Norway as knowledge hub in the global maritime industry

Norway has a unique position in the global maritime industry through its concentration of some of the world’s leading ship owners, shipping firms, yards and ship equipment firms and a whole range of specialized maritime services.  Oslo and Bergen have their strengths on the commercial side of shipping, while Oslo also is home for the global leaders in ship finance, insurance, brokers and law, as well as being headquarter for such global maritime actors as DNV and Aker Solutions.

Norwegian West Coast has the leading yards and ship equipment industry, as well as a concentration of offshore firms. Another maritime technology node can be found at Kongsberg and Horten, including lead positions in maritime IT. DNV provides ship classification and technical services at the highest international level, and Marintek and NTNU offer maritime research and development that helps the maritime industry to keep its technological edge.

Research insights into industrial cluster development internationally points out the importance of specialized research and quality education in cluster development. Examples include the development of the IT cluster in Silicon Valley, California and the life science cluster in Boston, Massachusetts.  In the maritime industry, we can observe how Singapore, Japan, Korea and China now invest heavily in maritime research and education, and in Northern Europe we find similar upgrading of maritime education and research in Hamburg, Goethenborg and Copenhagen.

In order for Norway to upgrade as a knowledge hub in the global maritime industry, we need to attract the best international talents.  This requires developing high quality educational programs, specializing in shipping, at bachelor, master and doctor levels.  Such programs should have a global reach, and the candidates should work closely with maritime companies located in Norway and the rest of Europe. 

Global quality educational programs can only succeed if they have a firm research base and close relationships with the maritime industry.  Thus funds needs to be challenged into specialized professorships in order to create research centres working in the maritime areas.