- An incredibly educational day that has given me an exciting and inspiring insight into the activities at Smart Innovation Norway and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE)!

This is how Mari Sundli Tveit, Director of the Research Council of Norway, summarized her visit to Halden at the end of January.

Through presentations by the two research institutions, Sundli Tveit and Kristin Danielsen, Acting Director of the Research System and Internationalization, got a good overview of the work being done and the goals that have been set.

- We work with this on a daily basis, and it is incredibly important to hear directly from the professional communities and understand the challenges from their perspective," says the Director.

- Enabling innovation

The day in Halden offered good discussions and important input, and Sundli Tveit is clear that the visit will have an impact on the further work of the Research Council.

 - We exist to enable innovation in institutions like Smart Innovation Norway and IFE, and days like this are important for that part of our job.

The Director was impressed by how the institutions are linking disciplines and making things happen.

- You understand and interact in all the intersections, whether it is artificial intelligence, robotics, nuclear operations, simulation or other areas you work with. The transferability is great, and you get new technology into actual application," she boasts.

Highly confident in the work

With increased insight into the national and international importance of the research work in Halden, Sundli Tveit looks forward to helping to facilitate increased momentum and progress.

- I look forward to following you in the future and I have great faith in the work you are doing," she says.

Integrated value chain

Smart Innovation Norway's Director of Research, Dieter Hirdes, is pleased to have achieved the goal of highlighting how they link research with business in industrial clusters in a holistic value chain from applied research to private and public value creation.

- IFE has been internationally known since its inception in 1958, but there is a lot going on at IFE, especially in digital systems and related labs. It is not as well known that Smart Innovation Norway is at the very top in Norway in EU research with a focus on applied research and value creation in society and business. We are very pleased that the management of the Research Council managed to prioritize a whole day to inform themselves about the research environments in Halden, he says.

Brita Staal and Manuela Freté triple the national and international experience and expertise in sustainability work when they join Mikael af Ekenstam in Nordland.

- "With Manuela and Brita on board, we have a dream team up here. I am incredibly pleased to have them on the team," says Mikael af Ekenstam, Senior Advisor at Smart Innovation Norway.

He is a Swedish immigrant to Narvik and has been working in Smart Innovation Norway since 2019. Manuela is French and originally from Romania, but considers herself European since she has studied, worked and lived in many different EU countries, while Brita is Norwegian with many years of experience from sustainability work in Sweden and Denmark.

What all three have in common is that they are passionate about and experts in sustainability and climate. They see the enormous potential of Smart Innovation Norway to bring the EU and Norway closer together through green transition projects, and they want to contribute to the major societal changes that will come in the future.

With Smart Innovation Norway as their employer, they believe they are best placed to do just that.

From Paris to Harstad

With her diverse background, Manuela Freté brings with her six years of experience as project manager for sustainability in the Paris office of the global firm Deloitte. She led the process of establishing and anchoring the then newly created department, during which time the number of staff increased from 30 to 120 people.

- It was fun and educational to be part of that journey. The department still exists today and is here to stay," she says.

Another task at Deloitte was to lead a working group on an EU project. That experience came in handy after Freté and her family moved to Harstad in 2019 when her husband was hired as project manager for the Arctic Race of Norway cycling race, the EU experience came in handy.

- I got a job in Harstad municipality, where one of my responsibilities was the municipality's only EU project so far. I also worked in the innovation department of the power company Nordkraft, including start-up projects in the energy sector. One of the things we did was to develop mobile charging stations for electric cars in the region, develop mobile battery solutions for other sectors and mobile charging solutions for the electric vehicles for the Arctic Race of Norway," says the 34-year-old.

Outside work, Freté has established Link Harstad, a network that creates meeting places for young workers in the region.

Working in Europe

For Brita Staal, it is a great motivating factor to work in a company where the work you do leads to concrete results and creates innovation in societal processes. She has been following Smart Innovation Norway for some time and has been impressed by the company's business model, which combines research, innovation, incubation and municipalities in real projects.

- It gives me the willies to think about what's going to happen in the energy markets in Norway. Firstly, we have to go through an enormous efficiency drive. Secondly, the goal is to double energy production in Norway. If we are to export mainland production and build the green industrial adventure that we hope for, there is an awfully big job ahead of us. And it's very exciting to be part of an environment that has expertise in this area," she points out.

For the last four years, Staal has only worked on international projects. Even though his place of work is Kabelvåg in Nordland, his field of work is European, and climate is his major field of interest both professionally and personally.

It is therefore fitting that the employer is the actor in Norway with the most EU projects in the field of green energy, and that works specifically on the topic in community development projects.

- The European Commission aims to decarbonize Europe and they are starting with all types of buildings. They want to free themselves from dependency on Russian gas, and I think it's really exciting to see how innovative and strong the EU is in this situation. Moreover, the war in Ukraine shows that this is not just an energy issue," says Staal.

- Great potential

Mikael af Ekenstam is well acquainted with several conditions in Northern Norway, having been Smart Innovation Norway's link to the Smart Narvik agreement since 2019. The region has both similar and completely different types of energy challenges than Southern Norway, and the competence enhancement and exchange in the company will increase in accordance with the potential that the two new hires represent.

• READ ALSO: Three new years of Smart Narvik: More innovation, more EU projects and increased resources

Together with Staal and Freté, he has a huge network and unique experience and expertise. Ekenstam is now looking forward to implementing "his" part of the company's growth strategy.

- A lot is happening up here, especially in industrial development and the green shift, and the east-west axis from Narvik and Lofoten and into Sweden is very interesting. Smart Innovation Norway can play a major role here with our expertise in energy," he says.

The number of EU projects will also increase. Smart Innovation Norway has contacts throughout Europe, and these will now be linked to a greater extent with North Norwegian pilots and partners. Knowledge about writing applications and implementing projects is one of the Halden-based research company's areas of expertise.

- There are several obvious opportunities here in the north that we look forward to exploring and realizing," says Mikael af Ekenstam.

Mikael af Ekenstam and Manuela Freté are employed in Smart Cities and Communities, which is part of the Smart Innovation Communities business area. Brita Staal is Climate Lead and employed partly in Communities and partly in Social Innovation, which is part of Smart Innovation Research. Bernt Bremdal is also employed in Smart Innovation Research and is part of the North Norwegian department since he works at the University of Tromsø's Narvik campus.

The work to make Narvik smarter and more efficient continues. This is clear after Narvik Municipality, Narvik Port and Smart Innovation Norway signed a new three-year agreement for the Smart Narvik development project.

- "We are very pleased to have the opportunity to continue to contribute to the development here in the north. Now we will tailor our efforts even more and use a larger part of the total competence in Smart Innovation Norway in our work, says Mikael af Ekenstam.

In short, it means more innovation, more resources and more EU projects. So far, one of the results of Smart Narvik 's work has been the success of the municipality's AURORAL tourism project in the EU's Horizon 2020 programme. The win enabled the municipality to create a new position and hire a project manager.

Also read:

• Digitization project to document the number of visitors in Tore Hund's kingdom
• EU project can contribute to the prevention of wear and tear on popular hiking trails in Nordland
• Smart Narvik is in the process of testing a digital tourism project

For the Port of Narvik, Smart Narvik has, among other things, helped speed up the process of establishing shore power.

- Within Smart Narvik, a pre-project was created that led to an investment project. And just two weeks before Christmas, the news came that Enova is supporting the project with NOK 10.7 million. The goal is to have shore power during 2024, says Ekenstam.

He has been employed at Smart Innovation Norway's Narvik office since the first Smart Narvik agreement was signed in 2019.

At that time, the municipality, the Port of Narvik and the power company Nordkraft were partners. Now the municipality and the port are continuing their collaboration with the research and innovation company Smart Innovation Norway.

A greener port

Narvik Port Director Børge Edvardsen Klingan is pleased to have a professional partner in smart cities, sustainability and the green shift on board.

When the agreement with Smart Innovation Norway was to be reassessed after the first three-year period, he was clear that the port needed expertise and networks in these areas for the next three years as well.

- The foundation of the agreement is that we all have to take responsibility for the sustainability goals that have been set and the green shift that is underway. The Port of Narvik relates to many of the polluters and has a role in that regard. We must take that position and acknowledge that we can make a difference," he says.

Narvik is where rail, road and sea meet and is the most important hub in Northern Norway. Putting in place the shore power facility with funding from Enova will be one of the major tasks in the Smart Narvik collaboration. So is the energy hub project to meet the new energy needs of the other carriers to and from the port.

- In the first three-year period, a large number of preliminary projects and studies have been carried out, and important investigations have been made. We have built knowledge and mapped out what we need to work on next,' says Klingan.

Havna is also one of two municipal companies behind the development of a brand new city district. Here, too, circular economy and sustainability are key elements.

- Great opportunities in Narvik

Narvik Municipality is the third partner in Smart Narvik, and Deputy Mayor Lars Norman Andersen has been closely involved in the process of the new agreement.

He is excited about what the collaboration will achieve in the next three-year period.

- Narvik municipality faces great opportunities in the green shift. At the same time, we have an enormous need for restructuring in municipal service production. We want to continue the work of identifying new solutions for the municipality as an organisation and for the local community," he says.

The aim is to improve the efficiency of municipal service production and produce better services for the population.

These are among the elements that are important for creating the residential atmosphere and attractiveness that is important for both new and old residents.

- Through the work in Smart Narvik, we want to continue the work of continuously developing Narvik to be a place where people want to live, work and live. These factors mean that we have chosen to continue our cooperation with Smart Innovation Norway," says Lars Norman Andersen.

Contact us:

Mikael af Ekenstam
E-mail: mikael.af.ekenstam@smartinnovationnorway.com
Phone:+47 906 300 82

Every year, the Cluster for Applied AI and NCE Smart Energy Markets award the Cluster Partner of the Year award to a partner company that has distinguished itself in the past year. This year was no exception when the Partner Conference 2022 took place in the Smart Innovation Arena.

The award is handed out as the last entry in a tightly packed programme, and the secrecy surrounding the selection is great. Thus, both the joy and the surprise of the winners will be correspondingly great.

This year's cluster partner is chosen to honor partners who have distinguished themselves in an extra positive way throughout the year. The Cluster for Applied AI and NCE Smart Energy Markets had several good candidates to choose from, while the Cluster for Decommissioning and Repurposing, which was launched in April this year, names its first Cluster Partner of the Year in 2023.

• Also read: The clusters showed off their partners: - The partner conference is the most important highlight of the year

Goalless award winner

The prize was awarded by Head of Communities, Eli Haugerud, who is responsible for the clusters and Smart Cities and Communities. She brought the head of the Cluster for Applied AI, Marianne Jansson Bjerkman, and the head of NCE Smart Energy Markets, Inge Bilet, on stage.

They tried to keep the tension as long as possible before they revealed the winners, and it was a surprised Fred Martin Langøy from Smart Energy Systems AS in Fredrikstad who made his way to the stage to receive the award from Haugerud and Bilet.

The jury had emphasized, among other things, that the partner "is active both in terms of participation in events, but also with good feedback on how the cluster can be a better device for the partners. The company has taken the initiative to establish one of the country's first three battery factories and ensured broad involvement among regional authorities and local businesses. This has helped to position the cluster and lift our expertise into the light".

- It is not often that I am speechless, but I am now, said a happy Langøy.

Experienced partner won

The winner at Cluster for Applied AI has been a cluster member for many years, and the jury's justification states, among other things, that the company "has distinguished itself through its active involvement in cluster development over several years, its strong professional contribution to the cluster in general, and its willingness and ability to both contribute to the common good.

The business has contributed to a number of cluster projects, but has also been able to use the cluster as a strategic platform for its own development.

The partner in question has also been able to be relevant for collaboration with other cluster partners, which we know several of you who are here today have enjoyed."

Finally, the Communities leader together with Bjerkman could congratulate Simula Consulting AS on the victory and ask Anders Aamodt and Elias Myklebust to come up to receive the diploma and flowers.

The partner conference 2022 gathered around 100 people in the Smart Innovation Arena and engaged the gathering throughout the day with a packed program that engaged, challenged, enlightened and socialized the participants.

A lot of good comes out of physical meetings between people. The Partner Conference 2022 is a good example of this, bringing together partners from Smart Innovation Norway's three clusters, Cluster for Applied AI, NCE Smart Energy Markets and Cluster for Decommissioning and Repurposing.

- This created commitment!

A central item on the program was the interaction arena.

Using the world cafe method, the participants were able to unleash both creativity, commitment and knowledge in the form of discussions around defined and very real issues.

The aim of the program post was to create a safe meeting place where everyone could share experiences across fields of knowledge.

- When we use the world cafe as a method, we break up the large groups and make it easier for everyone to be heard. This created real commitment, says an enthusiastic Stian Melhus from Smart Innovation Communities.

He was responsible for organizing and implementing the world cafe and points out that one of the most important things about the interaction arena is that you build relationships by solving problems together.

- This creates conversations that would otherwise not come up, and it opens up the participants to listen and build trust between the partners. Many people exchanged business cards during this part of the programme, which suggests that it was an arena for creating relationships as much as solving problems, says Melhus.

- A fun way to work

A meeting place for venting and discussing challenges has been in demand among municipalities, cluster partners and portfolio companies that Smart Innovation Norway collaborates with. The interaction arena is a measure to meet the need.

During the Partner Conference, the municipalities Marker and Halden and the technology company Ophion from Fredrikstad were able to present their challenges to the participants.

The challenge from Halden municipality concerned mobility opportunities in connection with a large sports arena that is under construction in the city centre. Marker municipality brought an issue around energy to the table, and Ophion wanted input on financing solutions for their pilot project for sensors that detect leaks in water supply networks.

Ronny Andersen from Ophion appreciated all the input that the rest of the conference brought.

- The commitment was great and the ideas many. The suggestions are good, and although there were some approaches that I was initially perhaps a bit skeptical about, I became convinced during the world cafe that they are interesting nonetheless. This was very helpful, he said and continued:

- This has given us some very good contacts that it will be exciting to talk to in the near future.

 Pål Warset works on a daily basis as a sales manager at the water data company Intoto. He was at the world cafe as a participant and worked on the challenge for Halden municipality.

- It was very interesting with so many different people working on the same task and across national borders. A very fun way to work, he concluded afterwards.

Watch video from the conference:

Content-rich conference

The total of around 100 people who participated digitally and physically had a rich day with three interesting lectures.

NRK's Jan Fredrik Beck-Bjørntvedt gave a terrific presentation based on the collaboration NRK had with former paddler Eirik Verås Larsen on how to win Olympic gold. Beck-Bjørntvedt explained how the theory of becoming the best in the world can be transferred to business and social life.

CEO of Nord Pool, Tom Darell, traveled to Halden to give the conference participants the latest news from the power market and the electricity price situation.

Fred Martin Langøy from the cluster partner Smart Energy Systems AS and the battery company Hreinn talked about exciting plans for what will be one of Norway's first battery factories.

In addition, the day offered presentations by various cluster partners, a summary of the year for Smart Innovation Norway's three clusters, information about Smart Innovation's expertise broker and EU network, good social breaks, lunch, a panel discussion and the selection of the cluster partners of the year 2022.

The award ceremony was the last item on the agenda. The secrecy surrounding the selection is great, and the joy and surprise of the winners is correspondingly great.

This year's winner in the Cluster for Applied AI was Simula Consulting AS, while Smart Energy Systems AS went top with NCE Smart Energy Markets.

• Read more: The cluster partners of the year 2022 have been chosen!

- A fantastic arena

The aim of the Partner Conference is to create a meeting place for the cluster partners of CAAI, NCE SEM and the DECOM cluster. But a content-rich program does not come by itself, and preparations for the Partner Conference take a long time.

- This day is the most important highlight of the year where we focus on those who build this environment that we are so happy and proud of, points out Head of Smart Innovation Communities, Eli Haugerud, and emphasizes that she has a large group with her both on stage and behind the scenes.

The repeated good turnout for the conference shows that the cluster partners appreciate a whole day of useful lectures and presentations, and valuable socialising.

The data center company Storespeed from Halden has been a member of the NCE SEM cluster since 2017, and founder and managing director John Ragnar Amundsen is one of those who prioritizes being part of the Partner conference.

- I participate to become better known. Just by being present here, we have managed to make very valuable and good contacts with other partner companies, and that gives a synergy that we think is very exciting, he says.

Amundsen has made active use of the cluster network in many ways, which has contributed to Storespeed delivering several major results.

- The cluster is a fantastic arena for being able to collaborate with companies that are interested in what we do. It's a fantastic environment to be in, he says.

- Meets relevant companies and people

Another partner is the consulting company Amesto NextBridge. There, Vincent Aardalsbakke is head of AI and new technologies, and he sees great value in cluster membership on behalf of his employer and himself.

- We want to be present where relevant people and companies are. It was therefore natural for us to become a member of the Cluster for Applied AI because here there are many people who want the same thing and help each other to achieve their goals. A large part of my job is to be out and about and take in needs and trends in order to be able to convert them into skills and plans for employees, and in that way the Partner Conference is fantastic. There are many businesses here and many different elements. It allows you to introduce yourself and make new acquaintances, and this is much of the point of cluster business as I see it, he says.

The state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND) is tasked with decommissioning the country's nuclear facilities and storing radioactive waste in a safe manner. NND is one of the founders of the DECOM cluster and sees the cluster work as a central part of the work to build up a knowledge network around decommissioning.

- If we get partners who work together with us and take part in the knowledge and expertise we build up, we can create new and green industries with export opportunities abroad. We cannot do it ourselves as we are a government agency, but we want to help establish a network that can create more than the green lawn that we deliver from us when we are done with decommissioning. We create that network through the DECOM cluster, says sector director of communications, Martin Andreasson, in NND.

- Women make up about 50% of the population in Norway. Yet there are few women in AI-related professions. Why is that? And what effect will it have on the future of AI?

The questions are posed by Claire Blackett. She is a senior researcher at the Human and Automation Department at the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), one of the partners in the new project "Women in AI".

She hopes to get some of the answers in the months leading up to Christmas, when IFE, together with Inspiria Science Center and the Cluster for Applied AI at Smart Innovation Norway, will work on mapping how to increase the number of women involved in the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI). 

Clear need for increased focus on women

The need for the 'Women in AI' project is clear. AI is referred to as one of the most important technologies since electricity. Yet today, there are a number of examples of AI technology that unintentionally have female bias, i.e. the technology is affected by systematic biases or errors.

How we address gender and bias in the data, training and use of AI will be crucial to the impact the technology will have on society. It is clear that a concerted effort is essential, and the three key actors have joined forces to increase the share of women in AI.

The aim is to achieve a more competitive business environment and strengthen the conditions for ethical development and use of artificial intelligence by facilitating increased female participation in AI-related industries.

- There are already clear signs that a lack of diversity in the development of AI is resulting in clear gender differences, and this can lead to unequal treatment in AI. In order to develop appropriate AI products and services, we need to ensure that women are well represented in AI-related professions," Blackett notes.

Important to promote women in AI

A practical example of female bias affecting AI is that some virtual assistants work better on men than on women. That's because they are trained on male voices.

Another example is when, in 2017, Google launched a vector-based AI system in text analytics that believed that the answer to the equation 'computer programmer - man + woman' was 'homemaker'. And that "doctor - man + woman" was "housewife".

These examples are not only because our long history of gender discrimination and under-representation of women in several contexts is reflected in our data. It is also because the majority of developers are men.

In Norway today, only 13% of developers are women. There are good reasons to believe that old biases in data will continue to haunt women and other marginalized groups for a very long time if we are not conscious of how we deal with bias.

Women an underused resource?

Marianne Jansson Bjerkman, head of the Cluster for Applied AI at Smart Innovation Norway, points out the importance of gender balance in roles related to the development and use of AI.

- Increasing the proportion of women to achieve greater diversity will help ensure better, safer and more attractive products and decisions. "Having a more even gender balance increases the chance of identifying possible physiological differences between men and women that may affect the use and safety of a product, as well as identifying different social norms and pressures experienced by men and women," she says.

- Furthermore, the IT industry in general has a huge need for more smart minds, and women are apparently an underutilized resource in this context," Bjerkman stresses.

In recent years, there has been a huge effort to encourage young women to study computer science at college and university level. IFE's Blackett says that now society needs to follow up and recruit these highly educated women into AI-related jobs.

- By incorporating these women into the workforce, we are supporting a better, safer and more ethical development of AI that benefits society as a whole," concludes Claire Blackett.

The project "Women in AI" invites you to a workshop on November 16 at Inspiria Science Center in Sarpsborg. The workshop will examine the barriers and opportunities that businesses see in recruiting women to AI-related positions.

The project is funded by Viken County Council.