Our mission is to be a strong political voice on behalf of ambitious startups, scaleups and founders
How do we make Norway a leading startup nation?
The most valuable companies work with Big Tech. They were grown from strong startup ecosystems, with the support of investors ready to take a risk, talents eager to build and policies designed for them to grow. Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Tesla, 6 of the 10 largest companies, are all from USA.
Big Tech is small in Norway. We need to invest more capital in new ideas, attract international talent and build Tech for the global market. That is what the EU is doing: the European Commission have launched the EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy and are joining forces with private investors to set up a multi-billion Scaleup Europe Fund. Their slogan is that “the best of Europe choose Europe”, a fitting one seeing as 30% of European unicorns relocated outside Europe, while only 8% of the world’s scale-ups, actually are in Europe.
Tech is the future, and it is built today.
Tax for growth
We believe in a fair tax system that encourages growth. As it is now, growth companies are slowed down or staggered due to taxes that often makes no sense.
In 2026, NAST is advising the Norwegian tax commission. The commission will publish their suggestions 1 July 2026, and then Stortinget will decide on a potential new tax reform in the spring of 2027.
NAST has six principles for policy, that our suggested actions are based on.
Improve Norwegian competitiveness
Promote tomorrow’s companies
Don’t tax seeds as if it was crops
Ensure predictability
Avoid loss of efficiency
Keep it simple
Attract capital
Startups and scaleups are dependent on access to competent capital. Investors with experience, insights, network and capital are key drivers for the growth of new companies. Norway is falling behind our Nordic neighbors, and investments in risk capital need to increase.
NAST has four principles for policy that we base our capital policy on.
Make it attractive for both Norwegian and international risk capital to invest in Norway
Make it more attractive to invest in Norwegian startups and scaleups
Allocate public funding to Norwegian venture funds
Increase the access to risk capital immidiately
Attract talent
If we want to be competitive on an international scale, our companies are dependent on top talents from around the world. Startups and scaleups are often “born global”, meaning their ambition is to scale internationally from day one. If Norway can become a talent magnet, it will have a series of positive repercussions with international venture investors, industry experts, tech ambassadors etc coming to stay.
Improving tax for growth and access to risk capital will take us a long way. We also need targeted incentives for top talent.
NAST has two principles that we base our talent policy on:
Norway will be an attractive country to live in for experts within technology and international growth
Access to top talent will be a competitive advantage for Norwegian startups and scaleups
“Europe has the ideas and the talent to build the most innovative companies in the world. But as they scale up we need to ensure they have the means to grow, attract investment and thrive right here at home. High quality jobs and Europe’s overall competitiveness depends on it. The Scaleup Europe Fund is an essential part of our work to make sure the best of Europe can choose Europe.”
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
(28 October 2025)