The main goal of this project is to map marine clusters in the North Atlantic and strengthen relationships among them, build arenas to communicate their activities, benchmark and develop stronger networks in the ocean/marine sector.
There are significant growth potentials in ocean related industries worldwide. Are the countries around the North Atlantic utilizing their strength to capture new opportunities in these industries? This project wil investigate whether increased harmonization and cooperation among marine clusters around the North Atlantic could strengthen the region’s competitiveness.
The lack of networking among marine entrepreneurs and cooperation among industries in the region may indicate there are opportunities which have not been utilised - not least opportunities for future generations of well educated people.
Individual clusters have shown interest in more harmonization as it may assist in strengthening the image of the North Atlantic marine market, both within the region as well as globally. Thus, there are significant opportunities in more benchmarking among ocean/marine clusters in the North Atlantic and in strenghtening relationship networks in the ocean/marine sector.
WHY
The North Atlantic accounts for 5.7 % of marine surface area. Its catch by unit surface area is 2.3 times higher than global average. A stronger cooperation or harmonization among the marine clusters in the North Atlantic may become a vehicle for improved performance for the North Atlantic marine/ocean related industries in the global marine sector.
VISION
The project’s vision is to build long term relationships between North Atlantic ocean clusters, with an emphasis on both business to business and business to research cooperation.
WHO is in the project?
Project owner
Vilhjalmur Arnason
Iceland Ocean Cluster - Business Research Institute at the University of Iceland, IS
Project leader
Thor Sigfusson
Iceland Ocean Cluster, IS
Project members
Vilhjalmur Arnason
Iceland Ocean Cluster, IS
Eirikur Ingolfsson
Netspor/Faveo prosjektledelse AS, NO
Robert Wolff
SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture Ltd., NO
Les O’Reilly
Oceans Advance Inc., New Foundland., CA
Jógvan Jespersen
Nótaskip, FO