NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster
The NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster is a world-leading cluster representing the entire seafood value chain that supplies sustainable seafood globally. It is based in Bergen, Norway.
A new cluster strategy
Traditionally, the cluster worked with large, mature seafood companies and the R&D community, but came to realize a need to increase their expertise in working with startups and capital in order for the ecosystem to thrive.
Working towards the new strategic direction – the cluster brought on board the expertise of Christian Rangen and Strategy Tools – to explore an extension of the Triple Helix model of Academics, Government and Corporates.
Over the past 14 months, we have worked extensively with multiple team members within the cluster to build a system where they can begin supporting startup companies that wanted to grow within the aquaculture sector.
"The new cluster strategy which we developed together with Christian Rangen resulted in two things – we got a new strategic area called “Startups & Commercialization”, and we now have a structure to better engage and interact with the startup and VC communities.."
Tanja Hoel
Director, NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster
Design Phase: A Strategy Tool Emerges
Strategy Tools worked closely with the NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster on tools built around their needs from February to March 2019.
Open Innovation Map: A New Supercluster Series Tool
Once the paper sketches were out, it was translated onto the canvas and now available for download on Strategy Tools.
From PDF to Software: The Finished Product
Within days after the first sketches were put on paper, our tech team launched the software version and it is now being used across the globe by clusters looking to explore open innovation.
Official Launch of the Strategy Tools Platform (0.1) in January 2019
NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster launched the first version of the app in January 2019.
Using the Supercluster Open Innovation Map
“We used the Open Innovation Map in a workshop recently – which was brilliant tool to sort our thoughts and see where we as a cluster should work on. People immediately got the point – 10/10 for ease of use. People immediately understood what it was about and how it should be used, and how it would isolate issues in different contexts.
At the end of the day, the segments where it was our home playing field was completely covered. People were actually forward-thinking and thinking big for the industry. So the session was really successful.”
Björgolfur Hávardsson
Innovation Manager, NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster
Combining offline working process with the digital open innovation platform
This allows the Innovation Working Group to discuss, iterate and create a shared understanding. They work on Stattys, then the data gets entered into the software platform. Following this session, the participants get access to the digital platform and can continue to working directly into the platform itself.
Key Learnings
The software
The software works, makes sense and has a good UX.
Digital Transformation
The software is really a digital transformation process for the cluster. It has the potential to dramatically change how they work, interact with their “customers”. It has the potential to radically change how they create value in the world’s leading seafood cluster.
Implementation
Massive upside, but lots of work needs to go into the implementation & transformation part.