ABSTRACT
Iceland has an abundance of renewable energy resources, primarily in the form of geothermal and hydropower, which supply around 85% of Iceland's total primary energy consumption. This is the highest share of renewable energy in the world. The Icelandic economy has seen a rise in entrepreneurship in recent years, in part encouraged by the economic crisis. In 2013 Iceland ranked 13th in the Global Innovation Index. Among the most innovative industries are gaming and software companies, creative industries, biotechnology companies and data centres. Iceland has a unique natural environment, which attracts a large number of tourists every year and makes it ever more important to balance nature conservation with the development pressure from tourism. A related challenge is the conservation of the wilderness of Iceland while harnessing the energy provided by nature, notably hydropower. There is an ongoing debate in Iceland about the balance of harnessing rivers for energy and nature preservation.
