Nordic Edge and Bjørk Innovation enter into strategic partnership
Smart cities and digitization are becoming increasingly important drivers of social and business development. With a new strategic partnership, Nordic Edge and Bjørk Innovation will make it easier to connect the needs of the public sector with solutions from business and academia - and give Nordic players better conditions for a faster path from idea to testing, piloting and market.
Image: Trygve Mayer, Ösp Egilsdóttir, Inger Hanne Vikshåland and Thor Moen
Nordic Edge and Bjørk Innovation are now entering into a strategic partnership to strengthen public-private collaboration and boost business development within smart cities and communities in the Nordic region.
- The collaboration will strengthen the link between the public sector, academia and business, and contribute to more accurate solutions that can be adopted more quickly in the Nordic market, says Terje Eide, CEO of Nordic Edge.
The starting point for the new strategic cooperation agreement is a common goal of turning smart and sustainable societal solutions into a more effective tool for business development. By combining Bjørk Innovation's strong position at the intersection of the public sector and academia with Nordic Edge's broad Nordic network of small and medium-sized enterprises, the parties will strengthen each other's offerings and create increased societal value.
- The major societal challenges cannot be solved by one player alone. The solutions lie in the interaction between the public sector, knowledge environments, citizens and businesses. With this collaboration, we are taking an important step towards closing the gap between needs and solutions, says Thor Moen, CEO of Bjørk Innovation.
Smart city as an engine for business and social development
Smart City is not just about technology and digitization, but about developing new markets, new forms of collaboration and more sustainable societies. Through the collaboration, Nordic Edge and Bjørk Innovation will make smart city a clearer and more operational tool for value creation, both locally and across the Nordic region.
The collaboration will facilitate closer links between demand in the public sector and supply from the business community, a better framework for testing, piloting and scaling solutions, as well as increased visibility and impact for the parties' partners in the Nordic region.
A Nordic boost
The ambition for the collaboration is clear. Nordic Edge will strengthen its Nordic presence, while Bjørk Innovation will gain access to a broader business and innovation ecosystem. Together, the parties will contribute to more solutions reaching the market faster, and to Nordic players being stronger in the face of both national and international demand.
- The value of this collaboration lies in the big picture. When the public sector, academia and business work more closely together, we get better solutions, faster innovation and greater impact. This is a clear Nordic boost, says Thor Moen.
The collaboration takes effect immediately and will be concretized through joint activities, projects and meeting places in the time to come.
Contact
Thor Moen
Co-founder, Bjørk Innovation
+47 907 73 339
thor.moen@bjorkinnovation.org