Agenda Vestlandet is a foundation established by Sparebanken Vest as a driving force in the green shift.

- We see that artificial intelligence is quickly disrupting established business models in all industries, Sundland says. Norwegian Cognitive Center assists companies in applying AI to their operations, and build competence and capability for the industry.

Sundland points out that it can be expensive to develop competitive technology in this field for different organizations. Therefore, the need for a competence center that can work across both individual companies and industries to raise capability is substantial.

– It is a tough international competition, and we need to be at the top of our game, Sundland says.

Joint initiative across sectors
Norwegian Cognitive Center (NCC) is a joint initiative and effort at the intersection of academia, the private and public sectors. The ambition is to ensure access to relevant expertise, accelerate applied AI, and give businesses and cooperations in Norway a distinct and robust competitive advantage.

NCC is a joint effort between several Norwegian industry clusters; NCE Media (initiator) GCE Ocean Technology, NCE Finance Innovation, NCE Seafood Innovation and Proptech Innovation, all working at the forefront of AI development and innovation for their respective companies and members. IBM was chosen as the technology partner. A broader consortium is also part of the initiative, with the City of Bergen, Bergen Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the University of Bergen, Norce, Western Norway University College, Helse Bergen, NORA (the national network of universities working with AI), NHH as key players. NCE Maritime Cleantech, Norwegian Smart Care Cluster and VIS Innovation are also part of the consortium.

Up and running
NCC is located in Media City Bergen, and activities are already up and running.

- A number of projects, all aiming to accelerate digitalization and competitiveness, are now initiated, along with webinars, workshops, and seminars, says Odd Gurvin, Project Manager at NCC.

- The center is fully operating, open to everyone. If you need assistance and aid in starting your AI journey, just get in touch. With the support from Agenda Vestland, our activity will increase substantially in the future, and our capacity will more than double, Gurvin concludes.

Partners of NCC:

Important for the Fintech ecosystem
- AI is already changing entire industries and it will have a profound impact on fintech. Human contribution will be augmented, upgraded but also replaced by algorithms. Companies have been spending a lot of time and resources on business processes with rule based logic e.g. when calculating credit risk and approving loans. Going forward, the ground work will increasingly be done by machines and human expertise will be focused on bringing a value adding perspective, says Atle Sivertsen, CEO of the Norwegian Fintech Cluster, NCE Finance Innovation.

Sivertsen is pleased that NCE Finance Innovation is part of the Norwegian Cognitive Center and is particularly interested in what AI can represent for the finance and tech industry that the cluster represents.

Contact and further information:

Odd Gurvin; odd@norwegiancognitivecenter.no
Atle Sivertsen; atle@financeinnovation.no