Nordic Patent Institute was established with the purpose of maintaining and enhancing the patent competencies and services of the national patent offices in the Institute's member states. In this manner the vital needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are safeguarded with respect to patent information and advisory services, and national patent protection systems.

The maintenance of such competence is a challenge at smaller offices like the Nordic ones because of the low number of national applications filed due to the growth of international and European patent systems. The maintenance and possible enhancement of sufficient industrial property competence is dependent on the existence of a certain minimum workload and therefore represents a critical challenge for the Nordic patent offices. Suitable additional tasks, which utilise the patent search and examination capacities are for example tasks for other national patent offices or technical searches.