To Date a Cluster
About 45 companies met to learn more about future opportunities within subsea and aquaculture at GCE Subsea Møteforum last week. Close to 200 speed-meetings were held to match new partners to realise the opportunities within the ocean industries.
A plenary session was held before the speed-dating started and Ole Økland from Statoil presented the current opportunities and challenges within subsea projects. He was followed by Nils Inge Hitland, CEO Salmon Group, who presented a technological status and opportunities within the ocean industries.
Hitland shared why he thought it was important to be present at Møteforum; – I think our industry can learn a lot from the subsea cluster. Especially product and technology development is something the subsea industry have strong expertise from.
He continues; – When scaling up aquaculture it is important to do this properly and have sufficient technology competency. Companies which can combine technological competence with biological competence and respect will succeed.
200 Speed-meetings
GCE Subsea’s partner Aker Solutions was represented with six participants during the speed-dating at Møteforum. This gave them the opportunity to meet with Statoil, Salmon Group and wide range of suppliers during the two-hour session. – The presentation from Statoil and the opportunity to meet with them, was important to learn where they will go from here and how it can affect us, says Svein Rune Ellingsen, Head of Sales Services Norway in Aker Solutions.
– To meet so many businesses from the cluster at the same time, also gives us an opportunity to expand our offering portfolio in the right direction. It has been an interesting day and we have met many new potential partners that we will follow up subsequently, he concludes.
Ejecto is a newcomer in the cluster and saw this as a golden opportunity to hand-pick companies within GCE Subsea that they wanted to learn more about and vice versa.
– As a member of GCE Subsea, it is important for Ejecto to participate in such events, says Knut Ove Steinhovden, Manager in Ejecto. – Participants are open to something new and are willing to create new relationships. A small company like Ejecto can meet many key persons and potential customers in a short time, he says.
– The eight speed-meetings could certainly have been prolonged, but as a result of these brief meetings we are currently following up several interesting contacts with the aim of either product delivery or shared systems, Steinhovden concludes.
Hitland from Salmon Group did not only present at the plenary session, but he also participated in the speed-dating – It was very valuable to meet a lot of new companies and hear about new ideas. I have learned a lot about subsea today, and the wide spread of technologies and solutions is impressive, Hitland says.
Each company met with eight or more other companies, and all 200 meetings were conducted in less than two hours.
The Results
In a survey sent to the participants after the event – almost 60 per cent of the participants answered that they expect a buy, a sell or a collaborative agreement to be made as a direct result of the speed-dating at Møteforum.
Contact Information
GCE Subsea Møteforum
GCE Subsea Møteforum is an annual event consisting of short meetings between member companies.
GCE Subsea Møteforum gives our partners and members the opportunity to present the products and services that they sell or wish to buy, and collaborative project ideas to each other.
This was the tenth time that GCE Subsea arranged Møteforum. NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster and selected participants from business development programmes were also invited this year.