Left-right: Olav Steinnes, (Finance Director, Inven2), Marit Dolmen (RD&I Manager, GCE NODE), Sverre Gotaas (Innovation Director Kongsberggruppen), Siv Jensen (Norwegian Minister of Finance), Håkon Haugli (CEO Abelia), Espen Susegg (CEO SIVA) and Bjørn Olsen (Rector, Nord University).

GCE NODE participated at the Prime Minister’s summit on research and higher education in Oslo last week.

Every year Prime Minister Erna Solberg invites some of the key decision makers and wisest heads in academia and the industry to contribute to policy-making within research and higher education.

This year’s theme was “Green restructuring: How investments in research and higher education can prepare the ground for new jobs and increased business productivity.”

Solberg addressed the need for input on an innovative and adaptable business sector, enabling technologies and climate, environment and green energy. Opening statements from SINTEF, Kongsberg Group, Statoil and The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) were followed by group exercises.

“Each group worked on different problems. My group focused on utilization of research in business,” says Marit Dolmen, RD&I Manager at GCE NODE, who was included in Finance Minister Siv Jensen’s group.

“I specifically talked about the need for applied research which can be commercialized by the industry to create jobs. And how clusters, such as GCE NODE, can facilitate contact between researchers and SMEs, which could ensure SMEs access to research and enable them to take part in the digital transformation,” says Dolmen.