Background

Norway has a unique position in the global maritime industry through its concentration of world leading ship owners, shipping firms and specialised maritime services.  Oslo has its strengths on the commercial side of shipping, including ship finance, insurance, and law.

The initiative to establish Norways as a Global Maritime Knowledge Hub was inspired by the success of other well-known global clusters, which have used innovation and knowledge to transform themselves into world leaders in their fields:

The biotech cluster in Boston, the oil and gas cluster in Houston and the ICT cluster in Silicon Valley served as prime examples of how knowledge generation and innovation can accelerate industry development and strengthen an already strong cluster’s position in the global marketplace.

The initiative was established at the regional level by OMN and anchored at the national level in cooperation with the NSA, in order to ensure full participation from Norway's most important educational and R&D institutions, knowledge-based maritime enterprises, regional and national government, and public and private financing.