The innovation hub in Kristiansand, organized by the Shortsea Promotion Centre and the Norwegian Ports Association on August 30, marks this event’s third anniversary. Sixty participants heard from leading players who each influence their industries by challenging established mindsets. The participants witnessed a live demo showcasing how an operator controlled various machines across different locations from a centralized control unit – The future is now!
The Innovation Hub is the arena for sharing innovative solutions from various industries, challenging our notion about the future of transport. We bring together players who influence their industries by challenging established mindsets.
It was very nice that this year’s edition also marked the third anniversary of the event, an event which starts the day before the National Port Conference.
The aim of the event has remained unchanged for all three years. To create an arena that challenges thinking about the future of transport by bringing together players who influence their industries by challenging established mindsets.
This year’s keynote speakers were Andreas Kollby Aks from Widerøe Zero and Knut Kristvang from the Norwegian Football Association, and they got the audience both engaged and involved— good input for further development.
Read the article in Norwegian here.
The Program
Andreas Kollby Aks from Widerøe Zero began by presenting how Widerøe works with future mobility solutions viewed both from a customer- and a more technical perspective. Clear and coincident challenges related to how to meet the sustainability challenges simultaneously, as creating future concepts aligned with future customer demand has many apparent features relevant to the maritime industry.
Knut Kristvang from the Norwegian Football Association shared the challenges of introducing VAR (Video Assistant Referee). The presentation dealt with the background for the introduction of VAR, why a central organization rather than local units, and he clearly illustrated the challenges related to implementing new solutions, an issue highly relevant for the maritime industry and the work towards more sustainable logistical chains.
After a terrific introduction that challenged the participants with new ideas related to development, we moved on to a content-rich program.
The following presentation by Ketil O. Paulsen in Kongsberg Maritime, who shared his experience from the SEAMLESS project, which, based on the imminent relocation of Bergen harbor, used the Use-Case “Bergen” to give us an insight into the EU project SEAMLESS and ask the question; What does this development mean for Norwegian maritime infrastructure in general and ports in particular?
From the SEAMLESS project in Bergen, we moved on to Øystein Høsteland Sundby, who shared his experiences from the port of Moss´s work in developing and defining future partnerships with the new port operator, Øystein challenged the audience on how to achieve good, long-term and functional operator contracts in a future full of change?
From Moss Havn, the next speaker, Torbjørn Engedal from the technology supplier VOCA, shared the development journey that started with a lunch chat with BP Norway in 2009, up to the development of a technology that today contributes to the offshore industry, changing offshore logistics and cargo handling. Based on his experience, Torbjørn shared his thoughts on how Port operators could benefit from his expertise.
Next in the program was the Director of The Port of Hirtshals, Per Holm Nørgaard. He shared with us how the role of the port is changing from being a pure infrastructure provider to an industrial platform. He shared experiences from how Hirtshals works strategically to ensure ongoing operations and, at the same time, ensure the development of the port, i.e. through the establishment of Greenport North.
Christian Rikardson from the Port of Tromsø shared with us the creation of the Havinor project, which aims to make everyday work easier for operational personnel and more accessible insight for customers. A project that several people will be able to benefit from in their operation.
Live demo: One operator, multiple machines across locations
The last speaker, Christoffer Jørgenvåg, is the founder and managing director of Hive Autonomy. He established his first company at 23 and has a strong reputation for building companies. Hive is currently working with autonomy concepts together with, among others, SeaFront, Asko, Yara, and Moss Havn.
Christoffer shared insights and experiences from the work on streamlining the operations of the various customers. After presenting experiences from the individual projects, Hive Autonomy demonstrated directly from the stage technology that can form a central piece in future port operations.
The demonstration introduced new ground-breaking developments in autonomy-assisted operations. An operator first operated a forklift in the Port of Kristiansand before the operator connected to a snail ready for work at the company’s premises in Sørlandsparken. The demonstration illustrated in all its simplicity how an operator can control several different machines across different locations from a centralized control unit.
We want to thank all the speakers who shared their experiences related to development and the participants who actively contributed to making this an arena that challenges thinking about future transport solutions.
We are already working on next year’s program and can tempt you with two cargo owners, a port and a shipping company, who are consciously developing future transport solutions. True to tradition, we will also have two keynote speakers from other industries who challenge established mindsets.
Mark next year’s Innovation Hub date, Wednesday, August 21, 2024.