Economic & Innovation Policy 2022–2030

Future vision

Reykjavík is internationally recognized as a community where creativity and entrepreneurship find fertile ground.

Living and working here is desirable, and Reykjavík is an exciting place to visit.

Creativity and imagination foster social, economic, and cultural wealth created in harmony with nature and the local environment.

Innovation Everywhere

We view innovation as the result of imaginative ideas implemented by entrepreneurial people all over Reykjavík.

 

Innovation tends to be discussed in the context of high-tech companies. But innovation is also the driver in a wide range of activities relating to culture, artistic creation, the third sector, public administration, and various service providers.

 

Innovation is not a feather in someone’s cap. It is part of Reykjavík’s self-image and shapes the way people live and work in the City approach our tasks. We are going to create a fertile ground for new ideas to flourish.

 

Innovation is a common theme throughout the Reykjavík Economic and Innovation Policy. This is because innovation is a prerequisite for value creation in all areas of society and makes us better prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

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New Priorities

Initiative, imagination, and creativity are the hallmarks of societies that enjoy the social, economic, and cultural qualities of life.

 

Reykjavík has all the means to provide an internationally competitive environment for creative industries, culture, and innovation.

 

New priorities in the Reykjavík Economic and Innovation Policy will help us create a fertile ground where different currents combine to attract imaginative and entrepreneurial people.

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Nourishing Environment

A City that wants to be characterized by creativity is committed to creating a nurturing environment for thriving ideas.

Every part of policy and government will now work together to make Reykjavík an excellent venue for a vigorous economy and new initiatives.

 

Creative Economy

A creative environment combines high-quality social and technological infrastructure, good access to green spaces, and a sound social structure.

 

Such an environment is characterized by trust, positivity, and cooperation. It revolves around a mutual understanding of the opportunities and challenges of the future.

 

The City of Reykjavík will make every effort to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Innovation is the key to reaching these goals.

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Diversified Professional Development

The City of Reykjavík seeks to encourage the diversification of employment and thereby strengthen its role as Iceland’s capital and leading power. We want Reykjavík to be internationally recognized as a center of creativity, culture, and innovation.

 

Core Priorities

Consultation

The consultation process began with 18 thematic meetings with the business community and dozens of companies and institutions—as well as every department of the City of Reykjavík—were asked by email to participate in the consultation. The public was given the opportunity to give feedback through the website of Better Reykjavík at betrireykjavik.is.

 

The Steering Committee met a total of 15 times an held an additional meeting entitled “Conversation on the Future.” During the policy-making, we decided to define challenges in line with the outcome of the consultations and to meet them with concrete policy priorities. The draft policy went through the City’s internal consultation on December 3, 2021, and after considering feedback, the policy was submitted to external consultation.

 

A total of around 200 people were directly involved during the year it took to make the Reykjavík Economic and Innovation Policy to 2030.

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Getting Started

The Reykjavík Economic and Innovation Policy serves as a guide for those of us who work for the City on how we can influence the future in a positive way.

A policy introducing creative thinking cannot be carved in stone. But this new policy gives us a framework and inspiration for getting started.

 

Action

We are laying the path to spur the coming changes, and as time goes by, the Reykjavík Economic and Innovation Policy will grow and thrive in our hands.

 

The policy submission includes a two-year action plan which will be updated every two years while the policy is valid.

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Concepts

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Economy

Economy refers to residents, staff, companies of all sizes and types, entrepreneurs, startups, research institutes, administrative bodies at all levels, and the third sector.

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Creative Industries

Creative industries refer to activities that grow from creativity, knowledge, and the talents of people and increases welfare and employment opportunities by creating and harnessing cognitive and cultural resources.

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Innovation

Innovation means creating or making something new or improving what already exists. This applies equally to a new or improved products, services, technology, methodologies, production methods, administrative infrastructure, or ways of selling and marketing. An idea or improvement needs to be implemented in order for it to be considered innovation.

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Innovation in Public Administration

Public innovation is a novel, or significantly changed, approach to improving operations and workplace performance. The innovation must include something novel for the workplace, but it may have been used elsewhere in the past or have been developed by others.

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Infrastructure

Infrastructure refers to the physical infrastructure, such as roads, ports, systems, and utilities, the social infrastructure, such as good schools, public spaces, art galleries, and green spaces, and the service infrastructure.

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Inclusive Design

The aim of inclusive design is to plan and manufacture products, structures, and environments and design services so that the product benefits the greatest possible number of people and to the greatest extent possible.

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Inclusion

Inclusion means guaranteed access for people who might otherwise be marginalized or excluded from opportunities or resources.

Scenario - What will Reykjavík City look like in 2035?

Reykjavík City collaborated with Deloitte to conduct a scenario analysis on the future of Reykjavík in 2035 considering environmental, economic, and social factors, to support the Green Deal.

The outcome of the scenario analysis is four different yet powerful scenarios. Scenarios are data-driven stories about the future to make better decisions about the future today. It is an attempt to use a structured approach to envision possible futures and propose theories about future possibilities. These scenarios are not predictions of the most likely future city, but tools to help shape our plans and objectives towards the challenges that may arise. With these scenarios in mind, we can strengthen our resolve and prepare better to achieve our objectives.

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