Subsea Meets Aquaculture Phase 3 – Time for Action

We are happy to announce that our project Subsea Meets Aquaculture, recently received funding for Phase 3 from Hordaland County Council. The project will build on the results from previous phases and further strengthen the knowledge transfer and cross-industry opportunities between companies in these industries.

The project, which is a joint effort between NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and GCE Subsea, will start in November 2018 and Deloitte will continue to facilitate the project. In a speech at Sysla Live in Bergen in September, the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg stated that she was truly fascinated by how technology from the oil and gas sector can solve challenges in other ocean industries, including within fish farming.

We welcome the Prime Ministers statement and agree that there is a huge unlocked potential, which we want to tap further into through this project. Innovation and commercialisation in aquaculture will increasingly come from projects where related industries utilise technology and capabilities for co-creation. Capabilities across industries are brought together to pave the way for innovative products and solutions. Phase 3 of Subsea Meets Aquaculture will host innovation challenges as a main feature for realising the ambition.

Owe Hagesæther and Tanja Hoel; CEO’s of GCE Subsea and NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster, emphasise how the projects earlier phases have been successful. – Our project Subsea meets Aquaculture has paved the way for tech companies born and raised in the oil and gas industry into the growing seafood farming sector, Owe says. – Cooperation across industries is the hallmark of strong innovative environments. Earlier programmes have broken down barriers and help bridge the gap between the most important industries we have in Norway, Tanja adds.

Innovation Challenges

Phase 3 of Subsea Meets Aquaculture will host innovation challenges as a main feature to realise the ambition, which will unlock collaborative potential. Innovation Challenges bring together groups of companies from both industries and subject matter experts, whom would otherwise not interact with the aim to transfer knowledge and technologies to create the next-generation seafood solutions.

Selected challenges from the seafood industry will be presented to cluster members, and we are really looking forward to take part in the energy, state of the art knowledge, and fun that lie in solving real-world challenges and creating new business opportunities.

We strongly encourage participation from all of our members to these upcoming innovation challenges. The first innovation challenge will be launched early 2019. Further information and invitation to participate will follow, but any companies interested in taking part can contact us.