We are Launching a New Name for a New Era

GCE Subsea is making a huge leap into the future as an ocean technology cluster. With our new name, GCE Ocean Technology, in place, the establishment of the cluster as leading within ocean industries is now initiated.

In recent years, GCE Subsea has lifted its gaze, honing in on further markets beyond the traditional oil and gas sector. Consequently, the issue of a name change has been up for discussion on several occasions lately. The cluster will change its name to GCE Ocean Technology 1 February 2019. Our new name gives us a more distinct identity and is more inclusive as it reflects, to an even greater extent, what is and will be the cluster’s focus areas in the years to come.

– What is happening at present is that we are profiting from more areas than just oil and gas. We have branched out and people’s jobs have become more secure. We needed a new name to reflect these changes, says Owe Hagesæther, Chief Executive Officer of GCE Ocean Technology.

Towards a Greener Development

In recent years, as a consequence of the green shift and the Government’s ocean strategy, the cluster has not only solely put subsea industry technology to use, but also served as a pushing power for other ocean industries.

The accumulated competence from the Norwegian oil and gas production is now being utilised to build an industry within renewable energy like offshore wind, tidal power, and wave power. Other related markets the cluster will focus on are aquaculture and deep sea mining technology. However, the cluster will continue to focus on the oil and gas sector with full strength.

– These measures will contribute to opening up new markets and thereby enable growth. Moreover, it will contribute to an improved cash flow, the creation of more jobs, the increase of export income, and to reducing the level of risk in our companies’ customer portfolio. They will also make the companies less dependent on oil and gas as they expand into new markets and become more differentiated, says Hagesæther.

Positive Feedback

The name change and GCE Ocean Technology’s revised strategic ambitions have been thoroughly discussed and explained along the way. Professor Torgeir Reve, one of Europe’s leading cluster experts, strongly approve of the cluster’s strategic changes. The different strategic alternatives and the name change have also been presented and discussed at GCE Subsea Partnerforum, where it received unanimous support.

– These changes have been spurred on by GCE Subsea succeeding with our present strategy. It has provided strong results and new opportunities we are now taking advantage of, states Hagesæther.