Innovative Trade School Approved by the County Council in Hordaland

On Wednesday, June 12, the County Council of Hordaland decided that future workshop location for the subjects TIP, EL and Aquaculture at Bømlo will be in UNITECH's technology center at Rubbestadneset.

UNITECH has over the last 12 years planned a technology center in Sunnhordaland, with the ambition to contribute to increased innovation and business development in coastal Norway. The choice eventually fell on Rubbestadneset at Bømlo, which has a unique industrial history characterized by local creative power and basic spirit.

Here, one also finds a special commitment to the ocean space in all age groups, where we see great advantages in bringing the different age groups together for knowledge transfer and innovation.

The Technology Center will facilitate close collaboration between theorists and practitioners in order to produce groundbreaking technology - especially aimed at sustainable development in the ocean space. It will be right in the heart of Western Norway's development in offshore wind, and include equipment for testing and development that through the Sustainable Energy Catapult Center will attract exciting companies from around the world to Sunnhordaland and Bømlo. These are reasons why SIVA property has expressed interest in the building also.

The technology center is organising a potential line in aquaculture at Bømlo, according to clear needs for increased manpower from Bremnes Seashore and others in the aquaculture industry. UNITECH sees the importance of educating students about the jobs that are created, and it is great that we can help to facilitate this in our region.

Inventor and owner of UNITECH, Bernt Hellesøe has the following comments to the decision:

– In the time ahead, Norway needs young, innovative problem solvers who really understand how things work. We want to raise the vocational education and, through our focus on Rubbestadneset, we will make the vocational education here so attractive that students will hopefully come from afar - but also that the students want to take higher education afterwards.
UNITECH is currently working with revolutionary cable concepts for electrification of the sea, which will be a major activity at the technology center.

–We have a wish that the vocational students will also have the opportunity to take part in this exciting development. That they get close to what is happening and be invited into projects through close collaboration between school and industry. The technology center is not only intended for LOS and UNITECH - other companies are of course also welcome!, says Hellesøe.

Finally, in UNITECH we would like to send a big thank you to the county and county councilor Anne Gine Hestetun and Bømlo municipality and Rådmann Geir E. Aga for good cooperation and facilitation, for constructive interaction between industry and vocational school. This will lead to a lot of good in the time to come.

For further questions, please contact:

Gunnar Birkeland
CEO
E-mail: gunnar.birkeland@unitechsubsea.com
Phone: +47 909 81 029

or

Bernt Hellesøe
Phone: +47 900 22 421