Grønn Innovasjon - en studie av innovasjonsprosessen til to spin-off foretak fra forskningsmiljøet i Bergen

This master thesis is based on an analysis on some aspects concerning the innovation process in two different university spin-off enterprises in Bergen-region. The cases concerns ecofriendly technologies compared to conventional solutions. These technologies address highly relevant products that lead to more sustainable production, processes and areas of use. The attempt to analyse the innovation process will especially focus on the influence of other important organizations and institutions and how they interact. This includes inter-firm links, collaboration with other research institutions and governmental institutions. Learning processes, feedback from customers, funding systems and the importance of knowledge and information flows are some key issues that are addressed. The theoretical approach for this study includes literature within economic geography, including theories around innovation systems and technology transfer. The empirical findings based on semi-structured interviews by the founders and other key informants in other organizations like the regional technology transfer office were conducted fall 2011. I have also used secondary sources such as company reports, websites, media articles, governmental reports and secondary statistics. The major findings have reviled several complexities concerning motivation, structures, systems and geographies around these processes

Evaluering av nærmiljøtilskudd for Storhaug bydel

I perioden 2015–2018 har Stavanger kommune bevilget 2 millioner kroner i nærmiljøtilskudd til Storhaug bydel. Tilskuddene har vært rettet mot ulike aktører som ønsker å gjennomføre sosiale, miljømessige og fysiske tiltak som støtter opp om satsingen for et levekårsløft i bydelen

Evaluering av nærmiljøtilskudd for Storhaug bydel

I perioden 2015–2018 har Stavanger kommune bevilget 2 millioner kroner i nærmiljøtilskudd til Storhaug bydel. Tilskuddene har vært rettet mot ulike aktører som ønsker å gjennomføre sosiale, miljømessige og fysiske tiltak som støtter opp om satsingen for et levekårsløft i bydelen.Stavanger kommun

Towards a Greener Economy : Entrepreneurs, Clusters and Changing Markets

A shift towards a greener economy is inevitable, given the urgency to deal with climate change and other pressing environmental challenges. The aim of the thesis is to contribute to the theoretical and empirical understanding of how, why, and under what circumstances green value creation unfolds. This is done by employing a research design that sees green value creation as a process that both unfolds at multiple level in the corporate sector and is shaped by interactions across the different levels. This multilevel approach is operationalised through studies of green entrepreneurship at the micro-level, cleantech clusters at the meso-level, and market conditions for environmental goods and services at macro-level. The thesis applies a qualitative case study design based on empirical evidence collected over a period of seven years, between 2013 and 2020. The empirical evidence was obtained through methodological triangulation involving interview data, survey data and desk research, mainly from Norway, but also from the United States, Austria, and Ireland. At the micro-level, the thesis theoretically and empirically takes a close look at green value creation in the form of green entrepreneurship. The analysis reveals how the ‘green’ part of the entrepreneurship is brought into start-up processes and the value it delivers throughout various stages of their establishment. The thesis challenges the stereotypical conception of green entrepreneurship by demonstrating case studies where environmentally sound businesses have risen from rather conventional entrepreneurial endeavours whereby the green value has been created intrinsically through innovative technological designs. The thesis further shows that the green value of the start-ups has played a key role in attracting innovation partners and investors, recruiting personnel, and obtaining public funding. Moreover, the specific characteristics of the spatial and institutional context have had a clear impact on the success of the start-ups by offering unique knowledge bases accompanied by environmental regulations that create market demand. The meso-level of the thesis explores the formation and structure of cleantech clusters based on three case studies, carried out respectively in the United States, Austria, and Ireland. The findings show that the cleantech clusters are much more diverse with respect to industry composition and actor heterogeneity compared with conventional business clusters (i.e. Porterian business clusters). Moreover, the thesis shows that multiple factors have led to the formation and spatial distribution of the cleantech clusters. At the meso-level, this includes path-dependent processes that form the industrial basis from which cleantech clusters can emerge. However, in the studied cases the industrial potential for cleantech development was largely actualised by deliberate place leadership and various trigger mechanisms that took place at both the micro-level and macro-level. By demonstrating the importance of both micro-level agency and macro-level conditions in cluster formation, the thesis represents a theoretical approach that often has been neglected in conventional analyses of how regional industries emerge and develop. The macro-level focuses on market conditions by exploring demand mechanisms for environmental goods and services. The thesis shows that green market demand is created by multiple conditions and mechanisms that work together, including costefficiency, environmental and social responsibility, customers’ environmental awareness, CSR strategies, risk-management, regulations, and subsidies. The thesis further demonstrates how market conditions for green products and services may differ across regions and countries, due to different regulatory landscapes and public priorities, but also to other non-regulatory conditions such as the degree of environmental awareness within a market, either geographical or sectoral. The latter informs the literature by explicitly bringing the spatial dimension into discussions on green market demand. Combined, the three analytical levels deliver insights into how green value is created in the corporate sector (RQ 1), the role of geography in these processes (RQ 2), and how the micro-, meso-, and macro-levels interact in green value creation initiatives (RQ 3). By answering these overarching research questions, the thesis provides new insights that highlight the value of cross-disciplinary thinking with respect to understanding the interplay between actors, systems, and structures involved in green value creation. This particularly concerns the way theoretical triangulation is used actively in the thesis to inform existing theories and concepts within economic geography, but also in the green entrepreneurship literature

Områdesatsingen på Storhaug

Områdesatsinger er definert som innsats rettet mot et avgrenset geografisk område, og representerer et virkemiddel som i stadig økende grad blir tatt i bruk for å forhindre fremvekst av sosial ulikhet i samfunnet (Husbanken, 2020). Siden 2007 har flere byer i Norge gjennomført områdesatsinger, og per 2021 er det flere pågående satsinger i norske storbykommuner, blant annet i Oslo, Drammen, Bergen, og Stavanger (Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet, 2021). Denne rapporten handler om sistnevnte, Stavanger kommune, som i perioden 2018-2024 gjennomfører en større områdesatsing i Storhaug kommunedel1. Storhaug ligger like sørøst for Stavanger sentrum og er en av ni kommunedeler i kommunen, med et innbyggertall på om lag 16 700

Områdesatsingen på Storhaug

Områdesatsinger er definert som innsats rettet mot et avgrenset geografisk område, og representerer et virkemiddel som i stadig økende grad blir tatt i bruk for å forhindre fremvekst av sosial ulikhet i samfunnet (Husbanken, 2020). Siden 2007 har flere byer i Norge gjennomført områdesatsinger, og per 2021 er det flere pågående satsinger i norske storbykommuner, blant annet i Oslo, Drammen, Bergen, og Stavanger (Kommunal- og moderniseringsdepartementet, 2021). Denne rapporten handler om sistnevnte, Stavanger kommune, som i perioden 2018-2024 gjennomfører en større områdesatsing i Storhaug kommunedel1. Storhaug ligger like sørøst for Stavanger sentrum og er en av ni kommunedeler i kommunen, med et innbyggertall på om lag 16 700.Områdesatsingen på StorhaugpublishedVersio

"Nomader på lavterskel? - Boligløsninger for personer med rusproblemer og psykiske lidelser"

I prosjektet har vi undersøkt hva som kan være gode boligløsninger for mennesker med utfordringer innen rus og psykiske helse som har sammensatte og komplekse hjelpebehov. Undersøkelsen er basert på fokusgruppeintervjuer med ansatte i 10 utvalgte kommuner, fokusgruppeintervjuer med sentrale bruker- og/ eller pårørendeorganisasjoner på feltet, og studier av sekundærdata. Gjennom undersøkelsene har vi kartlagt bokvalitet, kommunenes botilbud, tjenester knyttet opp mot botilbudet, boligsosial organisering og økonomiske forhold. Vi har også sett på kommunenes og organisasjonenes perspektiver på brukermedvirkning for innbyggere med rus- og psykisk helseutfordringer. Alle disse strukturene representerer elementer i boligløsninger som kan fremme bo- evne og bo- kompetanse hos disse innbyggerne. Gode boligløsninger forutsetter et samspill mellom 1) bokvalitet, 2) boligtilbud, 3) boligtjeneste, 4) boligsosial organisering, 5) økonomiske dimensjoner og 6) brukermedvirkning.submittedVersio

Institutional work, regional key actors, and green industrial restructuring

Departing from evolutionary economic geography, the objective of the article is to reveal the dynamics of institutional work by regional key actors with a need to achieve green restructuring in regions dependent on the oil and gas industry. The authors combine quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how, why, and when regional stakeholders’ institutional work contributes, or not, to changing institutional logics that enable green industrial restructuring in the regional innovation systems of two adjacent petroleum-dominated regions in Norway. The main finding is that despite shared positive visions in both regions for green industrial restructuring, the processes of institutional work and related institutional logics respectively legitimize a green shift in Hordaland and delegitimize it in Rogaland. Consequently, there is a need to remain mindful of institutional work’s connection to regional and often taken-for-granted institutional logics. In conclusion, the authors argue that the findings challenge the current IW discourse within economic geography, which has tended to explain green regional industrial restructuring as outcomes of intended agency leading to successful outcomes

Institutional work, regional key actors, and green industrial restructuring

Departing from evolutionary economic geography, the objective of the article is to reveal the dynamics of institutional work by regional key actors with a need to achieve green restructuring in regions dependent on the oil and gas industry. The authors combine quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how, why, and when regional stakeholders’ institutional work contributes, or not, to changing institutional logics that enable green industrial restructuring in the regional innovation systems of two adjacent petroleum-dominated regions in Norway. The main finding is that despite shared positive visions in both regions for green industrial restructuring, the processes of institutional work and related institutional logics respectively legitimize a green shift in Hordaland and delegitimize it in Rogaland. Consequently, there is a need to remain mindful of institutional work’s connection to regional and often taken-for-granted institutional logics. In conclusion, the authors argue that the findings challenge the current IW discourse within economic geography, which has tended to explain green regional industrial restructuring as outcomes of intended agency leading to successful outcomes

Institutional work, regional key actors, and green industrial restructuring

Departing from evolutionary economic geography, the objective of the article is to reveal the dynamics of institutional work by regional key actors with a need to achieve green restructuring in regions dependent on the oil and gas industry. The authors combine quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate how, why, and when regional stakeholders’ institutional work contributes, or not, to changing institutional logics that enable green industrial restructuring in the regional innovation systems of two adjacent petroleum-dominated regions in Norway. The main finding is that despite shared positive visions in both regions for green industrial restructuring, the processes of institutional work and related institutional logics respectively legitimize a green shift in Hordaland and delegitimize it in Rogaland. Consequently, there is a need to remain mindful of institutional work’s connection to regional and often taken-for-granted institutional logics. In conclusion, the authors argue that the findings challenge the current IW discourse within economic geography, which has tended to explain green regional industrial restructuring as outcomes of intended agency leading to successful outcomes.publishedVersio