Great opportunities for business and industry in one of Europe’s growth areas
Because of Finnmark’s geographical closeness to rich natural resources, the county is considered by many as one of Norway’s most import growth areas in the future decades. This is why more and more companies consider our county when establishing new industry, and the neighbourhood with Russia and EU-members Finland gives the county an important position in Norway and in Europe.
Energy 
Statoil, ENI and DNO are among some of the energy companies with plans to invest billions in the Barents Sea over the next years. This shows Finnmark’s important role in the oil and gas sector. In the long term there will also be enormous opportunities in the Russian oil and gas sector, and also in developing wind and hydro electricity plants, which has a huge growth potential.
Here you may read more about:
Tourism
Tourism is a global growth business and a presumed growth area in Finnmark. The county has a great potential for developing attractive tourism destinations all year round. Read more about the aims of tourism in Finnmark on the website of Finnmark Reiseliv.
Fishery and fish farming
The Barents Sea is Europe’s pantry when it comes to seafood. White fish worth billions of kroner is taken ashore in Finnmark annually for processing, and is exported worldwide. There are also several important traders who are investing heavily on the farming of salmon, trout and cod. Aker Seafoods ASA is one of the big ventures in Finnmark. The Norwegian Fishermen's Sales Organisation has made a list of every landing facility in Finnmark.
In fish farming we have several ventures and here are links to some of them:
Mineral mining
NGU has mapped several important deposits of iron, copper, gold and platinum in Finnmark. Increasing rates on minerals generates increased interest to establish mining industry in Finnmark. Several national and international mining companies have secured venal rights in the county. Ownerships over the mineral resources are in most cases local and Finnmarkseiendommen (in Norwegian and Sami only) have ownership of 95 per cent of the county. At The Directorate of Mining's website you may find more information about mineral mining.
Culture as a business
Finnmark is a good example on how you may make a living from culture. With a big commitment to projects intended to make a living from culture, several small culture projects have been turned into running businesses. Examples of this are silver smith Anu Forselius (in Norwegian only) in Varangerbotn, Arctic Glasstudio in Berlevåg, Nordlysmat (in Norwegian only) in Alta and the worlds northernmost chocolate factory Northern Delights (in Norwegian only) in Kviby.
Future investment in the northern areas puts Finnmark in a unique position when it comes to developing new business. Big, heavy corporations are aiming high in the county, which again provides favourable conditions for local and new businesses.
Pictures:
Top: StatoilHydro’s LNG facility at Melkøya near Hammerfest. (Picture: StatoilHydro)
Middle: Fish farming near Bugøynes in Nesseby. (Picture: Trond Magne Henriksen)
Bottom: ”Hermetikken” in Vadsø houses cultural businesses. (Picture: Trond Magne Henriksen)
