Introduction to the new CEO

SAMS now has a new CEO in place, serving the members in taking a unique position globally as first movers and suppliers of sustainable autonomous technology and human-machine relations in mobility systems.

 

The Cluster is working to support our members in the current challenges and opportunities they are facing, with shifting market dynamics, uncertainty concerning inflation rates, and global supply chain demand. SAMS wants to create more opportunities for members to take on challenges through collaboration. To create lasting value together and to be part of the sustainable solution for mobility on a global scale. These ambitions were front of mind for the board during the selection process: and we had many strong candidates. As the board, we are delighted to announce and introduce our new CEO.

About Eja

Eja Tuominen has started her introduction to SAMS and will take over on 1st February as the CEO. Eja has an international executive background with large-size companies within the consumer business, where she has led complex development initiatives across the globe. She is experienced in leading product and concept development in collaboration and cooperation in worldwide ecosystems of businesses, leading to commercial solutions. Her education is in International business, marketing, and strategies. She says:

I find it fascinating to lead towards the shared vision of sustainable autonomous mobility systems. In my role, I will enable the members to create the collaborative infrastructure jointly and for system-level integration. This creates a unique position in the new autonomous mobility market, which has yet to mature. Sustainable and commercialized innovations for autonomous mobility solutions on sea, land, and air will become a significant export industry for Norway. Look forward getting to know all the members soon and discussing their needs and wishes.

 

Transition and change of position

Torun will use the opportunity to thank all of SAMS’ ecosystem for the adventurous journey from the beginning of establishing the cluster.

I am truly grateful for the time together with you all and have the opportunity to serve the best cluster partners in Norway! – Torun says.

 

We want to thank Torun for successfully leading SAMS since its inception. She has been instrumental in leading SAMS to where it is now, with its notable and talented member companies and strong reputation,  says Jaquelyn, Chair of the Board.
During her time, SAMS become an open and collaborative force for pursuing big mobility projects for the members. Thankfully we will not need to say goodbye to Torun; she will continue part-time in SAMS as an independent consultant. She will continue as the project leader for the ZAWAS project and support the Leadership program – SAMS Lab.

 

Get in touch with Eja!
email: eja@sams-norway.no
mob: +47 480 58 946

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Kan norsk kompetanse bidra til Portugals grønne og digitale transformasjon i transportsystemet?

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Denne uken var vår EU-rådgiver Eva Errestad i Portugal på et arrangement i regi av Innovasjon Norge i samarbeid med portugisiske departementer inkludert Økonomi- og havdepartementet og Miljødepartementet. Hensikten var å se hvordan norske bedrifter kan ta del i anbud, utlysninger og prosjekter sammen med portugisiske partnere.

 

Innen 2026 skal Portugal investere 16,6 milliarder euro i grønn og digital transformasjon som en del av Europas grønne skifte. 48 millioner euro er dedikert til grønn mobilitet og avkarbonisering av offentlig transport. Gjennomsnittsalderen på kollektivflåtene i Portugal er høy (mer enn 15 år) og det er et stort behov for å bygge digitale og klimanøytrale løsninger på land og i vann.

 

Har du lyst til å komme i kontakt med portugisiske samarbeidspartnere? Kontakt Eva fra SAMS Norway eller Marie Ramsdal fra Innovasjon Norge.

Eva.Errestad@sams-norway.no
M. +47 920 78 735

Marie.Ramsdal@innovationnorway.no
M. +34 639 075 364

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Funding for SME’s with innovations in green offshore production and transport

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SAMS promotes the activities of the Norwegian led project GreenOffshoreTech (GOT). GOT is a cluster facilitated EU-project with the purpose of supporting innovation in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the emerging Blue Economy industries. GOT is led by MNU (Moss Regional Business Development Agency) through VIKEN Technology Cluster 4.0.

SME’s across Europe* with innovative solutions in materials, production, digitalization and sustainability in the offshore sectors can now apply for funding through GOT’s own Call for proposals.

For more information and application forms, check out this page or contact SAMS EU Advisor Eva.

*Applicants must be legal entities established and based in one of the GreenOffshoreTech REGIONS in Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Germany, Norway, Iceland, and UK or members of one of the GreenOffshoreTech CLUSTERS

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The clusters come together to strengthen Green Offshore Technology

SAMS Norway has partnered up with , Energy Valley and Viken Technology cluster in a project aimed at strengthening the member’s competitiveness and knowledge. From left: Daniel Miravalles (Head of Business Development, Energy Valley), Tore Ausland (Business Manager, Viken Teknologiklynge 4.0 and Administrative Manager, Green Offshore Tech), Torun Degnes (CEO, SAMS) and Pål Teien (Business Development Advisor, Viken Teknologiklynge 4.0. Photo: Daniel Miravalles

 

Energy Valley, VIKEN Teknologiklynge and SAMS Norway, are joining forces to help our cluster companies and SMEs at Viken fylkeskommune. They will take full advantage of participating in GreenOffshoreTech.

 

Daniel Miravalles, Head of Business Development at Energy Valley, Tore Ausland, Business Manager at Viken Teknologiklynge 4.0, Pål Teien, Business Development Advisor at Viken Teknologiklynge 4.0 and Torun Degnes CEO of SAMS Norway, met for a kickoff meeting for The Ocean of Tomorrow project in March. Here they discussed the project plan, responsibilities, budget, and upcoming activities.

 

The 3 clusters complement each other and can together facilitate new value propositions and value chains. The starting point for the collaboration is the granting EU project H2020 Green OffshoreTech (GOT), aimed at SMEs. The Ocean of Tomorrow (OOT) project will enable the cluster companies to take full advantage of participation in GOT.

The sectors addressed are offshore wind energy, offshore aquaculture, green transition for offshore oil and gas, and waterborne green transport.

 

About Green Offshore Tech

GreenOffshoreTech is a Cluster Facilitated Project with the purpose of supporting innovation in SMEs, fostering the development of the emerging Blue Economy industries by enabling new cross-sectoral and cross-border value chains based on shared challenges, and the deployment of key enabling technologies (KET).

The Ocean of Tomorrow project will contribute to building new competence for the cluster members. By further developing the competence that already exists in the three clusters, they will connect the competence with the possibilities in the Green OffshoreTech project. The result will be new technology and products, increased market knowledge, and a larger international network for the cluster companies.

First call: spring 2022. This will include direct financial support and tailored business support services. The available financing through GOT is around 30 million NOK, up to 600K NOK per initiative, and tailored business support services. 

 

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SAMS and ITS Norway in EU-proposal collaboration

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On the 12th of January SAMS and ITS Norway handed in an EU-proposal named “INTEGRATE”, together with 11 European partners. The name of the call (or “topic” in EU vocabulary) was “HORIZON-CL5-2022-D6-01-04: Integrate CCAM services in fleet and traffic management systems” with a budget of 5 million euros.
This topic belongs to the category called “Innovation Action (IA)” meaning that the projects innovations and solutions should not be too far from market entry, as opposed to the “Research Innovation Action (RIA)” that is not yet mature enough to be commercialised. The call was published by the CCAM partnership, an EU partnership addressing Connected, Cooperative, Autonomous Mobility.

SAMS and ITS Norway shared the task of coordinating the proposal, and if granted, will also share the lead and coordination of the project. This particular topic was identified as a strategically suitable call for both organisations since a successful outcome on our proposal will enable a faster route to market and increased export opportunities for both ITS Norway’s and SAMS members. Special attention was also taken to ensure that the future project will facilitate high member engagement and benefits throughout its duration.

Applied Autonomy is too part of the consortia and leading the Norwegian pilot in Norefjell, aiming to make Norefjell the world’s first ski resort with optimised on-demand transport of people and goods through a CCAM-enabled travel chain with last mile passenger- and delivery services.

INTEGRATE as a whole address the current lack of integration between traffic- and fleet management systems and will demonstrate new tools and cooperation frameworks to ensure safe and efficient deployment of CCAM solutions in a wide variety of transport and traffic scenarios – targeting timeframes from the split of a second to a year. INTEGRATE’s approach will be tested by addressing both people and goods in 4 different real-life pilots in Contern (Luxembourg), Braunschweig (Germany), Norefjell (Norway) and Amsterdam/Keukenhof (the Netherlands).

If granted, the project will start late 2022 or early 2023. Meanwhile, fruitful connections have been made with the other partners of the consortia, all leaders in their field;

Consortia Country
ITS Norway

Association for all actors in the transportation industry with about 70 members from all modes of transport, both public, academia and private entities

 NO
SAMS Norway

A non-profit business cluster focusing on development of systems for sustainable autonomous transport solutions used on land, air and sea

NO
MAP traffic management

Founded in 2010, MAP is a SME and service provider in the domain of traffic management, in particular new innovative services based on data analytics, social media, mobility-as-a-service and cooperative ITS.

 NL
Université du Luxembourg LU
Be-Mobile

Belgium-based IT company with specialty in providing smart mobility solutions using its connected vehicle and traffic data platform

 BE
POLIS – Promotion of Operational Links with Integrated Services

The leading network of European cities and regions working together to develop innovative technologies and policies for local transport

 BE
Arriva Personenvervoer Nederland

Regional public transport operator providing city and regional bus transport in 8 Dutch concessions and operates 4 regional train connections throughout the Netherlands. Provider of the Glimble app supporting multimodal door-to-door travels

 NL
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt

DLR is the Federal Republic of Germany’s research centre for aeronautics and space. DLR conduct research and development activities in the fields of aeronautics, space, energy, transport, security and digitalisation

 DE
EIT KIC Urban Mobility

European Knowledge Innovation Community, public-private partnership focusing on innovation in urban mobility

 ES
Applied Autonomy

Provider of knowledge, solutions and services for sustainable autonomous transportation

 NO
Technische Universiteit Delft

Oldest and largest technical university in the Netherlands.

NL
Rijkswaterstaat

National Road Authority of the Netherlands. All national motorways (A-roads) are maintained and managed by Rijkswaterstaat. Rijkswaterstaat deploys Traffic Management services using road-side actuators such as VMS, ramp meters and peak hour lanes.

 NL
Cubic Transportation Systems

Cubic Transportation Systems designs, integrates, and provides outsourced business process and information technology services for automated fare collection systems for public transit operations. This includes back-end and central system for processing.

 DE/US/UK
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SAMS & ITS Norway reports from last week’s ITS World Congress

As the world leading event on ITS solutions, this year, the 5 days long ITS World Congress took place in Hamburg, Germany. More than 400 exhibitors were present and each day offered a diverse selection of talks and presentations, technical visits and demonstrations and even workshops related to different areas of smart mobility.

Did you miss it? Or were you there but tied to your stand and only managed to grasp a fraction of what was going on? Or maybe you are contemplating if you should go to next year’s congress in Los Angeles, U.S.? Then keep reading for a daily nugget in a mini-series of all that you missed.

A quick glance at the program reveals the ever-present focus of the effects of transport and logistics on the environment. But the angels are new and there is an elevated sense of emergency in the discussions. And it is an undisputed fact that COVID has completely turned the status quo of mobility, on its end. As a result, we are facing accelerated and highlighted needs for new and more flexible solutions to get people and goods from A to B in a sustainable fashion.

The high-level conference programme with speakers from Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas discussed around six key themes; Automated and connected driving, Mobility as a service(MaaS), Intelligent infrastructure, Goods journey from ports to customers, New services from new technologies, and Solutions from cities and citizens.

As the panels and presenters displayed such variety of countries and cities of varying sizes and needs, and not least – cultures, it became very clear that solutions that works in one place can create more problems in another. Such as on the topic of traffic congestion. Known by many, hated by all, congestions is a hot potato on the individual, collective and political level. Or as Sameer Sharma from Intel, US pointed out; “The only good thing about congestion is that it tells us that people still want or need to see each other in person.”

The panellists in one of the sessions witnessed that as countries are coming out of the lockdown it is already apparent that congestions levels are up and expected to get worse once all restrictions are gone as people don’t want to use public transport anymore, due to the fear of infection.

To even out and orchestrate traffic flow is addressed by a wide variety of ITS-solutions. From traffic lights that automatically adapt traffic flow to shared mobility services to incentives a shift away from private cars to more sustainable solutions. But despite its capabilities to solve or ease the problem, smart traffic management still face a lot of roadblocks in its way. The barriers and potential solutions were widely discussed by the panelists; such as the need for a solid level of digitization, better, safer and more accessible data. Many agreed with the views expressed by Marcus Anders from SWARCO Traffic Systems in Germany; “We are still in the research state as we don’t have a common guideline or standards. We need clear political coherence, more guidelines, a framework, and funding, in order to get scalable solutions.”

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EU’s information on Cluster 5, Climate Energy & Mobility

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If you missed out on EU’s information days about Cluster 5, Climate Energy & Mobility in the beginning of July, all recordings and presentations can be found on this link here.

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Norway; Teaching through example – A great overview of autonomous needs and solutions at sea

SAMS had the pleasure of attending the Ocean Autonomy Conference arranged by the Ocean Autonomy Cluster in Trondheim. Situated in the Trøndelag region it is home to the world’s first test bed area for maritime autonomous solutions.

The 3-day program offered a well-encompassing pallet of Norwegian projects, companies, and initiatives in the forefront of autonomous solutions at sea. Without being complacent, it is no overstatement saying that Norway is at the leading edge of this technological development, which became clear throughout the presentations and discussions of the conference. Topics covered several industry areas including aquaculture, offshore energy, ports, and freight of both passengers and goods out at sea, between islands and in the city, including an overview of the current status in other countries. Also displayed through the eyes of autonomy was the detrimental effects of climate change as an upcoming industry segment in its own right. This was demonstrated by NOSCA’s presentation (Norwegian Oilspill Control Association) looking for autonomous solutions to handle overwhelming amounts of the invasive algae species Sargassum that’s flooding beaches and tourism areas in Mexico and other parts of the world.

Autonomy as the solution to environmental and financial sustainability ran as a straight line throughout the conference such as in the example of the start-up Clean Sea Solutions (CSS). CSS together with PG Flow Solutions and Maritime Robotics has developed autonomous commercially and environmentally sustainable solutions for waterfront areas to prevent and reduce the inflow of marine plastic waste into the oceans. Thinking that public entities would be their main customers, CSS witnessed that it is private rather than public harbours and marinas that sees the business advantage in enhancing their environmental profile using autonomous solutions. Perhaps this is in part related to the matter of trusting autonomous tech solutions, a topic that generated much questions and reflections from the audience after an appreciated talk from NTNU on the creation of value and trust through design processing. This was one of the few slots covering the aspects of social sustainability in relation to autonomous mobility. Its importance was however emphasized by Innovation Norway as an important aspect in the new Horizon Europe funding and research program from the EU. In a world of transport where human error represent the major cause of hazardous situations and accidents, tech-faithfull developers and enthusiasts might be inclined to overlook this aspect. However, a closer collaboration between developers and end-users is a necessary means to an end when it comes to funding from the EU.

 

Trust, however, is not an issue for the Trøndelag municipality whom stated the bold ambition of becoming an internationally leading region of testing and operating autonomous solutions at sea.

Safety was a continuous subtopic, or, as in the case of SINTEF’s presentation – more of a main topic, when presenting significantly safer handling of FIBC (flexible intermediate bulk containers) provided by autonomous cranes. A good example of collaborative smart systems tracking and moving goods and assets and gradually becoming smarter and smarter to the point of full autonomy.

The degree of autonomy was also a re-occurrent theme and well described by the newly inaugurated SFI Autoship, an 8-years research-based innovation centre that will contribute to Norwegian players taking a leading role in the development of autonomous ships for safe and sustainable operations. A leading role that is currently manifested practically by the whole value chain. This entails both urban solutions such as Zeabus and Hydrolift, and short sea shipping by Massterly.

Another message conveyed at the event, albeit not so much spoken out loud but rather ”in between the lines”, was the notion of autonomy as the undisputed way forward, and the provider of next level sustainable services for public and private entities alike, both in Norway and abroad. And – the abundant opportunities and competitive edge from the national evolution of skills developed from the oil and gas industry, now transferred to the export of sustainable autonomous solutions instead.

As an autonomous mobility cluster, several of SAMS partners and collaborators were present and contributing to the program. It is our mutual ambition to shine a light on the sustainable opportunities provided by autonomous mobility solutions and to collaborate with even more public and private partners, nationally and internationally. Several calls under the Horizon Europe are of interest to us and our partners, please make contact if you think we have common interests.  Together we’ll pave the way for the autonomous route!

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Sommerhilsen fra SAMS Norway

Foto: Torun Degnes, daglig leder SAMS Norway og Ketil Olaf Paulsen, styreleder SAMS Norway

 

Vi har lagt bak oss et travelt halvår med stor aktivitet på mange områder og gleder oss over stadig nye samarbeid og nye prosjekter blant våre partnere. Bærekraftig mobilitet og autonomi står høyt på agendaen hos stadig flere og klyngen vokser både i antall partnere og i aktiviteter.

Gjennom våren har vi styrket teamet med en EU-rådgiver som støtter våre partnere i arbeidet med å etablere samarbeid med europeiske partnere. Flere av SAMS partnere er allerede tungt involvert i EU-finansierte prosjekter som Autoship, AWARD og Orchestra, men potensialet for flere er også stort.

Prosjekter vi har jobbet med det siste året

Vi har snakket med kunnskapsrike mennesker som har lang erfaring innenfor autonomi og teknologi i «Autonomipraten» for å skape en bredere forståelse og innsikt innenfor feltet utover klyngen. Her ligger det mange spennende muligheter for fremtidens utvikling og industri. Partnerskapet har deltatt og holdt presentasjoner i både nasjonale og internasjonale konferanser, noe som er med på å styrke vårt felles budskap om å gripe muligheten vi har akkurat nå til å bli verdensledende innenfor ny eksportindustri.

Det er stor prosjektaktivitet i partnerskapet. Vi har i år blant annet startet opp et nasjonalt samarbeidsprosjekt for utvikling av null-utslipp autonome byferger «ZAWAS» og bidratt til prosjektet «Teknologitriangelet» i samarbeid med næringssjefene i Kongsberg, Horten og Porsgrunn samt Universitet i Sørøst Norge. Nå ligger nye prosjekter i startgropa der partnere samarbeider tett om utvikling av markedsmuligheter, internasjonalisering og teknologiutvikling.

Utvikling og vekst i SAMS

Styret har gjennom våren jobbet med strategien for videre utvikling av klyngen og har lagt grunnlaget for fortsatt sterk vekst i tjenestetilbud og utvikling i partnerskapet fremover.

Vi gleder oss til en aktiv høst der vi også endelig kan begynne å møtes fysisk etter en digital tilværelse gjennom mange måneder. SAMS vil være til stede blant annet på Arendalsuka, delta på ITS World Congress i Hamburg og gleder oss over at vi nå kan være med og sette opp Nordic EV Summit igjen.

På vegne av styret og teamet i SAMS Norway ønsker vi alle en riktig god sommer og håper alle får nyte en god ferie!

 

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Nye styremedlemmer i SAMS Norway

Roar Norvik fra SINTEF og Kine Berild Norheim fra NExTDigital og NTNU, har blitt valgt inn som nye styremedlemmer i SAMS Norway. Dette ble besluttet på generalforsamlingen den 26. mai 2021.

Beate Kvamstad-Lervold og Monika Lønnebakke trer ut av styret etter eget ønske.

Tusen takk for alle innspill og all tiden dere har lagt ned i forbindelse med både styre og andre prosjekter på veien, sier Torun Degnes, daglig leder i SAMS Norway.

Monika vil bistå klyngen videre gjennom valgkomitéen sammen med Trond Hovland fra ITS Norge og Kristian Bogen fra USN.

De øvrige medlemmene av styret er gjenvalgt. Valgkomiteen anser at styret samlet vil bidra til å iverksette strategien til SAMS Norway og støtte administrasjonens arbeid.

 

Om Kine Berild Norheim

Kine brenner for at SAMS skal være en katalysator for økt innovasjonsevne – og takt – for medlemmene, gjerne gjennom relevante møteplasser, kompetanse og anvendelse av teknologi.

Jeg er motivert til å arbeide i SAMS-styret fordi klyngens mål er ambisiøse og sentrale for å utvikle enda «et ben å stå på» etter olja, sier Norheim.

Kine mener at nøkkelen til å lykkes med det handler aller mest om mennesker, og ikke teknologi. Hun har en doktorgrad i innovasjonsledelse og strategi, og er i dag daglig leder i nettverket NExTdigital i tillegg til å være næringslivskontakt på NTNU i et prosjekt med fokus på økt arbeidslivsrelevans i studietiden.

 

Om Roar Norvik

Roar Norvik er forskningssjef i SINTEF og leder for SINTEFs tverrfaglige konsernsatsing innen Mobilitet. Roar går inn i styret for å bidra til å utvikle SAMS-klyngen til en drivkraft for utvikling av bærekraftige mobilitetsløsninger i Norge

 

Vi ser frem til å videreutvikle SAMS sammen med styret, og ønsker både Norheim og Norvik velkommen, sier Degnes.

 

 

Styreleder og styremedlemmer 2021

  • Ketil Olaf Paulsen fra Kongsberg Maritime – styreleder
  • Svein-Olav Torø fra Kongsberg Innovasjon – styremedlem
  • Jenny Simonsen fra ITS Norge – styremedlem
  • Hans Richard Petersen fra Sensonor – styremedlem
  • Paal Aamaas fra USN – styremedlem
  • Jan Olaf Willums fra Inspire Invest – styremedlem
  • Roar Norvik fra SINTEF, nytt styremedlem 2021
  • Kine Berild Norheim fra NExTDigital og NTNU, nytt styremedlem 2021
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