare, finance, energy, logistics, defence, and advanced manufacturing. The demand for talent is growing rapidly, and Europe must accelerate talent development to remain competitive. The Nordic countries are strengthening collaboration through joint strategies following the Nordic Prime Ministers’ statement (May 2025). 

• Space technologies represent a high-potential area for Nordic cooperation, aligned with the Nordic Ministers of Business Affairs’ declaration (October 2025). This is an emerging priority area with strong signals for increased regional collaboration. 

• Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly influencing innovation, business operations, and daily life. While AI offers significant potential, its value depends on responsible and thoughtful use. Nordic collaboration on AI is supported by initiatives such as the New Nordics AI center.

These technologies are prioritized due to their strategic importance for the Nordic region’s future competitiveness, security, and sustainable growth. They are all characterized by rapid development, strong global competition, and a growing demand for highly specialized skills. However, Nordic Innovation is open to project proposals related to all technology areas from the EU list of critical technologies (2023).

Across these fields, access to qualified talent is a key bottleneck. While the Nordics have strong research environments and innovation ecosystems, the regional talent pool remains limited, and international competition for expertise is intensifying. Talent is highly mobile and tends to concentrate in global hubs, making it increasingly challenging for Nordic companies to attract and retain the necessary skills. 

At the same time, the three technology areas reflect distinct Nordic strengths and opportunities: strong academic foundations and emerging ecosystems in quantum technologies, unique geographical and industrial advantages in space technologies, and broad cross-sectoral application and scaling potential in AI. Realizing these opportunities depends on improved access to talent across the region. 

By focusing on these areas, Nordic Innovation aims to support projects that address concrete skills gaps, strengthen the Nordic talent pipeline, and ensure that companies and innovation ecosystems have access to the expertise needed to develop and commercialize critical enabling technologies. 

Nordic Innovation will provide grants of up to NOK 2,000,000 per project over a period of 18 months. 

The funding must be matched or exceeded by co-funding from project partners, bringing the total project budget to 4 M NOK per project. Co-funding may include in-kind contributions such as working hours. 

Nordic Innovation will support two projects that develop and test new solutions for attracting and retaining global talent in the Nordic region. 

Projects may bring together industry, academia, public actors, clusters, and innovation actors to work on: 

• Talent attraction 

• Retention programs 

• Exchange and mentoring schemes 

• Skills development 

• Training and education programs 

• Industry–academia collaboration 

• Mobility of highly skilled workers 

• Promotion and branding activities 

• Projects should also explore sustainable business or governance models to ensure continuation after the funding period

Proposals must include: 

• Involvement of end users (industry, companies, or public sector) 

• A clearly defined objective (intended impact) 

• Activities linked to achieving the objective 

• A timeline for implementation 

At the end of the project, a final report must include: 

• Results achieved 

• Added or unexpected outcomes 

• Explanation of deviations (if any) 

• Lessons learned 

• Future plans for implementation 

Eligible partners include: 

• Cluster or ecosystem organisations 

• Innovation organisations 

• Talent and training organisations 

• Higher education institutions 

• Research institutes 

• Companies 

• Employer and employee organisations 

• Business regions 

• Public sector actors 

• Consortia must demonstrate strong industry links and relevance for Nordic companies. Partners outside the Nordic region may participate, but only Nordic partners are eligible for funding

Eligibility criteria 

Co-funding requirement: 
At least 50% co-funding is required. 

Nordic participation: 
At least three partners from three different Nordic countries must participate. 

State aid (de minimis): 
Each organization may receive up to EUR 300,000 in state aid over three years. Nordic Innovation funding is split across five countries, meaning only 20% of the grant counts toward the limit per country. Each grant recipient must declare and register its State Aid (de minimis aid) upon signature of contract. 

Evaluation criteria 

Impact (35%) 

• Clarity and relevance of objectives 

• Expected results 

• Contribution to talent access in enabling technologies 

• Value for Nordic companies and ecosystems 

Consortium competence and capacity (35%) 

• Relevance of partners 

• Involvement of end users 

• Nordic representation 

Relevance and Nordic added value (20%) 

• Alignment with existing initiatives 

• Value of Nordic-level collaboration 

• Contribution to Nordic Vision 2030 

• Consideration of sustainability, gender equality, and youth 

Exit strategy (10%) 

• Plans for continuation after funding 

• Plans to build on the project outputs and develop follow-up efforts

Evaluation method 

Proposals will be scored from 0 to 10 for each criterion and weighed accordingly. The highest total score determines the ranking. Nordic Innovation reserves the right not to fund proposals that do not meet quality standards. 

Submission 

Applications must be submitted via the application portal by 27 May 2026. 

Required attachments (PDF): 

• Project plan

• CVs of key participants 

• Signed letters of intent 

Length restrictions apply within the application form.