Digitalization begins with mobilization

Apr 03, 2024

There was great interest in advice, assistance, and collaboration when EDIH Oceanopolis and the Horisont Rogaland network brought together stakeholders from both public and private sectors in the region for a seminar to explore how digitalization projects can be funded.

The event gathered more than 20 participants from small and medium-sized enterprises, academia, the public sector, and organizations. After receiving expertise from entities such as Innovation Norway, the Directorate for Digitalization, Stavanger Municipality, and Norce, the participants engaged in brainstorming sessions to explore opportunities for further collaboration in various areas.

"This event is a prime example of how EDIH Oceanopolis brings together environments that can foster excellent digital initiatives and capacity building. We are very pleased with the interest and see a significant need for organizing gatherings that can inspire and create successful digitalization projects," said Stig Marthinsen, CEO of EDIH Oceanopolis.

EDIH plays a crucial role in the EU's strategy to promote digital transformation and innovation across different sectors. EDIHs are specifically designed to support small and medium-sized enterprises in adopting and integrating digital technologies to enhance competitiveness and drive faster economic growth. Norway has two such EDIHs, with EDIH Oceanopolis being one of them.

Several key speakers shared their expertise during the seminar, including:

Edel Bertine Dirdal & Kerstin Solholm from Innovation Norway: Provided insights into Horizon Europe and the EIC Accelerator for small and medium-sized enterprises. The EIC Accelerator is a scheme for innovative SMEs with international ambitions and significant growth potential. The program offers funding, coaching, and accelerator services. It consists of grants of up to 2.5 million euros and the possibility of equity of up to 15 million euros.

The EIC Accelerator is managed by an innovation council, the European Innovation Council (EIC), which is part of the EU's Horizon Europe framework program. There is fierce competition for the funding offered by the EIC, so to have a chance of success, the project must have high innovation, a strong dedicated team, and the innovation must contribute to addressing one or more of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. Innovation Norway is the national contact point for the scheme and can assist in the application process and preparations for pitching to a jury.

Jens Otto Skåra from Stavanger Municipality: Shared valuable insights into the municipality's digital initiatives and presented concrete solutions the municipality had developed in the use of data.

Alexander Klein from the Directorate for Digitalization & Ingrid Wik from Innovation Norway: Presented the EU's digitalization program Digital Europe. DIGITAL is the EU's investment and capacity-building program for digital transformation and the use of digital technologies.