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potential for value captured by Norwegian firms. Moreover, innovation in services will be important
to continue cost reductions, in particular in offshore wind.
Finally, while we observe that firms report growth in number of FTEs and turnover, we also observe
that the number of new firms entering OWP and PV has been declining since 2012. Linked to challenges
of small firms and industry size, this may indicate problems with securing sufficiently vibrant
entrepreneurial experimentation in particular in a period of rapid technological development and high
growth in international OWP and PV markets. For PV, intense international competition and the rapid
price drop could however also contribute to explain the declining activity. For OWP, increased activity
in the offshore petroleum industry in 2011-2013 may explain reduced offshore wind activity in the
period (Normann 2015; Weaver & Steen 2013). With the recent decline in the petroleum industry, this
raises the question whether we will see an increase in the number of firms entering OWP for 2015 and
2016.
Summing up, we have some final reflections. The results from this survey lends strength to the
argument that there is considerable potential in the Norwegian offshore wind and photovoltaic
industries, but that both industries experience barriers to internationalisation related to weak
domestic markets. This seems to be particularly true for smaller firms.
Given the dominance of services firms, but also the heterogeneity of firms, and thus variety in needs
within both industries, we think supplementary instruments in addition to support towards R&D are
required. This support could be through demonstration parks or programs, but there may also be other
instruments that help firms to demonstrate and verify products or services. We also think that it would
be worthwhile to investigate further to what extent instruments should be tailored towards specific
parts of the supply chain (i.e. to cater for different demands between industries, between services and
manufacturing, or between different categories in the supply chains). Finally, we see a demand for
strengthening industry collaboration and programs dedicated specifically to help smaller firms link up
with the larger firms, reach international markets and collectively be able to influence their local
framework conditions.