He will open doors for Agritech companies
Paul Mathias Fiskaaen is the new business developer in the Agritech cluster in Nordic Edge. He brings with him extensive experience from the technology industry, a keen eye for digital security and a commitment to sustainable food production.
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Photo: Paul Mathias Fiskaaen Photo: Andreas Amdal Østrem
Cluster leader for Agritech in Nordic Edge, Gunnar Crawford, is delighted to have Paul on the team.
- Paul and I have worked together for many years, and we share the ambition of where Agritech is going. I am a strategist and thrive on the political and the written. Paul is the one who opens doors, answers the phone when needed, and builds structure around the team. That's exactly the expertise the cluster needs now, says Crawford,
Fiskaaen trained as a mechanical engineer, but has always worked with technology. His career has taken him from oil and gas to telecom, most recently as Head of Sectors and Vice President of a leading international technology company. There, he has implemented management systems for everything from cornerstone companies to large corporations. He also knows the start-up environment well, and knows what it takes to grow without the implementation cracking.
- There are huge opportunities within Agritech, and I'm eager to create growth for our members. Food production in Norway, the Nordics and Europe needs to be digitized and streamlined to keep up with demand. That's where I have a lot to contribute, says Fiskaaen.
Photo: Gunnar Crawford and Paul Mathias Fiskaaen. Photographer: Andreas Amdal Østrem
Making companies investor-ready and confident online
In his new role, Fiskaaen will be both business developer and advisor to members. Digital security is one of the things he is most passionate about.
- We have too many developers creating code without thinking about security, especially now that AI generates much of the code. I want to help companies think about security before they go to investors and the market, he says.
He sees that security is a blind spot in many industries, including agriculture, and emphasizes that good security is good preparedness
- Farmers are skilled in the field, but milking robots, feeding machines and sensors on the tractor talk to each other and send data, often unencrypted. We need to clean that up, says Fiskaaen.
Driven by sustainable food
Behind the commercial flair lies a commitment to the food we eat.
- We don't think enough about where our food comes from and how it's produced. We can't take shortcuts with growth and pesticides just to make things grow faster. We need to think about the soil, the next season and our children, he says.
Believes in the cluster as a "doing-tank"
Fiskaaen has followed Nordic Edge from the outside for a while. Now that he's on the inside, it's the activities and enthusiasm that he's most looking forward to.
- A cluster is a doing-tank. The more activity we get around each member, the more likely they are to succeed. Many start-ups don't make it, but activity and collaboration push the odds in the right direction, he says.
- With Paul on the team, we get an experienced business developer, and together we can raise the ambitions for what the Agritech environment should be, concludes Gunnar Crawford.
