Travelblog from Valencia: The ports plan to collaborate with Norway
Ports that are systematically working on innovation gathered in Valencia in October. Nordic Edge attended PEIC, the port conference held as part of the Valencia Digital Summit, and returned home with new contacts, many ideas, and a clear invitation.
For two days, the entire port ecosystem was gathered in one place. Port authorities, investors from several continents, and companies offering ready-made solutions discussed the same challenges. Eline Vigre, head of the EU project, represented Nordic Edge.
“The ports are eager to collaborate with Norway. That was the clearest message I took home with me,” she says.
The trip fits right in with the work Nordic Edge is doing with ports. Several members of the Smartby cluster have come to see ports as a market and a testing ground.
What is PEIC?
PEIC stands for Port Entrepreneurship International Congress. The congress focuses on innovation and entrepreneurship in the port, logistics, and maritime sectors. Port professionals, startups, investors, and the business community come together to share experiences and build partnerships.
Opentop, the innovation hub of the Port of Valencia, organizes the congress. Opentop is affiliated with Fundación Valenciaport, and the Port Authority of Valencia supports the event. This year’s congress was the fourth in the series.
The program spanned two days. On October 20, the Port Authority of Valencia hosted the PEIC Resilience Forum. The following day, the main conference took place on the Agora stage as part of the Valencia Digital Summit at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias.
Because PEIC is part of the Valencia Digital Summit, the ports can easily connect with a broader community of technology companies and investors.
A network of port innovation hubs
The Port Innovators Network (PIN) is a global network of innovation hubs linked to ports. The hubs share experiences, challenges, and testing facilities, enabling ports to adopt new technologies more quickly.
Three hubs founded the network: Opentop in Valencia, The PIER in Halifax, and homePORT in Hamburg. Today, PIN lists nine member hubs. Among them are SmartPortLab in Bahía Blanca, Argentina; thinkport VIENNA at the Port of Vienna; the Port of Esbjerg; Northern Ireland; and the Port of San Diego.
Members connect the communities surrounding each hub and share best practices. They disseminate the ports’ specific innovation challenges to companies throughout the network and provide each other with access to testing areas in the ports and shared platforms.
The network meets regularly under the name PINsight. In 2026, the meetings rotated among Valencia, Hamburg, Bahía Blanca, and Vienna.
For a Norwegian port or company, the network opens the door to many ports at once. A solution tested in Hamburg or Halifax can often be implemented in a Norwegian port without having to start from scratch.
Ports, Business, and Capital Under One Roof
What made the biggest impression was that the system actually works. The ports openly state what they need. The companies with the answers are in the same room, often with an investor by their side.
“Many of the people I spoke with said the same thing: This way of working is the key. When ports, the business community, and capital work closely together on the ports’ own needs, new solutions come online much faster,” says Vigre.
This approach is familiar from the cluster work in Nordic Edge. In Valencia, it was applied to the port on a large scale and across national borders.
Pitching and Demonstrations on the Water
Much of the program consisted of pitching sessions. Companies presented solutions to challenges that the ports themselves had identified. Some were startups. Others were growing companies, and several had solutions already in use.
Logistics and efficient operations were on the agenda, along with green transition and decarbonization. Defense, security, and emergency preparedness were also featured, and port resilience had its own session at the forum the day before the main conference.
In the pond next to the conference hall, companies showcased their technology during the “PEIC Demo on the Lake.” Seeing the solutions in action on the water offers something a presentation simply cannot.
Here’s what Nordic Edge is taking forward
The network is large and growing. Ports gain access to expertise and ideas from other countries, and companies that solve specific port challenges gain new markets.
The door is open for Norway. Nordic Edge made contact with many of the ports that operate in this way. They want to collaborate with Norwegian innovation communities and with small and medium-sized ports here.
Innovation needs its own environment. Successful ports have a dedicated innovation unit and actively use the port as a testing ground. The unit may be part of the port authority, but is often a neutral entity owned by the port. This gives it greater freedom to work with all stakeholders, while the port provides operational resources and identifies specific needs.
The solutions already exist. Much can be scaled up or implemented in Norway without us having to invent everything ourselves.
Collaboration attracts funding. Partners in multiple countries can apply for joint funding for development projects, including from the EU.
Want to know more?
Eline Vigre
Head of EU Project development
+47 926 84 821
eline@nordicedge.org