Joint effort
Rogaland County Council, the University of Stavanger and the University Fund of Rogaland have joined forces to secure the status as a European frontrunner of regional innovation strategy.
As of June this year, Rogaland is a Regional Innovation Valley (RIV), with the ambition to reduce the region’s dependency on fossil fuels.
Rogaland is often referred to as Norway’s energy capital, and as such, the region is becoming a hot spot for greening and transitional activities as Europe is moving towards the ambition of a net zero continent.
In its business and innovation strategy, the County Council has highlighted three core principles, which are competence, openness to change, and collaboration.
A European club
As one of Europe’s 151 innovation valleys, Rogaland has committed itself to coordinate and align R&D investments and planning with EU priorities.
Moreover, the region will actively participate in cooperation with a smart specialization approach, strengthen the regional ecosystem for innovation and connect to the broader, European ecosystem, and ensure that the regional innovation stakeholders are included in the activities.
Strong ecosystem
Rogaland enjoys a strong ecosystem for research and innovation (R&I). With stakeholders such as the University of Stavanger, NORCE and HVL on the research and academic side, accompanied by strong business clusters and an engaged public sector actively supporting innovation.
Rogaland is home to seven national business clusters, gathering both industrial and academic members from all across Norway.
Innovation Park Stavanger, which is located on the university campus, Ullandhaug, houses 900 employees, and is a hot spot for cross-sectoral collaboration in research and innovation. The regional incubator Validé is also located here.
Innovation Dock, a sustainability-centered coworking space, and Innoasis, an urban innovation hub are other important drivers in the ecosystem, creating meeting places for stakeholders across various sectors.
Stavanger Business Region and Invest in Rogaland are other, public sector initiatives.
Helene Gram, senior advisor in the municipality of Stavanger, points to the importance of innovation for greener future:
— It’s essential to prioritize innovation development by connecting our region from north to south, particularly in relation to the green transition.
On the (innovation) agenda
Regional Innovation Valleys were initiated jointly by the European Commission and the Committee of the Regions with the aim of improving regional innovation capacities and strengthening the R&I ecosystems in Europe’s regions.
RIVs are one of 25 actions presented in the New European Innovation Agenda (NEIA), which was adopted in 2022.
The EU has allocated €116 million for the RIV initiative, under the European Innovation Ecosystems (EIE), and the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) Instrument of the European Regional Development Fund.