Abstract

Science and innovation diplomacy is at a crossroad – facing the need for enhanced cooperation to tackle global challenges and in a more complex geopolitical landscape. Built on “learning-by-doing” and “learning by-experimenting” as well as focusing on future development needs and opportunities, the science and innovation diplomacy practices of “Nordic+” countries, i.e., Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands, in China are presented in the paper. Their common strategic insights can be summarized as: 1) a new policy narrative on “co-opetition”, 2) a balanced approach and a long-term and future-oriented perspective on “co-opetition” and 3) more agile, targeted and impact-oriented instruments and partnerships for “co-opetition”. Concrete suggestions for the future development include: 1) a deepened understanding of how science and innovation are inter-connected with strategic and economic interests of countries and continents, 2) publicly funded schemes and instruments for engaging Nordic multinationals and deepening science-industry-policy collaborative efforts, 3) systematic methods through combining evidence-based and future-oriented analyses and 4) skill- and capacity development for identifying, preventing and mitigating multifaceted risks in cooperation. In such contexts, the implementation of EU’s mission-driven innovation and the twin-transition, i.e. the sustainability transition and digital transition, can open up new opportunities for the future cooperation.