7. Sketches, concepts and solutions

A strong innovation district cannot be built from scratch. It must be built on the shoulders of strong and leading expert communities that already have strong presence in the district. Oslo Science City also builds on a number of projects in the area that are already well underway.

The objective of Oslo Science City

I t is with open arms that you are invited to Oslo Science City, as we in Team A-lab envision this future innovation district.

The next 25 years will offer an explosion of new solutions, technologies, treatments and services. Innovation districts around the world will drive this development. In Oslo Science City, innovation will be strengthened through a close collaboration between scientists at our universities, hospitals and R&D-institutes, large and small businesses and communities that promote social and urban development.

Oslo Science City will contribute to active knowledge sharing locally, nationally and globally. This innovation district will operate as a living knowledge network that connects more than 150,000 researchers, business developers, entrepreneurs and social developers from the north, west and south of the country. It is through Oslo Science City that foreign companies and research communities will become aware of the benefits of locating right in the center of a such a network.

Oslo Science City will be a vibrant district where people meet to solve the challenges of the future, create value and explore what we do not yet know. Oslo Science City will be a platform that will stimulate cooperation, strengthen innovative capacity and contribute to value creation and new sustainable jobs.

From an urban planning perspective, Oslo Science City is an example of how a holistic planning approach for an entire district can provide large benefits. A green and densely vegetated corridor provides inhabitants in the centre of Oslo with direct access to marka, the forested areas surrounding the city, in summer as well as winter. The corridor brings the population close to buildings, restaurants and cultural activities that are at street level in the innovation district. They work as a tool for openness and inclusion.

Oslo Science City also offers a unique opportunity for closer proximity between place of work and residence. Housing is provided for more than 7,000 residents in Oslo Science City, stretching all the way from Majorstuen in the city center, over Marienlyst and Blindern, through Gaustadbekkdalen and up to Oslo University Hospital. Here, we are right on the edge of the forest at Øvre Gaustad. The innovation district is spreading like a tree with branches towards the world-leading cancer research community at Radiumhospitalet in the west and the conference and knowledge arenas at Ullevål Stadium in the northeast. Multifunctional buildings play a crucial role, building a link between science, entrepreneurial ecosystems and business.

The objective of Oslo Science City is to significantly strengthen the innovative capacity in Oslo and Norway, through close and efficient interaction between motivated students and excellent scientists, dynamic start-up communities, knowledge-based business, a future-oriented public sector and competent investors. This provides the foundation for knowledge-based workplaces and sustainable value creation.

 
 
 

 Vision:

A vibrant community where people meet to solve the challenges of the future, create value and explore what we do not yet know

Oslo Science City is a platform that will stimulate collaboration, strengthen innovative capacity and contribute to value creation and new sustainable jobs

 
 
 

INNOVATION AND MEETING PLACES
Promote innovation through flexible meeting places, shared testing facilities and laboratories, and a close collaboration between science, the business sector and society

MORE KNOWLEDGE-BASED ENTERPRISES Make room for knowledge-intensive business and build international attractiveness, through planned programming and development of multifunctional buildings and areas

SCALING AND INTERNATIONALIZATION
Focus on the establishment of start-up enterprises that originate from research, in close collaboration with mature companies in the district

 

INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION
Facilitate collaboration between researchers from different academic disciplines, through co-location and closer proximity between different disciplines and institutions

ACCESS TO RESEARCHERS AND STUDENTS
Further strengthen academic communities with excellent researchers and motivated students that develop new knowledge and disseminate this knowledge into society

INTERNATIONAL ATTRACTIVENESS
Build internationally attractive professional and social communities and enable researchers and students from abroad to work and study in Oslo Science City with few obstacles

 

PROMOTING HEALTH THROUGH RECREATION
Utilize the location of the innovation district and its nature qualities to develop facilities for exercise, activity and recreation

EMISSION FREE MOBILITY
Create a fine-meshed network of emission free mobility solutions, optimize transport of people and goods, and develop attractive walking and biking connections

RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ZERO EMISSION SOLUTIONS
The innovation district aims to be a net zero emission area, building on renewable energy, energy efficiency, circular economic principles and zero emission solutions, both during development and operation

 

AN OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE CITY AT STREET LEVEL
Attractive ground floors with open facades, social meeting places, cultural activities and synergies between the buildings’ interior and exterior.

OPEN 24/7
Establish housing, urban life, mobility and digital functions that make the area open and alive also outside ordinary working hours

THE PUBLIC SPACE
Program areas in the district and develop transport solutions that are inviting and easily accessible for the actors in the area and the population of the city as a whole

 

DESTINATION AND LOCATION DEVELOPMENT
Attractive, inviting and innovative public spaces with a clear identity, making innovation visible and accessible

SOCIAL INNOVATION
Knowledge-based solutions for major societal challenges in close collaboration with leading knowledge communities

A GREEN INNOVATION DISTRICT
Knowledge-based and sustainable urban development on nature’s terms, linking the city, the fjord and marka