GCE Subsea Cluster Demographics

A dive into our member demographics shows that we have a cluster, representing a near complete cross-section of the subsea life of field supply chain. This in itself is a strong position; when coupled with the innovation ecosystem in the region it becomes even stronger.

This year, GCE Subsea celebrated its 10th anniversary. From the start in 2006 to 2014 the member count grew steadily up to 140 members. About 120 companies and organisations form the GCE Subsea cluster today. In addition, we have 23 collaborative agreements with various Norwegian and International R&D and academic institutions, clusters and network organisations.

Cluster Composition

The cluster members and partners comprise a near complete subsea life-of-field supply chain. Approximately half of the members are system and equipment suppliers, including the three leading subsea EPC contractors Aker Solutions, FMC Technologies and OneSubsea.

The second largest segment is IMR, Technical Services and Yard services which account for approximately 20 per cent of the members. Support Services is also a significant segment, and includes non-technical support services such as financial and legal services, transport and logistics services, insurance and other consultancies.

Public Organisations

Cluster theory and experience have shown that it is very important to stimulate increased collaboration within the innovation ecosystem between industry, government, academia and R&D institutions. GCE Subsea have therefore enrolled many of the major universities, university colleges and R&D institutes, along with county and municipal authorities.

Entrepreneurship

Another way to segment our members is to look at size and type. Here, we have the full range from the large multinationals with thousands of employees, to one-man-bands. Among the small companies we have a number of very innovative entrepreneurs with startups in various stages of infancy. Part of our efforts are directed at helping the entrepreneurs grow their companies.

Capital

Among our sponsors (Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway, and some of our members and associates), we have actors providing pre-seed and seed funding, pre-project and project funding, business start-up grants and risk loans. Although we do not have equity and venture capital actors as members, we make a point of keeping up to date with this sector as well, in order to be able to advise our members on which funding is best suited for the different stages in the life of a company.

Geography

Finally, a quick look at our geographic spread shows that approximately half of the cluster companies are located in Bergen. More than 20 per cent are located in the neighbouring municipalities of Bergen, with Fjell and their Ågotnes subsea base as a natural strongpoint. We also find a good number of our members in Oslo, Sogn og Fjordane and the Stord-Haugesund region.