4. Sustainable Economy in Trondheim In the City Resilience Index, the economic and social dimension is related to the organization of cities that include how social and economic systems enable urban populations to live peacefully and act collectively. To explain more about the sustainable economy, we have chosen two indicators from CRI: Diverse Economic Base and Attractive Business Environment.
1.2.
Economy of Trondheim
Norway has a very high standard of living and has a strongly integrated welfare system. The growth rate of GDP has increased from 1.08% to 1.36% in 2017 comparing to previous year (Impello Analysis, 2017). Norway has an oil industrial profile and when oil price had dropped by 70% in June 2014, it had greater impact in Norwegian economy with the increase in unemployment rate up to 4.6% (Fouche and Solsvik, 2016). However, Trondheim was not affected by this crisis as its economy is robust and flexible. The city has rich business environments which are flourishing in different sectors which make the city more sustainable and less vulnerable.
1.3.
First Indicator: Diverse Economic Base
Trondheim has a wide range of industry. It is characterized by having a strong public sector. NTNU and SINTEF, large independent research organization employ 7,000 scientists and researchers, and have more than 40,000 students enrolled (Impello Analysis, 2017). The regional hospital St. Olavs located in the city is also employing more than 10,000 people providing lots of employment opportunity to locals (Impello Analysis, 2017).
Figure 42: Key figures for the technology sectors in Trondheim (Impello Analysis, 2017)
Not only the public sectors but private sectors are also becoming strong nowadays in the city. One of the missions of Trondheim is to make the city a “Technology Capital of Norway” and many technology-based companies have been established. This city is home to 675 technology companies employing 11,800 people generating more than NOK 14.4bn in revenues, according to the Impello Analysis (2017). This city has some big companies like Siemens and Statoil who has offices over here and other companies whose headquarter are in abroad but have branch
