Iceland review - 2013, Síða 100

98 ICELAND REVIEW
Invest
In Iceland
Iceland’s One Stop Investment Shop
Providing free liaison services and reliable
information on investment opportunities
and the business environment in Iceland,
Promote Iceland is a ‘one stop shop’ for foreign
investors and organizations at all stages of plan-
ning and development. Primarily dedicated to
four focus sectors—energy intensive, land inten-
sive, knowledge-based, and tourism—Promote
Iceland, of which Invest in Iceland is a part, recog-
nizes the importance of diversifying the country’s
small economy and highlighting areas in which
Iceland is competitive in the world market. “We
are focusing on areas in which we have some-
thing unique to bring to the table,” says director
Þórður H. Hilmarsson. “We want investments to
be win-win on both sides.”
Iceland has many natural attributes to offer
growing businesses, green industries, venture
capitalists and skilled professionals alike, start-
ing with its physical location. Smack dab in
the middle of the North Atlantic, the country is
easily accessible from both North America and
Europe. A direct flight from London to Keflavík
International Airport takes only two and a half
hours; flying time from New York City is just under
six. Complementing this strategic position is the
fact that Iceland enjoys favorable trading condi-
tions with both continents, having ‘most favored
nation status’ with the U.S. while also being a
member of the European Economic Area (EEA)
and having “tariff-free access to the European
Union.”
Iceland can also boast its status as a world
leader in stable and sustainable green energy
production, having an advanced hydro- and
geothermal energy infrastructure already in place
and substantial resources still left to be har-
nessed. Well ahead of the European Union’s
goal to achieve 20 percent renewable energy
consumption by 2020, Iceland already derives
80 percent of its overall energy consumption and
small to medium companies which will benefit
from Iceland’s unique resources while also bring-
ing valuable jobs and new knowledge to the
country. But it’s just one of many industries which
have been making use of the multiple energy
streams from the country’s geothermal resources.
Production of ‘green’ methanol (CRI) high-tech
greenhouse for production of growth factors for
cosmetics and pharmaceuticals (Orf Genetics)
and large-scale fish farming (Stolt Seafarm) are all
recent examples of the variety of projects estab-
lished by foreign investors or through cooperation
between foreign and local investors.
And then there’s is the film and television
industry. A wide variety of productions are actively
taking advantage of Iceland’s incredible atmo-
spheric scenery, as well as the straightforward
incentive scheme which reimburses 20 percent
of costs incurred during production in Iceland.
Recent works filmed in Iceland include Ridley
Scott’s extraterrestrial thriller Prometheus, Clint
Eastwood’s WWII epic Flags of Our Fathers,
Batman Begins, and HBO’s Game of Thrones.
Going forward, Þórður notes that Iceland will
continue to strengthen and expand current indus-
tries, such as tourism. But it will also pursue a
wide range of new and innovative export markets,
producing commodities that range from carbon
fiber and green chemicals to algae and organic
produce. In each of these instances, Iceland will
depend on its human resources—its own highly
educated and motivated workforce, as well as
the skilled professionals and foreign specialists
who come to Iceland to work. This collabora-
tion between locals and foreigners promises to
be a boon for Iceland in the future, Þórður says,
bringing new knowledge and expertise into the
country while also providing a fresh perspective on
Iceland’s many unique qualities. “It is so rewarding
to look at Iceland through the eyes of foreigners,”
he says, “to discover our strengths through them.”
100 percent of its electricity consumption from
renewable resources.
As the cost of energy rises around the world,
Iceland is proud of its competitive edge in this
sector, offering domestic and industrial clients
alike low-cost, long-term (10-20 year) contracts.
And what may come as a surprise to those for
whom the volcano Eyjafjallajökull is still a vivid
memory, is that the reliability of Iceland’s power
network is ranked first in Europe. Since regular
seismic activity is the origin of the country’s
boundless natural energy sources, active volca-
nic and earthquake zones have been thoroughly
mapped, allowing energy parks to grow in secure
locations well outside of hazard areas.
One of the exciting industries that is growing
in Iceland as a direct result of its thriving energy
sector is data storage. Data storage is a huge
and steadily growing field and data storage
centers require enormous amounts of energy
to maintain. It’s estimated that by 2020, carbon
dioxide emissions from data centers around the
world will exceed that of the airline industry. As
such, locating data centers in a country with vast
renewable energy stores is not only a cost-effec-
tive solution, but also an environmentally respon-
sible one. Iceland’s temperate year-round climate
and abundance of cold water also provides data
centers with free year-round cooling—a valuable
incentive for an industry in which cooling costs
make up at least half of its energy expenses. Two
notable international data storage companies,
verne Global and Advania, have already estab-
lished flourishing operations in Iceland, but there
is still plenty of room for expansion in this indus-
try, with smaller clean data storage startups such
as GreenQloud also experiencing high levels of
success after establishing their centers here.
Data storage centers are a strong example of
the environmentally-friendly, value-added indus-
tries that Iceland is eager to attract, says Þórður: