NCE Seafood Innovation Annual Report 2020 by Apriil

Annual Report

2020

Digital edition

Working together for sustainability and innovation

Colophone Art Direction & presentation: Apriil Illustrations: Lina Raknes. Concept & content: Mannheimer.

Front page images Dreyer Hensley/ Norwegian Seafood Council & Getty Images

Table of contents

NCE Seafood Innovation Annual Report 2020

4—A collective effort – in an unpredictable year 6—Chairman of the Board: A year of contrasts 7—UN's Sustainability Goals 8—Board of Directors: A collective effort 10—Cluster facts 12—A collective effort for sustainable seafood growth 13—Cluster managament 14—Special arenas for partners and members 16—New opportunities in blue and green collaboration 20—Competence for the future 22—A giant effort for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems 26—KABIS towards new heights 28—Innovation on the members’ terms 32—Seapoint – pointing in the right direction 35—Supporting startups to drive industry growth 38—AquaCloud: Gathering data for sustainable decisions 42—Many opportunities in the EU 43—Members & Partners

A collective effort – in an unpredictable year Let me start by thanking all members and partners for excellent collaboration in a year that turned out very differently from what we had envisaged. Owing to positive and good collaboration, we have found new ways to carry the cluster’s work, spread knowledge, work together in projects and keep the focus on sustainable value creation and innovation across industry actors. When NCE Seafood Innovation now enters its sixth year as a cluster, we do in fact experience that we are even better prepared to continue the productive teamwork of creating value together with our dedicated partners and members around competence, innovation and entrepreneurship.

2020 came with challenges we could barely have imagined, and we have learned a lot about coping with unpredictability. Throughout the year, we have learned that the new communication forms and digital meeting arenas for interaction give us a stronger presence nationally and internationally, which is important to a cluster that is a “National Center of Expertise”. In 2020, the cluster also played a role in communicating information from the authorities about crisis measures, financial grants and founding possibilities. For this, we have received much specific and positive feedback, especially from the startup segment. Our role in promoting knowledge and competence across the industry, and the cluster’s role as a driving force to initiate and facilitate industry innovation projects, connect and interact, appears more distinct to me now by the end of the year.

Milestones After five years of activity, I will use this opportunity to emphasize some of the milestones we have reached together as a cluster: We have contributed to the establishment of several education programmes on all levels, developed together with the industry and educational institutions to ensure that future employees in the indus-

Nina Stangeland Managing Director NCE Seafood Innovation / The Seafood Innovation Cluster AS

try have the required competence after finishing their education. We established a national competence programme, Seafood Trainee, and now also a competence programmme for employees to strengthen seafood competence, Seafood Next. We have increased the level of interaction, built trust, demonstrated our ability to follow through and increased the intensity of innovation projects with the purpose of building knowledge, solving challenges, increasing growth and strenghtening sustainability in the seafood industry. We have initiated, established and contributed to funding and implementation of a number of projects aimed at increased competence, better fish health and welfare and promoting new solutions and more digitalization in the industry. We have established AquaCloud, an exciting innovation project that has contributed to increased focus on digitalization in the industry. We have strengthened networks and competence to provide seafood entrepreneurs with better opportunities for commercializing new services and products for the industry. We have prepared the way to attract more risk capital actors to the industry and worked together to help new seafood entrepreneurs establish themselves. We have established a strong ecosystem where established industry, R&D actors and education, entrepreneurs, risk capital and public actors work together to develop and contribute to sustainable industry growth.

In 2020, the cluster reached new heights in the shape of increased activity and project funding for innovation activities. From 2019 to 2020, we drastically increased project funding and also secured significant grants for project activities in 2021. The cluster also organized more than 50 events throughout the year, with high participation and positive feedback from the industry. This resulted in record high activity in the cluster during this year, despite new work forms and activities because of the pandemic.

In this report we will share some highlights and stories about what we have achieved together in 2020. We want to point out especially: • Project results and status for AquaCloud

We believe the cluster’s role and position will be strong also in the time to come. Importantly, the seafood industry plays a key role as contributor to solving the climate challenges we are facing. We know that seafood and aquaculture have potential to cover much of the future global protein requirement, that “the forest of the sea” can contribute to carbon reduction and that sustainable utilization of the ocean makes it possible to multiply value creation from the ocean by six (the UN Ocean Panel). Contributing to sustainable seafood industry development and growth by focusing on innovation is more relevant than ever. We are highly motivated for the next chapter and looking forward to continuing our teamwork with you through NCE Seafood Innovation.

• Competence and education in connection with RAS • The ‘’Land meets Ocean’’ initiative, which focuses on green and blue possibilities • Start of the new competence programme Seafood Next • Launching of Seapoint – a digital ecosystem for sharing knowledge and networks across the industry The strategy that was introduced in 2019 has yielded good results during this period. Ahead of us now lies the work of deciding the cluster’s strategy for the next period. This is a job we look forward to getting started on together with the industry, to ensure we add good value to our partners and members also in the years to come.

Enar Wathne, Chairman of the board, The Seafood Innovation Cluster AS.

A year of contrasts 2020 was a year characterized by unpredictable circumstances. The cluster has responded by changing our means and measures drastically to adjust to an existence nobody pictured at the beginning of the year. Instead of limiting activities, the cluster has increased its activities significantly throughout the year. The result is that NCE Seafood Innovation reaches the end of the year with a record-large portfolio of projects while also having reached some important milestones. The board is happy to see that through close work with partners and members and strong interaction in the resource group, we have carried out the plans for the year. I would like to specify some: achieved a strong increase in our scope of projects with good project results and increase of members and partners in the cluster

Einar Wathne, Chairman of the Board The Seafood Innovation Cluster AS taken on a leading role to inform about measures connected to COVID-19, which has been appreciated by many companies been in front and thinking out- side the box concerning how to strengthen knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship in the industry – while carrying out activities during abnormal circumstances

achieved success and growth within competence programmes, and not least we have seen successful growth for startups, with Seapoint, good meeting places and educational provision

The cluster has demonstrated a strong ability to adapt, with creativity and outstanding determination adding great value for our partners and members in a time of uncertainty.

Together with our cluster members we aim to fulfil the UN's sustainability goals Consequently, we put every effort into facilitating global partnerships and properly preserving and utilizing our oceans and marine resources. Particularly relevant to the cluster’s work are the following Sustainable Development Goals:

12 14 17

№

Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.

Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.

In compliance with our overall vision, the cluster as a supplier to the global community aims to ensure sustainability throughout the entire seafood value chain, with a dedicated belief that innovation and knowledge sharing is a vital contribution.

Through leading-edge technology, innovation perspective, industry driven research and knowledge sharing we apply our joint expertise to achieve sustainable ocean farming and value creation in the utilization of marine resources – to protect our ocean resources for the future generations.

As a world leading seafood cluster and Norwegian Centre of Expertise, we see it as our natural obligation to facilitate and initiate new partnerships. We acknowledge the pressing importance of sustainable development. This is why we strive to incorporate sustainability in all our projects, interaction, activities and knowledge sharing across every business area.

Lerøy Seafood Group Lerøy has been part of NCE Seafood Innovation since the very start and a driving force for development of the cluster. The driving role of the cluster collaboration has primarily been that of making our industry more attractive to young people through developing new study programmes and trainee schemes. We have drawn great satisfaction from this collaboration throughout these years and will continue to do so ahead. The seafood industry is a relatively young industry with certain biological challenges we need to solve.

To do so, it is vital that the industry actors work together on this issue. In this instance, the cluster has contributed to useful innovation and collaboration with good results. One example is AquaCloud, which we firmly believe will be of great importance to the entire industry in the time to come. At Lerøy, we are very proud of what we have accomplished together through the NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster. Henning Beltestad, CEO, Lerøy Seafood Group

Creating values together with partners in the industry

Board of Directors The Seafood Innovation Cluster AS

Benchmark Genetics NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster’s focus on knowledge, innovation and work within digitalization mirrors key focus areas for Benchmark Genetics. As a key supplier to the world salmon industry based in Bergen, Norway, we have to be ahead of the industry when it comes to new solutions, new products and new ways of producing our genetic material. Being a partner in the cluster strengthens our net-

work and interaction with competent people and companies in the industry – through different meeting places and looking into new technology platforms and projects. We see that the partnership in the cluster gives us the opportunity to engage several people from our organization in valuable discussions on our focus areas. Jan-Emil Johannessen, CEO, Benchmark Genetics

PatoGen PatoGen has been a Partner in NCE Seafood Innovation for four years. One of the benefits of the cluster is the role NCE Seafood Innovation has taken in bringing various stakeholders in fish health together: private industry, the R&D institutions and the farming companies. This has resulted in an increased willingness to share relevant information for mutual benefits. Jørn Ulheim, CEO, PatoGen

Grieg Seafood Grieg Seafood has been part of NCE Seafood Innovation since its establishment in 2015. Together with the cluster, we are happy to see how over the years we have generated significant value and results in many cluster activities concerning knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship in order to strengthen growth and development of the industry. Andreas Kvame, CEO, Grieg Seafood

Cargill Aqua Nutrition North Sea We have, since the establishment of the cluster, worked closely with NCE Seafood Innovation to contribute to sustainable seafood growth through industry collaboration. Results in terms of the establishment of several education programmes, the competence programmes Seafood Trainee and Seafood Next, focus on talent attraction and collaboration on innovation projects have created great value for Cargill. Fredrik Witte, CEO, Cargill Aqua Nutrition North Sea

Image of Andreas Kvame: © Elisabeth Wara Image of Fredrik Witte: © Silje Katrine Robinson © GettyImages

Cluster facts

Events • 53 Events in total

• 26 Digital events • 2000 Participants at cluster events

• 24 Candidates attending Seafood Trainee

Cluster programmes

• 34 Participants attending Seafood Next • 6 Businesses participating in the Capital Raising Program

Cluster communication

• 16 Newsletters

Cluster members

• 91 Partners and members in total

• 3 New industry members

• 1 New partner

• 1 New cluster share holder

• 19 New startup members • 2 New risk capital members

• 1908 Followers on Facebook • 4184 Followers on LinkedIn • 1450 Followers on Twitter

Projects

• 1 New R&D partner • 1 New collaborator

• 16 Projects in total

• 5 Innovation projects

Project funding

• 5 Cluster-to-cluster Projects • 3 Competence projects • 3 EU projects

12,1 MNOK

• MNOK 12,1 New project funding 2020 • MNOK 10,7 Secured project funding 2021

Services

• 7 Services in total • 2 Competence services • 3 Entrepreneurship services • 2 Innovation services

Our business areas NCE Seafood Innovation focuses on three strategic business areas: knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurship & commercialization. We believe these are three areas that are closely correlated and highly integrated. Together with our partners and members, the cluster wants to contribute to, develop and facilitate strong interaction within these areas – and build a strong foundation for sustainable growth in the seafood industry.

A collective effort for sustainable seafood growth

Knowledge By focusing on knowledge sharing and building competence across the value chain, we define future needs for competence in the industry. The cluster contributes to new industry education programmes, facilitates competence programmes and attracts new talents to the industry.

Innovation In order to solve challenges and explore new business in the seafood industry, the cluster facilitates interaction and initiates innovation projects between research, industry and entrepreneurs in the whole value chain of the seafood industry, nationally and globally.

Entrepreneurship Building an ecosystem for entrepreneurs by connecting the industry, capital and competence is a key factor for boosting entrepreneurship in the seafood industry. The cluster connects, shares competence and contributes to stronger interaction between entrepreneurs, industry and capital providers.

NCE Seafood Innovation aims to contribute to sustainable seafood growth, by focusing on innovation. Based on our belief that industrial collaboration is the way forward, our cluster establishes sustainable innovation projects and facilitates interaction across the industry. We strive to foster collaboration, share knowledge and join forces concerning industry challenges, as well as boosting entrepreneurship and attracting capital to the seafood industry. As a member you benefit from access to a wide range of services and activities related to our key strategic business areas: competence, innovation and entrepreneurship. Simultaneously you are contributing to innovative and sustainable solutions for further growth within the seafood industry. It is imperative we fulfil the UN’s sustainability goals. Consequently, we put every effort into facilitating global partnerships and properly preserving and utilizing our oceans and marine resources.

Nina Stangeland Managing Director

Benedicte Skogen Competence Manager

Björgolfur Hávarðsson Innovation Manager

nina@seafoodinnovation.no

benedicte@seafoodinnovation.no

bjorgolfur@seafoodinnovation.no

Nina Stangeland has experience in finance and corporate analysis, business development, strategy, marketing and entrepreneurship from different industries. She has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Oslo. Nina has the overall responsibility for the cluster’s management, activities and projects, and is reporting to the board of the Seafood Innovation Cluster.

Benedicte Skogen has experience in strategy, business development, concept development, brand building and project management in the food industry. She has a master’s degree in economics from the University of Kristiansand. In the cluster, she is responsible for strategic marketing and communication in addition to projects related to talent development.

Björgólfur Hávarðsson is an experienced domain specialist who has worked with site and production management with focus on feeding and feeding behaviour, smolt quality and transfer strategies, quality management, fouling organisms and antifouling internationally. He holds an MSc in aquaculture biology from the University of Bergen. Björgólfur manages the cluster innovation efforts.

Cluster management

Pia Singdahlsen Rønningen Business Developer

Solveig Holm Senior Advisor

Carl H.B. Haukås Project Consultant

pia@seafoodinnovation.no

solveig@seafoodinnovation.no

carl@seafoodinnovation.no

Pia is an experienced industry and business analyst with a passion for relationship management and driving business growth. She has experience from business consulting and banking and holds a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration (NHH) and a minor degree from the Norwegian School of Entrepreneurship. She strongly believes that startups are critical drivers of innovation and sustainable growth.

Solveig Holm has experience in project management, strategy processes, business development and international relations from different positions in the private and public sector. She holds a master’s degree in social anthropology from the University of Bergen. Solveig is working with strategic projects and events in the cluster and cross-sectorial collaboration projects.

Carl H.B. Haukås has experience in technology-based business development in the seafood industry. Graduated with two master's degrees from NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology and NHH Norwegian School of Economics. Carl is responsible for Seapoint, digital channels and support for communication activities.

Cathrine Gravdal Administration Manager

Karianne Kojen Andersen EU Advisor

Jørn Torsvik Project Manager

cathrine@seafoodinnovation.no

karianne@seafoodinnovation.no

jorn@aquacloud.ai

Cathrine Gravdal has 10 years of experience in the finance industry, primarily from operations and system development. Cathrine holds a MSc in Economics and Business Administration from NHH Norwegian School of Economics. Her primary responsibilities in the cluster are in the areas of general administration, project finance and reporting, and she is the program coordinator for Seafood Trainee.

Karianne K. Andersen has experience in working with EU funding and EU policy both in Brussels and Norway. She also has experience working with innovation projects in the EU context. She holds a degree in European Relations from NTNU. Karianne is the EU Advisor for the cluster and assists cluster members with advice regarding possibilities for cooperation and funding through international projects.

Jørn Torsvik has experience from management positions in various industries, including aquaculture, and has expertise in digitalization and opportunities created in the intersection of technology and business. His background includes Law and Informatics from the University of Bergen, and he holds an Executive MBA in Strategy from NHH. Jørn is the overall project manager of AquaCloud.

“Having an arena for

in-dept discussions is really welcome! Bente Torstensen Nofima

”

Sharing of knowledge and good ideas when members and partners participate in workshops facilitated by the cluster.

Executive Seafood Forum In 2019 we launched the Executive Forum. This is our think tank for future innovation within the seafood industry. In this forum, Seafood Innovation partners' executive leaders meet for inspiration, industry updates and knowledge sharing and to discuss strategic topics important to the cluster’s future work.

Resource groups

Partner Meeting

Three to four times a year, we gather experts and business leaders in resource groups for discussions concerning our strategic business areas: competence, innovation and entrepreneurship. The resource groups contribute with competence and advice and influence the cluster’s focus and projects within each strategic area.

Two times a year, the cluster invites members and partners to meet with other seafood companies. This is a networking and knowledge sharing event where we address and present different areas within sustainability, innovation, digitalization and new technology in the seafood industry.

Attendance: For cluster partners by invitation only

Other arenas Workshops

Project meetings

(Innovation workshop). Special invitation for members and partners/others.

Special invitation for members and partners.

Webinars and meetings

Competence programs

(Havlunsj, Land meets Ocean). Open for all.

(Seafood Trainee, Seafood Next). Open for all, special conditions for members and partners.

Conferences (The Ocean, Seafood Innovation Day (NASF). Open for all.

→ 14

You can find dates for all upcoming events on our website seafoodinnovation.no

The Ocean 2020, digital.

Special arenas for partners and members

Dialog meeting and seminar: "Introduction to investment in Seafood Startups". The event was arranged together with cluster partners EY, DNB, Katapult Ocean, Farvatn and VIS and hosted at DNB in Bergen.

New opportunities in blue and green collaboration NCE Seafood Innovation has taken on a central role in the work with exploring opportunities and facilitating collaboration between “green” and “blue” industries.

Land meets Ocean • A collaboration between NCE Seafood Innovation and three other leading national industry clusters (NCE Blue Legasea, NCE Heidner Biocluster and Biotech North). • Was started in 2018 to explore collabriation between green and blue sector. • Representatives from the industries have carried out weekly status meetings and follow-up activities. • Partner companies from the seafood industry, fishery and agriculture have been strongly represented throughout the entire project.

Land møter Hav (“Land meets Ocean”) is an exciting project and collaboration across bio-economies together with the three other leading clusters within green and blue bio-economy: NCE Blue Legasea, NCE Heidner Biocluster and Biotech North in addition to NCE Seafood Innovation. The project has been running for the last three years, with a common goal of increasing sustainable value creation between aquaculture, fishery and agriculture. Specifically, one wants to define and establish projects across the industries.

Sustainability and circular economy In addition to promoting knowledge about circular economy across the different bio-economies, the work throughout 2020 has focused on singling out specific project ideas that benefit both the green and blue sector. – We connect people in central positions within research and industry. By engaging key persons from various industries, we can address common problems and contribute to identifying new possibilities within sustainability, innovation and circular economy across the industries, says Managing Director Nina Stangeland at NCE Seafood Innovation.

Many opportunities The potential is great, with many fields where resources, processes and technology from one industry can be transferred to specific solutions in another. This can contribute to increased value creation and form a basis for new business ideas, products and models. The participants at “Land meets Ocean” have discussed a number of opportunities for collaboration. Through a survey, important trends were uncovered that affect the development in the industries and which aspects may hinder innovation. © GettyImages / Runar Vestli

– Earlier in “Land meets Ocean” one has focused on knowledge sharing and interaction through conferences; this year we wished to enter deeper into the core to identify specific possibilities and challenges that should be addressed through specific projects, Stangeland says.

Alternative raw materials Many of the discussions in this project have been around mutual utilization of each other’s residual raw materials, circular economy opportunities across industries and development of new collaboration constellations across the blue and green sector, based on our wish to increase value creation in the seafood industry and that aquaculture depends on alternative raw materials to reduce the carbon footprint and enable further growth.

During 2020 we have: • Conducted 1:1 interviews with industry and research concerning the problems at hand. • 500 participants signed up for the project's four webinars with industry experts to address possibilities and challenges between the industries, focusing on circular economy. • “Innovation Survey” with 50 participants concerning specific possibilities within green–blue collaboration. • Established two workshops with a total of 31 different companies and actors on selected topics: o Insects as a source for protein in feed o Krill and Calanus finmarchicus as feed ingredients

From the “Innovation Survey 2020”, which is part of the project, it became clear that the need for increased utilization of resources and bi-products was considered the most important trend for innovation withing the green and blue sectors. In the further process, new and sustainable feed ingredients were consequently a primary subject that the companies wished to address

Nina Stangeland (NCE Seafood Innovation), Wenche Uksnøy (NCE Blue Legasea), Kristiane Haug Berg (NCE Heidner Biocluster) at "Land møter Hav", Ålesund 2019. In 2020 Biotech North with Line Kjellstrup became part of "Land møter Hav".

further. There are enormous possibilities for using new “locally sourced” raw materials as supplements and replacements for existing raw materials used today. Through the project, we identified some of the obstacles we need to address for Norway to develop and grow more “local feed ingredients”. This applies to, among other things, insects, which are much mentioned as an important feed source in aquaculture. In “Land meets Ocean”, one looked particularly at various categories of residual resources and how to obtain approval of changes in laws and regulations to develop and scale insect meal locally.

Krill and Calanus finmarchicus

Another subject in the same category is “low-trophic” resources, such as krill, which are found in all oceans, and Calanus finmarchicus, a zooplankton living in the Norwegian Sea. There is massive untapped potential here, that can be an important contribution to solving an increasing problem of sustainable food and feed.

This far the “Land meets Ocean” has contributed to: • connecting actors from agriculture, aquaculture and fishery more closely • revealing common challenges across the industries • uncovering possibilities for collaboration and realization of synergy effects across sectors • initiating specific initiatives that can contribute to sustainability and circular economy across bio-economies • increasing the knowledge level for circular economy and sustainability – hinders and opportunities © GettyImages

New opportunities in blue and green collaboration

In “Land meets Ocean”, one discussed what kind of arguments that contribute to social acceptance of harvesting low-trophic resources, and how this can be documented and communicated. In 2020, a workshop was held where the subject was insects and feed, plus a similar workshop for krill and Calanus finmarchicus. Both had participants from various companies and institutions.

The project continues The project has reached the goals that were set and grown larger than one pictured at the start of 2020. The work continues with a strengthened effort in the project involving the clusters and partner companies from industry and management. – The need for interaction through “Land meets Ocean” is further confirmed during 2020, and it turns out the interest is growing in the project’s third year, says Nina Stangeland, who wishes to continue the communication with Innovation Norway and other public actors to

realise project opportunities between the blue and green sectors.

Our collaboration partners:

She emphasizes that an application has been sent from NCE Seafood Innovation and NCE Heidner Biocluster concerning a Norwegian demo for an EU project with companies to examine the use of feed ingredients across the green and blue sectors. A reply is expected in summer 2021.

NCE Heidner Biocluster at Hamar is Norway’s leading business cluster for green bioeconomy and sustainable food production.

– We have also been granted funding to continue the collaboration and establish a consortium to apply for a “Green Platform”-project based on “Land meets Ocean”. Green and blue industry work with many of the same processes, but there is insufficient collaboration between the sectors today. “Land meets Ocean” will contribute to turn this trend around when the project continues in 2021, Nina Stangeland concludes.

NCE Blue Legasea in Ålesund develops marine and biomarine nutrition. Biotech North serves the sectors biotechnology and biomarine in Northern Norway, with its base in Tromsø.

Seafood Next

Competence for the future Many of the seafood industry’s newest employees want more insight into how the industry works. NCE Seafood Innovation’s contribution is a brand new competence programme called “Seafood Next”.

In 2016, the cluster launched Seafood Trainee, Norway’s first trainee programme for the seafood industry, which has already become a recognized brand within the industry. – This programme has been a great success and helped the companies attracting young talent and impulses. Seafood Next is partially based on the foundation we laid down, says Benedicte Skogen, Competence Manager at NCE Seafood Innovation.

Assists newly employed While Seafood Trainee aims at making the industry more attractive and attracting the best qualified newly educated, Seafood Next will build the competence of those who have just joined the industry. – Seafood Next is an international competence programme for the

International competence programme for people who are newly employed in the seafood industry, where the goal is to learn about the seafood industry’s value chain and mega trends in the industry. The programme is completed over a year and consists of four three day sessions. Organized by NCE Seafood Innovation Start: 2020. No. of participants in 2020: 36.

newly employed in the industry. The goal is to teach the candidates about the entire value chain of the fishing and seafood industry and the leading trends, says Skogen. Companies who had participated in the Seafood Trainee programme signalled they had need of a training programme for the newly employed. – We also uncovered that in general there’s a great need for learning more about the industry, both for established companies, startups, financial actors and those working with research and education, she explains.

Yields good results The first group started their training in September 2020, and the programme extends over a year. The participants meet four times at sessions lasting for three days

Seafood Trainee Goal: increase the industry’s attractiveness to talent. Organized by NCE Seafood Innovation. The programme combines working in a trainee company and an academic programme where the trainee gains insight into the seafood industry value chain. Start of programme: 2016. Seafood Trainee has 140 graduates to date and 30 companies have participated in the programme.

each. Seafood Next is open to anyone who wants or needs training within the seafood industry. Nikolas Kallas, Head of Product at Aquabyte, is one of the participants in the first group. He came from the position as VP Product at StormGeo, a global supplier of weather forecast services. He has a master’s degree in information science from the University of Bergen and further education from Stanford University.

opportunity to build a network in the industry. – This is a great arena to be present at. Here, you get good insight into how the industry works while simultaneously getting the opportunity to meet other participants who likely have experience with many of the problems at hand. It’s very useful, and the learning curve is steep, he explains.

– The invitation to Seafood Next came at the perfect time. My career in the seafood industry is relatively short, and I need and wish to learn as much as possible. Through the programme I have, among other things, gained insight into challenges and possibilities directly from the central seafood industry actors. The first Seafood Next session gave Nikolas professional input and the

A giant effort for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

The seafood industry’s growth has stagnated due to environmental challenges like fish escapement, diseases and salmon lice. This can be solved through a new and innovative production form that requires a new type of competence. – Through surveying, we have uncovered there’s a need for vocational training and continuing and supplementary education within new sustainable forms of operations in aquaculture. There’s also a need for infrastructure within RAS technology to carry out training and testing of equipment, says Benedicte Skogen, Competence Manager at NCE Seafood Innovation.

A blazing market The market for recirculating technology has been blazing the last years. RAS has taken over as the leading technology in the smolt industry and opens to production of increasingly larger smolt in land-based facilities.

A few years ago, many were sceptical to land-based fish farming, but technological innovations have among other things contributed to more people now seeing a greater chance of succeeding. These types of closed systems can solve many of the environmental challenges the industry is facing. The technology is however not perfected, and there are many challenges to be solved. Consequently, the industry has required more measures for increasing competence within different types of RAS technology, like semi-closed systems and plants at sea.

In collaboration with partners, academia and regional authorities, the cluster has started several initiatives for RAS education, training and R&D.

RAS – At present, there is an increase in knowledge within fish farming in recirculation systems. To reach the cluster’s goal of sustainable growth and innovation, the need for new and updated programmes for aquaculture recirculation systems has increased. Our goal is to develop new types of education to support a sustainable development in the seafood value chain, says Skogen.

Master of the fish cage Brede Fannemel has recently finished his master’s degree in aquaculture and seafood and started his new job as an aquaculture engineer at Benchmark Genetics, where he works with software implementation and line production. The company is world leading within aquaculture breeding and genetics. The aquaculture master’s degree was established in 2016 and initiated by the cluster. The education programme is delivered by the University of Bergen and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and developed together with the cluster partners. After finishing his one-year programme at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Ålesund, Brede was part of the first group to take the integrated master’s degree at the University in Bergen in 2016. – It was very instructive! Starting at the master’s degree and having to produce something on your own for the first time was a bit like being thrown into the deep waters. But there was a good learning environment within the student group, he says.

and contributes to a more controlled and predictable production, in both freshwater and seawater. At the same time there are many pitfalls. Ensuring oxygen feed and nitrate, and also particle removal, are crucial to succeed.

RAS

– RAS facilities are much more complex than traditional flow-through systems. This has created a need for experience-based knowledge in the interaction between for example chemistry, microbiology and technology, he says. He emphasizes that it is particularly demanding to have control of all the components and sensors in the system.

Brede Fannemel, Aquaculture Engineer at Benchmark Genetics.

Brede’s master’s degree researched how lowering of fish cages affect salmon’s behaviour. – We looked primarily at what happened to the fish’s behaviour when you move production below the sea lice belt. A lowered fish cage doesn’t necessarily stimulate normal behaviour, but we saw that the salmon maintained its net weight. So, the conclusion is that it’s possible to keep the fish cages lowered like this, he says.

Advantages and challenges He also got much practical experience and insight into RAS technology during his study. – When used the right way, there are many advantages. RAS uses less water, gives better energy utilization, makes it easier to treat and utilize waste, creates a stable and optimal aquatic environment for the fish, gives less season variation

– This is a complex system where many things must work together, so there’s much that can go wrong. And that will have grave consequences. You need professionals who know the plant well and always monitor the water quality and the fish’s behaviour in order to detect deviations early and get the right measures in place.

Essential education Brede believes these kinds of education and collaboration projects are important to the development of the industry. – The collaboration between the industry and academia is very important. The industry has many good measures in place today, and it will be crucial to keep on the same track and focus on innovation. Many resources are spent on this, and the environmental aspect has become very central in today’s fish farming industry. We had a good introduction to these problems during the study, and it helps us finding new solutions.

New educational programme within RAS Programme for training upper secondary school teacher in RAS technology • Start: spring 2021 New vocational training within RAS • Start: spring 2021 Further education for people with and without higher education • University course worth 5 study points and a strong focus on practical learning in RAS lab. • A course in Måløy with no study points. Collaboration between OFS Ontec, Måløy upper secondary school and NIVA. Start: autumn 2021

Developing a complete video library for RAS technology training Production of 50 films within the fields. The films will be published at Blue Planet Academy, where the films are compiled into courses. In addition, the films we be available to members and partners at the cluster’s innovation portal Seapoint.

RAS-lab RAS-lab is part of Ocean Innovation Norwegian Catapult and an infrastructure where companies can test and develop products in RAS plants and train employees within the field. NCE Seafood Innovation is one of the owners in Ocean Innovation Norwegian Catapult, together with Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap (VIS), GCE Ocean Technology, Additech AS and Marineholmen RASLAB AS.

KABIS – Project funded by The Research Council of Norway and Vestland County Municipality The goal of the KABIS project for the present period has been to focus on and strengthening aquaculture-oriented research and higher education in Western Norway, for this to support the innovation and readjustment work taking place to develop eco- friendly fish farming systems. This include among land-based recirculation systems (RAS) and floating semi-closed plants at sea (Semi-Closed Containment Systems, S-CCS). The project started in 2018.

RAS © Norwegian Seafood Council / Marius Fiskum

KABIS towards new heights

RAS

The six year project “Kapasitetsløft for bærekraftig og innovativ sjømatproduksjon” (“Capacity development for sustainable and innovative seafood production") that started in spring 2018, is now halfway through its course.

In its midway assessment, KABIS received the highest score of all the projects. – This shows that we’re on the right track, says professor Sigurd Handeland at the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Bergen and senior researcher at NORCE. He leads the KABIS project and contributed to the original application to the Research Council of Norway. NORCE is joined by The University of Bergen, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Vestland County Municipality, City of Bergen, NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and 12 aquaculture companies. The Research Council’s programme FORREGION funds the project with up to NOK 30 million. The cluster also gave a significant contribution to the project.

More sustainable aquaculture KABIS contributes to strengthening and focusing aquaculture-oriented research and higher education in Western Norway. The idea is that the project will boost and support the development of eco-friendly fish farming systems, such as landbased recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and in-sea floating semi-closed containment systems (S-CCS). – Our goal is to get the students more involved in the industry, but also to put the companies in closer contact with research and education. We saw the need for new competence if one is to optimize production and even more eco-friendly fish farming.

Since the start, KABIS has carried out a number of activities aimed at students, including establishing two PhD fellowships, a bachelor’s programme at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and three master’s projects at the University of Bergen and being in discussions with Stirling University, Great Britain and Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain about the development of a new student exchange programme within the field of sustainable aquaculture.

In the time ahead, the collaboration with NCE Seafood Innovation will become even more important, and he believes they will play a central role in the further development of the project. – Until now, we have focused mainly on building up capacity in the project, but in the time ahead, we will focus more on doing actual research. And NCE Seafood Innovation must help us communicate it throughout their channels, he concludes.

Good collaboration He emphasizes that the collaboration with the cluster has worked very well. – They have, among other things, provided a large network, and a unified industry has presented us with means for an endowed professorship. This was a clear signal they are actual partners, which was especially important towards the Research Council in their evaluation of the application, Handeland states.

One of our members located in Trondheim, Ecotone, has developed the fully-automatic sea lice counter SpectraLice. It has been developed for continuous counting and classification of sea lice on farmed salmon without involving handling.

Innovation on the members’ terms Contributing to sustainable seafood growth by focusing on innovation has long been a goal for NCE Seafood Innovation – always on the industry’s and members’ terms and according to their needs.

One of the most important tasks of the cluster is to contribute to increasing the innovation activities within the industry. They therefore contribute to developing sustainable innovation projects that ease interaction across the industry. The idea is that the members should benefit from a broad spectre of services and activities connected to various innovation activities. – Fish health and welfare and carbon footprint reduction create great challenges concerning the

future of the seafood industry, and by focusing on innovation we can find new solutions for many of these problems. Our members belong to leading companies with a common wish for developing the seafood industry further in a way that prepares for sustainable growth, explains Björgólfur Hávarðsson, Innovation Manager at NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster.

– These workshops usually concentrate on a specific area or problem at hand. We pick them based on what’s defined as the cluster’s priority area in the cluster’s strategy and annual plans. The purpose is to uncover where the shoe pinches and there’s a need for us to develop a project or invite others to collaborate on such development, he explains.

Workshops

Long experience

Among other things, the cluster organizes workshops for interaction across the industry, where they focus on subjects like digital transformation, carbon footprint reduction and fish health and welfare.

The adapted proposal is then evaluated by a group of experienced people from the industry, resources from the entrepreneur segment and R&D institutions with long experience with project administration and implementation.

These workshops are aimed at shedding light on challenges and needs within the industry and uncovering opportunities for new projects and collaborations that can lead to increased innovation.

– When we have been through these sorting mechanisms, we assess the maturity of the project idea and which support mechanisms are best suited to develop it.

– An innovation process can start in several ways, but a typical process opens with a workshop where problem areas are discussed and individual elements identified, says Hávarðsson.

The cluster has both regional and national support mechanisms available, at RFF (Regional Research Fund), Innovation Norway, The Research Council of Norway and the Nordic Council of Ministers, among others. In addition, there

SpectraLice

are EU programmes like Farm to Fork, Horizon 2020 and the Green Platform. – This type of activity, where we work with projects or collaborate with partners, may result in us being invited to large projects with great utility value without us having to initiate them. This is an evaluation we do case by case and matches with the expected value and in accordance with the cluster’s present strategy.

Project based innovation The other way the cluster is contributing to innovation, is participating in projects where one enters into known problems and focuses deeply on building knowledge concerning these and finding solutions. – A project like this arises from an expressed need in the industry and always involves a relatively large consortium of academic institutions, R&D institutions and industry actors – equipment suppliers as well as aquaculture companies, explains Hávarðsson. A specific initiative the cluster has contributed heavily to, is the project Capacity-lift for Sustainable and Innovative Aquaculture Production (KABIS). The project has been an

important arena that, among other things, has enabled extensive collaboration between industry and R&D. – Here we have established a user forum where the fish farming companies provide a list of challenges within the field. This list is examined by the academic parties who invest huge research and development efforts on these problems. The solutions are then presented to the users, equipment suppliers and aquaculture companies as they are available. In many cases, the findings are utilized directly to improve equipment, routines or methods. The most important factor in this instance is that two sides work closely together, learn each other’s language and build capacity and knowledge concerning areas where both the lack of knowledge and the potential are considerable. – The common denominator is that we usually address the problems that affect the entire industry and where the solutions benefit the entire industry and require collaboration from many different parties. The goal is to always pave the way for sustainable growth within the industry, he concludes.

Capacity-lift for Sustainable and Innovative Aquaculture Production (KABIS)

Mind The Gap

Increased research and education within new and sustainable aquaculture systems

A collaboration project between NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and Mohn Centre for Innovation and Regional Development. The collaboration aims to understand the present unavoidable gap between cutting-edge science and industrial utilization of it.

KABIS’ goal is to contribute to new education programmes, new knowledge and more innovation within closed containment production technology for aquaculture (RAS and C-CCS). The goal is to achieve further sustainability and cost effective production of salmon.

iFishIENCi Intelligent Fish feeding through Integration of Enabling technologies and Circular principles. The overall goal of the iFishIENCi project is to provide new intelligent feeding technologies to support ambitious, but sustainable growth for the European aquaculture industry.

Cutting-edge science and industrial utilization

The project looks into the possibility for finding methods that will reduce this gap and shorten the time between publication and application. A specific idea is for the researcher to write a page with a short discussion of the findings, the significance they may have for the industry and where or how the industry can utilize the results. This comes in addition to traditional publishing and reports that are mandatory and a natural part of the researchers’ dissemination. These reports or articles are however often not read, or the findings are not utilized because of the form in which they are presented.

NewTechAqua The main goal of the NewTechAqua project is to expand and diversify European aquaculture production of finfish, molluscs and microalgae by developing and validating technological solutions.

Seapoint – pointing in the right direction Seapoint aims to boosts innovation and knowledge sharing among cluster members by providing online access to a global network and specialized industry knowledge. Seapoint is a continuation and improvement of the Seafood Innovation Portal. The portal opens a world where innovators can connect with a global network and access the seafood cluster’s specialized industry knowledge. We gathered valuable industryspecific competence that players in the seafood industry need to innovate, increase competency and strengthen entrepreneurship. Seapoint is a digital intersection for increased innovation: Anyone who is involved in all aspects of innovation will make good use of Seapoint.

Connects the entire ecosystem Seapoint connects the ecosystem in the seafood industry and guides individuals and companies to useful information, networks and knowledge in the industry. The cluster's aim was to make a digital ecosystem that reflected the knowledge, information and network the cluster has access to.

First step entrepreneurs Our first milestone was to test this out on entrepreneurs – the main reason why we launched the portal

with focus on “how can we build content to create value for this group of companies”. The first step was therefore to build and collect information about financial grants and soft founding for seafood startups at every stage, by gathering information about industry challenges, reports and analyses from important players in the industry, in addition to knowledge sharing, network, “good helpers”, access to international market data as well as the documents you need to start your activities. – Our aim with Seapoint, step one, was to make it as easy as possible for entrepreneurs in the seafood industry to commercialize their product or service by pointing them in the right direction, says business developer Pia B.S. Rønningen.

Knowledge sharing increased as a result of COVID-19 for the cluster As a result of the digital workday that came with the pandemic the focus on knowledge sharing through Seapoint also became an important ingredient of the portal.

The cluster experienced a good and growing interest from established companies who wanted to use the content in the portal to build competence for employees.

– Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it was important to find new ways of contributing value to our members. By digitalizing content, we reached more members at their primary locations and we could also share competence from our competence programmes, like Seafood Next and Seafood Trainee, says Competence Manager Benedicte Skogen.

Solving bottlenecks Innovation and focus on industry challenges was a genuine motivation for the establishment of Seapoint. – The Industry’s challenges are collected through one-to-one meetings, larger meeting arenas, resource groups and informal gatherings. When going forward, companies also have the opportu-

nity to report their challenges through Seapoint. Based on this, industry projects are initiated, and there are plenty of problems that need smart innovators. Seapoint is a suitable channel for us to promote problems worth solving, says Innovation Manager Björgólfur Hávarðsson.

Ready to explore – All employees in our member and partner companies have full access to Seapoint, and I encourage everyone to explore it. In particular, I think the knowledge module will be valuable to many, as you can access competency from different organisations and from programmes such as

Seafood Next and Seafood Trainee, says project consultant Carl H. B. Haukås. Seapoint is developing step by step, and we’re glad to have the Municipality in Bergen supporting development with a grant for 2021. The ambition is that Seapoint will provide value to the industry, and thereby contribute to the cluster’s overall goal of sustainable growth in the seafood industry through innovation. As we work towards expanding Seapoint with valuable content, feedback and experience from members that can help make this a useful tool for seafood companies are always appreciated.

Cluster member Evoy, raised NOK 45 millions from the EIC Accelerator, boosting the startup towards global markets.

First group of companies in NCE Seafood Innovations Capital program. Here you see them highly dedicated to establish a capital strategy for their company.

Supporting startups to drive industry growth NCE Seafood Innovation believes that startups can contribute to increase sustainable growth and innovation in the seafood industry by offering new and innovative solutions that the industry needs. That’s why the cluster aims to strengthen the conditions for seafood entrepreneurs by helping to increase the entrepreneurs' competence, network and access to capital. – An important premise for being able to do this is to ensure well-functioning interaction between players in the innovative ecosystem where knowledge, entrepreneurship and capital are connected in an effective way, says Pia Singdahlsen Rønningen, Business Developer at NCE Seafood Innovation.

Increase in members during 2020 By the end of 2020, the cluster consists of nearly 40 startup members. During the year, over half of them have joined the cluster. The cluster sees that many of the members have appreciated that the cluster took an active role at the start of the pandemic to share knowledge around funding and capital implications that affected entrepreneurs.

The digital format for cluster services, webinars and knowledge sharing has also received positive feedback from many companies. – We believe that the increasing number of members in this segment is due to us having pin-pointed services for entrepreneurs. We see that the cluster can play a significant role in building networks, increasing industry knowledge and assisting companies in navigating between different sources of capital, says Nina Stangeland, Managing Director at NCE Seafood Innovation.

Closer link to seafood investors NCE Seafood Innovation acknowledges risk capital as an important part of the innovation ecosystem and has established a new member category for seafood investors. – In order to take new innovations from idea to market, access to capital is required. Norway's comparative competitive advantage in the seafood industry is attractive to investors. The cluster’s role is to contribute to the dialogue and matching of investors and startups. Investors contribute with expertise and capital and make it possible to take an idea from the drawing board to profitable business, states Rønningen. Farvatn and Momentum are the first two cluster members with a

mandate to invest in seafood growth companies. They both joined NCE Seafood Innovation in 2020. – In Momentum, we see vast opportunities for further value creation in the seafood industry, based on Norway’s comparative advantages in the ocean. We also see industry-wide challenges that must be solved in order to secure sustainable growth. That is why we have chosen aquaculture as a strategic focus area for our new venture fund. We look forward to further strengthening our knowledge and network in all parts of the industry and hope to contribute positively to the cluster’s important efforts, says Managing Partner Hilde Støle Pettersen. Farvatn is a Norwegian family-owned investment company continuously looking for new investment opportunities with attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns. – Farvatn Venture finds the clusters’ events valuable. We highly appreciate NCE Seafood´s leadership in connecting the right people and building integrations across organizational networks. This is directly fostering the innovation ecosystem for the Ocean and Aquaculture verticals, says board member Johan Odvar Odfjell.

New competence program “Capital Raising in the Seafood Industry” is a competence programme for early stage companies in the cluster. The programme is an important part of the cluster’s focus on offering industry-specific knowledge that fuels innovation and contributes to sustainable development and growth of the seafood industry. The objective is to help the companies build a long-term funding roadmap and attract investors who will contribute to building the company. In 2020 the cluster offered the successful programme for the second time. – Entering into good partnerships with the right investors at different stages of the startup and scaleup journey is the key to secure the success of a company, says Rønningen. The investors bring much more than capital to the table. The right investors can and will make a huge contribution to the development of a startup, but they also need return on their investment.

and a long-term funding roadmap including which investor to partner with at different stages and valuations. – At this point, we connect the companies with relevant investors who are invited to the programme for a pitch session, Rønningen explains. David Røisland is one of the entrepreneurs at Innomar AS. The company develops fishery and aquaculture technology to meet increasing demands concerning sustainability, environment and quality. – It’s been very instructive and useful to participate in this programme. It provided, among other things, a very thorough insight into the landscape these investors operate in and the importance of securing the right investors at the right time. We spent quite some time on identifying which investors we are looking for. Who are they, what’s their focus and how do we catch their interest? This helped us see we had to do a thorough job to involve the investors we wished for, he says.

– Three months into the programme, the goal is for the companies to have established a plan for growth

David Røisland, CEO, Innomar AS, at Katapult Ocean Demo Day 2020.

Gathering data for sustainable decisions AquaCloud is an important tool for insight- based, sustainable growth in the seafood industry. The Sensor Data Standard is ready for use, and soon the project will contribute to increased insight when launching datasets on environment and fish health. In AquaCloud, fish farmers can collect and share production data, get access to common industry data from the entire country and make data accessible for innovation and research. This industry project is based on standardization to secure better data quality and aims to create a common basis of facts in the seafood industry. AquaCloud is open to all fish farmers in Norway.

A new standard simplifies and provides opportunities In 2020, AquaCloud launched its first version of the Sensor Data Standard. This version covers environmental sensors and feed data from pens at sea. The plan is to expand the standard to cover more areas and provide documentation and support resources for the industry to put the standard into use.

Industry partners in the project (Feb. 2021)

• Lerøy Seafood Group

• Lingalaks

• Grieg Seafood

• Bremnes Seashore

• Cermaq

• Bolaks

• Eide Fjordbruk

– We have worked especially with sensors to make it easier for the farmers to collect data directly into their production systems. This way, we contribute to strengthening the data quality, which in its turn benefits AquaCloud. The sensor standard can simplify the farmers’ purchase processes and is also an opportunity for both sensor and system suppliers to offer the industry more flexible and value-adding solutions. We see great interest from various industry actors who want to put the standard to use, says Project Manager Jørn Torsvik.

Collects vital data Large amounts of data about the fish farming industry along the coast are stored in AquaCloud’s data platform. The aggregated information includes environmental measurements, mortality, diseases, treatments, biomass and much more. The goal is that the use of the aggregated data in AquaCloud will, among other things, make the farmers better prepared for making sustainable decisions when it comes to production.

The interest for data goes further then the fish farmers itself. The Institute for Marine Research is an actor that also sees opportunities for making use of the data gathered through AquaCloud. – Environmental measurements from the fish farms connected to AquaCloud are an important data source for the COASTWATCH project we are in charge of. This project aims to establish an integrated observation system for coastal areas to contribute to increased knowledge about sustainable use of marine resources, says Research Director Geir Lasse Taranger at the Institute for Marine Research.

Increased insight into fish health Fish health is one of the cluster's priority areas, and the work around AquaCloud is especially aimed at providing better insight into the causes of loss and mortality at the farms. In 2020, the report “Klassifisering av taps- og dødsårsaker i akvakultur” (“Classification of causes for loss and mortality in

aquaculture”) was published from AquaCloud. This report points out the importance of establishing a common standard for classification, and the next step is to draw up a proposal for a new standard to be delivered in 2021. Another important initiative is to make it possible for the farmers to report losses according to standardized categories. AquaCloud collaborates with several industry actors and will be able to offer the first solution to gather and display categorized losses across fish farming businesses. – The standardized data presently being gathered through AquaCloud will give us a far better chance to understand the causes for fish mortality and reduced fish welfare in the fish farming industry, says Ingunn Sommerset at the Veterinary Institute.

Safe sharing for innovation AquaCloud receives funding from The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway through Ocean Innovation Catapult Center to build a data sharing platform for innovation. This means that startups, established technology companies and other innovators can utilize

aggregated industry data in AquaCloud to develop new services that will contribute to sustainable industry growth. In addition to the technical platform, AquaCloud has in 2020 also put great effort into establishing a governance framework describing how to handle different types of data to meet requirements for confidentiality, competition legislation and stock market sensitivity.

A broad foundation During 2020, AquaCloud has been an important sponsor of the review work of NS 9417 from 2012 on “Salmon and rainbow trout - Unambiguous terminology and methods for documentation of production”. This work continues in 2021, and AquaCloud is actively involved in areas like fish health and environmental measurements. – We want to contribute to the industry uniting on common data gathering and standardization and are open to entering into any collaboration with a broad foundation as long it’s in line with our ambitions of contributing to innovation and sustainable growth in the industry, Jørn Torsvik concludes.

Data from production areas: 12 out of 13 areas Weekly number of datapoints: Approximately 130,000 datapoints Total data inputs from about: 4000 fish cages Weekly data from about: 1900 fish cages Number of data suppliers: 7

Many opportunities in the EU As part of the services offered, the cluster gives advice on EU funding to partners and members. In autumn 2020, NCE Seafood Innovation got their own EU advisor.

The EU advisor works with strengthening the cluster’s EU strategy – and gives, among other things, the cluster members advice on opportunities for collaboration and funding through international projects – and with increasing international competence and awareness of relevant challenges in the aquaculture sector and attracting EU funding for relevant innovation projects in the seafood industry.

• active participation in the Euro- pean Aquaculture Technology and Innovation Platform (EATIP)

The advisor can also assist cluster members who are already participating in EU projects, and she works strategically to influence talks and work programmes in Horizon Europe.

The cluster’s priority areas concur with several large EU efforts, and in 2021 that will bring about many opportunities for the cluster.

In 2020, the focus has been on • The European Green Deal and the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy and the opportunities they provide for the cluster’s members • preparations for the EU’s new framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe

• familiarizing with the cluster’s members, strategic prioritization and how the EU work can con tribute to supporting these • following the development of the EU classification system for green investments, the taxonomy, and the impact it will have on the Norwegian seafood industry

Please contact Karianne Kojen Andersen if you want more information: Karianne Kojen Andersen EU Advisor

Industry partners

Connecting the dots by working together R&D Partners

Bremnes Seashore AS

Seaborn AS

Dynamic Space Technologies AS

Searas AS

Ecotone AS

SeaSmart AS

Eide Fjordbruk AS

Sekkingstad AS

Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

Evoy AS

SFD AS

Farvatn AS

The Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA)

ShrimpVision AS

Fishency Innovation AS

Submerged AS

Fjord Maritime AS

Tekslo AS

Garware Technical Fibres Ltd.

TomKat Global Solutions Pty Ltd

Hatch Blue Norway AS

Tracio

Hauge Aqua AS

W-Sence AS

BI Norwegian Business School Norwegian Institute of Marine Research

Nofima AS NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS NORD University NHH Norwegian School of Economics Norwegian University of Life Sciences NMBU

Hordafor AS Inka AS Innomar AS

SINTEF Ocean AS

InnovaSjø Akvakultur AS

University of Bergen

JET Seafood AS

Norwegian Veterinary Institute

Kontali Analyse AS LingaLaks AS Marimetrics AS

Members Akvareforma AS Algaepro AS Anteo AS

Seas of Norway AS

Marine Technology Innovation AS Metapod AS Microclean AS

Collaborators City of Bergen Centre for Digital Life Norway Connect Vest-Norge GCE Ocean Technology Innovation Norway Invest in Bergen Katapult Ocean AS Maritime Bergen NCE Maritime CleanTech

AquaByte AS

Momentum Venture Management AS

AquaFarm Equipment AS

Njord Robotics AS

The Research Council of Norway

Aquamedic AS

Siva

AquaPro AS

North Atlantic Seafood Forum AS

Startuplab AS

Bioceanor SAS

Oceanium Ltd

Vestland County Council

BioVivo Technologies AS

Optimeering Aqua AS

Blue Lice AS

Quantidoc AS

VIS – Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap

Bolaks AS

Scantrol Deep Vision AS

The Seafood Innovation Cluster AS Thormøhlensgate 51 N-5006 Bergen Norway post@seafoodinnovation.no