Small, Smart Nations: How Deep Tech Collaboration Turns Size into Strength

Insights from the Nordic Beyond Masterclass at SWITCH Singapore 2025

At this year’s SWITCH Beyond Masterclass in Singapore, the panel “Small, Smart Nations: Deep Tech Collaboration and Capital Attraction Across AI, Robotics, Materials & Edge Computing” brought together leaders from across the Nordic innovation ecosystem. Moderated by Kati Pärn, Nordic Partnerships Lead at Startup Estonia, the discussion explored how smaller nations can transform agility, trust, and collaboration into global deep tech advantage — and how partnerships with Singapore can amplify that impact.

Panelists included Catharina Sandberg, CEO of LEAD Business Incubator; Ebrahim Balouji, CEO and Founder of EcoPhi AB; Sindre Bornstein, CEO of Nordic Innovation; and Mart Maasik, Partner at Nordic Science Investments, who opened the session with a keynote on the evolving Nordic deep tech landscape.

1. Turning Size into Strength

The panel agreed that the smallness of Nordic nations is not a limitation — it’s a catalyst for collaboration. As Catharina Sandberg put it, “In our region, we always reach out to each other and help out. That’s what makes our ecosystems strong.”

The new Nordics — stretching from Iceland to Estonia — share a collaborative DNA built over decades of cross-border trust, formalized cooperation, and shared innovation structures. From joint research programs to regional accelerator networks, collaboration is embedded both at micro level (between startups, incubators and universities) and macro level (between governments and national innovation agencies).

Sindre Bornstein highlighted this dual layer: “Even though we’re small nations individually, we have a combined population of around 30 million people. Together, that’s a significant talent pool — and it allows us to develop complex value chains that no single country could build alone.”

Examples such as the Nordic battery value chain and the recently launched Nordic–Baltic AI Competence Center demonstrate how pooling resources enables the region to move faster in deep tech — an area that demands cross-disciplinary collaboration and patient investment.

2. Building Deep Tech Across Borders

Deep tech in the Nordics grows from the interface of science and entrepreneurship. As Mart Maasik emphasized, “The best way to transform scientific breakthroughs into societal value is through entrepreneurship.” Nordic Science Investments, which collaborates with over 30 universities, supports founders at the earliest stages — ensuring scientific spinouts mature into investable ventures.

Maasik described how combining disciplines — material science, AI, plasma physics, and even social sciences — creates transformative companies. But equally critical, he said, is respecting the academic roots of innovation: “These technologies don’t come from nowhere. There’s a lot of effort behind them, and we must respect and deliver on that.”

Catharina Sandberg illustrated this interplay through examples from LEAD’s portfolio, such as deep tech startups in nano textiles and materials, developed through close collaboration between Swedish incubators and Baltic partners. She noted that “every company we support is international from day one,” highlighting a shared mindset across the region: local collaboration enabling global reach.

3. Capital Attraction: Patient, Aligned, and Purpose-Driven

Despite the strong foundation, the panel was candid about the challenges. The Nordic ecosystem, while rich in talent and ideas, still faces gaps in patient capital and alignment between public and private funding.

“We’re very good at telling what we do well,” Maasik reflected. “But we haven’t yet fully figured out how private and public capital can systematically work together towards common goals.”

Catharina Sandberg added, “Deep tech companies need more patient capital. Five to seven years isn’t enough — some of these ventures take fifteen or twenty.”

Bornstein agreed that this calls for a more cohesive narrative: “We’re in our teenage years as a deep tech ecosystem — we need to be more crisp about what the Nordic deep tech story is, especially when we meet global investors.”

Singapore, with its well-orchestrated mix of government foresight and private investment, stood out during the week as an inspiring reference point. Its ability to “sell itself structurally,” as Pärn phrased it, underlines the importance of clear positioning, coordinated communication, and investor-ready storytelling.

4. Singapore–Nordic Synergies: From Co-Investment to Curiosity

Asked how the Nordics and Singapore can collaborate more deeply, the panelists outlined several pathways:

• Co-investment models between Nordic and Singaporean funds to prepare startups for later-stage growth rounds.
  
• Testbeds and challenge-driven innovation — joint pilots in areas like green materials, AI, or dual-use technologies.
  
• Mutual talent exchange, leveraging Singapore as a gateway to Asia and the Nordics as a bridge to Europe.
  

Ebrahim Balouji, speaking from a founder’s perspective, emphasized the value of rigorous market validation: “When you test a technology in Singapore, you’re testing it in one of the most advanced markets in the world. If it works here, it can scale anywhere.”

Sandberg proposed an even more hands-on approach: “We love testing and trying things. If it fails, it fails — but if it works, we’ll do more. Why not launch a joint challenge between Sweden and Singapore?”

For Bornstein, collaboration begins with curiosity: “This group of Nordics here in Singapore shows exactly that — curiosity. It’s what builds bridges.” He also pointed to the Nordic Innovation House in Singapore as a key contact point for anyone looking to connect with Nordic startups and investors.

5. A Shared Future in Deep Tech

As the session concluded, one theme resonated clearly: small, smart nations can go further together. What unites the Nordics and Singapore is not size but mindset — a commitment to excellence, experimentation, and collaboration beyond borders.

For ecosystems seeking to accelerate the twin transitions — green and digital — this partnership offers a powerful template: science-based innovation, open collaboration, and globally aligned capital.

The discussion at SWITCH underscored what Nordic Singapore Innovation Days stands for — not just a platform for meetings and matchmaking, but a living example of how to make small countries larger together on the other side of the globe.