Center for Growth Analysis

The OECD defines scaleups as companies with ten or more employees who have a growth in the number of employees or a turnover of 20% or more, over a period of three years. These high-growth firms are characterized by being more innovative and their innovation is a source of growth. High-growth firms are of central importance for business development and growth in ecosystems. The local entrepreneurial atmosphere and commitment to growth that companies operate in, provides opportunities or barriers for further development.

Culture, social norms and attitudes related to entrepreneurship and growth are recognized as key components of economic growth in growing ecosystems. According to OECD, entrepreneurial ecosystem is defined as: ” ‘a set of interconnected entrepreneurial actors (both potential and existing), entrepreneurial organisations (e.g. firms, venture capitalists, business angels, banks), institutions (universities, public sector agencies, financial bodies) and entrepreneurial processes (e.g. the business birth rate, numbers of high growth firms, levels of ‘blockbuster entrepreneurship’, number of serial entrepreneurs, degree of sellout mentality within firms and levels of entrepreneurial ambition) which formally and informally coalesce to connect, mediate and govern the performance within the local entrepreneurial environment.

• Scaleups are the key to job creation and welfare.
• Scaleups are more innovative than other companies and innovation is a source of growth.
• Scaleups challenge and replace weakly established companies and by this contribute to growth in a long-term perspective.
• Scaleups generates spillover effects in the regions in which they are located (supply of expertise, job opportunities, income, a source of innovation and renewal, etc.).
• Scaleups have an important role in regions and nations innovative power.
• In Norway and in the Nordic region, it is estimated that the share of scaleups is 0.3 percent. That is fewer than in our neighbor countries.

With the knowledge of scaleups’ importance for economic development, the center contributes to knowledge development and dissemination on how companies who have a stable turnover and number of employees over time, can switch to a development phase for upscaling.

The Sørlandet Knowledge Foundation
Kristiansand Business Region
Sparebankstiftelsen
NHO Agder

• Our social mission is knowledge development: More than 200 evaluations, investigations, surveys on businesses and business development.
• Our vision is to conduct analyses for the future: Good analyses are realized through being in front of the knowledge development related to business and policy development.
• We have solid data and broad expertise for our analyses of growth: Our analyses are useful and actively utilized by our clients in their decisions on regional, national and international policy for growth.
• We are relationship builders between knowledge development and the field of practice: The knowledge we develop should always be tradable and manageable by the practice field and be utilized by decision makers in changing processes.
• Our expanding network in and outside of Norway strengthens our analyses: Oxford Research collaborates with the best professional experts and practicians within our core fields.