NCE Media is expanding to Stavanger by establishing a formal Satellite with around 20 media and media tech companies including NRK Rogaland, Stavanger Aftenblad, Mediafarm and the University of Stavanger. The region is also especially rich in media tech startups, and are also working on a project to co-locate several media companies and publishers under the same roof in Stavanger.
The close relationship between several of the Bergen and Stavanger companies, now results in NCE Media formally enrolling the Stavanger media community in the cluster as a subsidiary hub in the cluster.
– We are incredibly happy to have included the Stavanger environment in the cluster in such a way. These are companies that have an exciting complementarity with other cluster companies, and represent many opportunities for innovation and growth, says Anne Jacobsen, CEO of NCE Media.
– Furthermore, the Stavanger media community are already quite well organized and has the characteristics of an early stage cluster. Therefore it makes sense to organize us this way.
A National Cluster
NCE Media is already a national project with members all over the country, but with a center of gravity in Bergen. The majority of activity thus takes place in Bergen, with the new Media Lab, the Cluster Sandbox, as a natural focal point. These resources are now available for the Stavanger members in the same way as for other members around the country who use the Lab for testing and experimenting with different solutions, or participate in events hosted there. Also included in the membership is the opportunity to use the lab and other resources at no cost. Cluster members outside of Bergen can also use the Lab to conduct meetings when they are in the city, organize their own workshops, or hot desk.
NCE media Stavanger: (f.l.) Annenita Bakker Schøyen, CEO Mediafarm, Lars Helle, Editor in Chief Stavanger Aftenblad, Ragnar Christensen, Districts Editor NRK Rogaland, Felix Laate, Project Developer Greater Stavanger and Gro Ellen Mathisen, Dean of the Faculty of Social Science UiS.
Activities in Stavanger
However, in addition to this, Jacobsen wishes to initiate and execute activities and projects in Stavanger as well.
– In addition to activities starting up in Stavanger, the main mission is to execute joint projects between the two ecosystems so that we together can create new markets and opportunities. The distance between the two cities is short, and it is easy to generate traffic on the bridge between them. It is also important that value creation is distributed – it shouldn’t only happen in Bergen, but also in Stavanger. By enrolling Stavanger as a collective hub into NCE Media, is is both necessary and desirable work dedicatedly in the Stavanger region to contribute to growth and value creation there, Jacobsen adds.
A task force is established in Stavanger to coordinate activities and work closely with the administration in Bergen. Furthermore, there is a clear ambition to situate a designated project manager in Stavanger.
Two hubs, but one Cluster
– We’ve been working behind the scenes for a couple of years now to get this up and running, and we are happy to finally formally establish this media cluster for businesses in the Stavanger region, says Ragnar Christensen, Regional Director at NRK, who now joins the NCE Steering Committee as the representative from Stavanger.
Editor in Chief in Stavanger Aftenblad, Lars Helle is one of the initiators for the Stavanger cluster.
– We compete on many levels, but there is so much to gain from working more closely together. In conjunction with the establishment of the satellite, we are now going to commence the work of co-locating the Stavanger cluster companies, says Helle.
The University of Stavanger will naturally also be a member of NCE Media. Dean Gro Ellen Mathiesen at the Faculty of Social Science at UiS says that a close collaboration with the industry is an important part of the university’s strategy.
– For our students and staff, we hope that this can open up opportunities to create good development and research tracks within the media industry.
Many opportunities
The leader of the NCE Media steering committee, Håvard Myklebust, wishes the Stavanger cluster a warm welcome.
– We see many possibilities from formalizing and systemizing this collaboration and look forward to working more closely with the companies in Stavanger.
He also points out that this is a part of NCE Media’s strategy for growth, where the initial ambition is to pilot this new way of working, by establishing a closely collaborating satellite where there are relevant or complimentary media ecosystems.
– We have a lot of experience in running a cluster, with excellent results over many years. We can now contribute to that other, relevant environments around the country can benefit form these skills and experience, at the same time as it brings new opportunities for NCE Media in a national perspective.