Joining forces for large-scale transformation

'The projects we have supported so far are ambitious, with significant environmental and climate benefits and strong potential for value creation,' says Jorunn Birgitte Gjessing-Johnrud, EVP for green transition at Innovation Norway.

You cannot transform an entire industry alone. It takes broad collaboration, ideally with partners from across the value chain. Several of our funding schemes enable you to think big.

Several large-scale, forward-looking projects have already received funding. Last year, almost NOK 573 million was awarded to nine consortia through the Green Platform scheme. The initiative is a collaboration between the Research Council of Norway, Siva and us. As well as paving the way for greener value chains, the scheme aims to build a Norwegian business sector that is economically sustainable and internationally competitive.

- We are looking for consortia that can deliver the strongest projects, from research and technology development through to complete solutions.

Many of the projects applying focus on offshore wind, hydrogen and electrification, while others address the bioeconomy or circular economy.

Green Platform projects generate a range of positive ripple effects for Norwegian businesses: innovation, increased value creation, competence building and competitiveness.

SirkTRE is one of the 32 projects that have received financial support so far. Stakeholders from the timber and construction industries have joined forces to become more circular.

The idea of circular collaboration stems from the fact that every year in Norway, timber equivalent to that used in 250,000 detached houses is discarded, burned or recovered for energy.

By reusing reclaimed timber in construction projects instead of discarding it, we can extend its useful life. Longer pieces can be sorted and reused within the same region, while shorter pieces can be turned into new materials.

The goal is to make use of 35,000 cubic metres (m3) of wood waste by 2024, and 1 million m3 by 2030. This will reduce CO2 emissions by 110 tonnes by 2024 and 4.5 million tonnes by 2030.

Through its ambitions, SirkTRE is helping to achieve several of the environmental objectives in the EU taxonomy and supporting several of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Achieving these goals will cut Norway's greenhouse gas emissions by 8 per cent.

Another project that has received funding for research- and innovation-driven green transition is SUMBAT – Sustainable Materials for the Battery Value Chain.

SINTEF and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) are research partners, with contributions from the Future Materials Catapult Centre, NTNU, the University of Oslo and the University of Agder.

‘IFE and SINTEF initiated a major battery project in Norway. They brought together partners from across the value chain, focusing on sustainability at every stage,’ says Gunstein Skomedal of Vianode, which coordinates this exciting project.

There is an international race for expertise in battery production. Norway has the potential to develop a sustainable, circular value chain for battery materials production. The goal is for Norway to produce battery solutions with the lowest emissions and climate impact in the world.

The funding schemes have made it possible to bring together a broader Norwegian community and partners around a shared goal in a joint project.

There is also potential for new thinking offshore. To produce seafood on a large scale with low greenhouse gas emissions, we need to make use of larger areas of the ocean.

'We have joined forces to develop new technology and build knowledge that can open up challenging ocean areas for healthy food production,' says Ragnar Tveterås, project manager for the Green Platform project 'Low-emission value chain for offshore aquaculture'.

By 2050, global demand for protein is expected to increase by 50 per cent. Meeting this demand will depend on new solutions that can be used in the open ocean. The consortium comprises seven companies and eleven research organisations with expertise spanning everything from post-smolt (young fish) to fully grown fish ready for slaughter.

'Together, the companies and institutions cover critical areas of expertise such as fish feed, engineering, electrification, digitalisation, remote operation and aquaculture production,' Tveterås explains.

The project aims to produce healthy salmon with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than beef and pork. If successful, it could generate around NOK 100 billion in value each year.

Tveterås describes the initiative as unique because it dares to set ambitious goals for an entire value chain. And it would not have been possible without broad collaboration.

‘The Green Platform initiative creates significant opportunities to bring together different types of expertise from companies and research communities,’ he says.