6. Gravitational fields

A strong innovation district cannot be built from scratch. It must stand on the shoulders of strong and leading expert communities that already have a presence in the district. In the area from Majorstua to Gaustad, we currently find more than 10,000 researchers, teachers, entrepreneurs, business developers, business managers, investors and people working in public administration. They all have cuttingedge expertise within their disciplines.

From the broad and varied knowledge base in Oslo Science City, four strong thematic fields clearly stand out. They can all point to broad and internationally leading expertise related to research and innovation. These are broad thematic fields that span a wide range of professional disciplines. We call them «gravitational fields of expertise».

  • Health and life sciences

  • Digitalization and computational sciences

  • Climate, energy and the environment

  • Democracy and inclusion

The four thematic gravitational fields demonstrate particular strengths in today’s Oslo Science City. Here, we find solid and well-established alliances. The fields also cover the thematic structure of the EU’s new framework program for research and are at the center of the national policy approach to solving major societal challenges locally, nationally and globally. The fields attract and collaborate with national and international institutions within civil society and the business sector, speeding up innovation and value creation.

Consequently, it is particularly relevant to build an innovation district around these fields. Notice though, that there is also world-leading expertise in the district that does not neatly fit into these wide thematic fields. Oslo Science City should be organized in a way that ensures that innovations within all disciplines are supported.

Digitalization and computational sciences

The Oslo Science City of the future will to a large degree be a product of digital solutions, machine learning, artificial intelligence and digital twins. The use of advanced digital tools and methods is increasingly influential in science, applied research and the design of new products and services. We call the associated expert communities a gravitational field in Oslo Science City, but in fact, expertise associated with digital solutions interacts with all thematic gravitational fields in the innovation district.

ONE OF EUROPE’S STRONGEST EXPERT COMMUNITIES

In Oslo Science City we find some of Europe’s strongest expert communities within this field of expertise. At the centre is the Department of Informatics (IFI) at the University of Oslo. It is the oldest and largest institute for informatics in Norway. In 2017, the institute was ranked number 3 in Europe and number 12 in the world in computer science. More than 300 research staff published over 400 scientific articles in 2019. Nearly 40 doctoral students and more than 200 master’s students completed their studies this year. IFI is one of the most entrepreneurial institutes in the country. Every year, a large number of innovation projects is initiated in close collaboration with businesses and other knowledge institutions. IFI works closely with important institutions such as SINTEF Digital and the Norwegian Computing Center. The department also collaborates extensively with Norwegian business and public sector entities. Amongst others, it hosts the renowned Center for Scalable Access to Big Data (SIRIUS) – a centre for research-based innovation – and HISP (Health Information System Program), which develops the world’s most widespread health information system.

SINTEF DIGITAL: THE LINK BETWEEN SCIENCE AND APPLICATION

SINTEF is strongly represented in the middle of Oslo Science City. It works closely with other institutions in the area. The most specialized community within applied generic research on digitalization and computational science is found in SINTEF Digital. Here attention is devoted to smart sensor systems, micro electromechanical systems (MEMS), nanomaterials, artificial intelligence (AI) and methodology for software development. The department MiNaLab in SINTEF Digital produces miniaturized sensors and microsystems for international industry. A large number of start-up companies originate from this community. At AI@SINTEF, they produce algorithms that interpret sensor data, images, sound and texts that shape our common future. SINTEF Industri works closely with industrial companies across the country on green digitalization. One example is the process industry. SINTEF Community works specializes on green digitalization of the construction and real estate industries, applied both to infrastructure and mobility systems.

The Norwegian Computing Center (NR) is located in the middle of Oslo Science City. It is closely connected to the University of Oslo, with around 100 employees who bring their expertise to the business sector and public administration in the form of assignments for applied research. NGI (Norwegian Geotechnical Institute) now employs over 50 researchers focusing on digitalization. They apply digital services in a geoscientific context and other specialized applications.

dSCIENCE – CENTRE FOR COMPUTATIONAL AND DATA SCIENCE

dScience is a newly established research center at the University of Oslo established with contributions from expert communities spanning the whole specter of the activities. The purpose of the centre is to coordinate the University of Oslo’s extensive activities within data and computational science and establish an internationally leading university in the field. Two important focus areas are machine learning/artificial intelligence and knowledge representation/digital twins, but dScience also has access to other important areas of knowledge at the University of Oslo. dScience is represented by 40-45 research groups across the University of Oslo with more than 300 active PhD/postdoc students. There are close links to SINTEF Digital and the centre has established separate groups for sectoral initiatives. One important task for dScience is to facilitate collaboration and meeting places across research communities, businesses and public sector entities in Oslo, Norway and internationally.

NEW CENTRES TARGETED AT DIGITAL INNOVATION

NORA – Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Research Consortium – is a national collaboration intended to strengthen research, education and innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. NORA builds on an efficient innovation ecology that connects researchers more closely with the business and industry sector and the rest of society. NORA has given a national responsibility and will tie students, researchers and the innovation communities in Oslo Science City closely to similar communities in other Norwegian cities. The Centre for Scalable Data Access (Sirius) at the University of Oslo develops new digital solutions in the oil and gas industry based on interdisciplinary insight. The centre cooperates closely with world-leading technology environments in the business sector. At the Department of Technology Systems located at Kjeller, the newly established Center for Space Sensors and Systems (CENSSS) made great success with its sensor technology as the Perseverance rover with the georadar Rimfax landed safely on Mars in 2021. In collaboration with the University of Tromsø and other external partners, IFI has recently established Visual Intelligence – a new centre for innovation that focuses on deep learning and artificial intelligence to extract knowledge from complex image data. In a collaboration between the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Norwegian Computing Center we find BigInsight. This is an innovation-oriented research centre working to develop new statistical methods for handling and compiling large and complex data sets for the private and public sector, including the health sector.

A STRONG VITALIZATION OF DIGITAL START-UPS

The number of new establishments in Oslo Science City has almost exploded in recent years. Most of these are based on digital and IT-based innovations. Many of the start-ups have started out in StartupLab, and a new initiative “Data Science Lab” is now established as part of StartupLab in Oslo Science Park. Companies that are often mentioned in this context are Kahoot!, Ardoq, Spacemaker and Elliptic Labs. All of them focus on global markets based on technologies developed in the innovation district.

DIGITAL NORWAY AND LARGE COMPANIES

Digital Norway organizes the large Norwegian companies which are inextricably linked to digital production models and Industry 4.0. Companies like Kongsberg, Telenor, Yara, Equinor and DNB have a large portfolio of projects in collaboration with actors in Oslo Science City. Through Datafabrikken, Digital Norway has established close collaboration with dScience where they develop a number of innovative continuing and further education offers adapted to a dynamic working life and business community. It is not just the business and industry sector that locates projects in the district. The same goes for large public actors such as the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), the Norwegian Tax Administration, Ruter, Bane Nor and Posten.