Every year, the Cluster for Applied AI and NCE Smart Energy Markets award the Cluster Partner of the Year award to a partner company that has distinguished itself in the past year. This year was no exception when the Partner Conference 2022 took place in the Smart Innovation Arena.
The award is handed out as the last entry in a tightly packed programme, and the secrecy surrounding the selection is great. Thus, both the joy and the surprise of the winners will be correspondingly great.
This year's cluster partner is chosen to honor partners who have distinguished themselves in an extra positive way throughout the year. The Cluster for Applied AI and NCE Smart Energy Markets had several good candidates to choose from, while the Cluster for Decommissioning and Repurposing, which was launched in April this year, names its first Cluster Partner of the Year in 2023.
Goalless award winner
The prize was awarded by Head of Communities, Eli Haugerud, who is responsible for the clusters and Smart Cities and Communities. She brought the head of the Cluster for Applied AI, Marianne Jansson Bjerkman, and the head of NCE Smart Energy Markets, Inge Bilet, on stage.
They tried to keep the tension as long as possible before they revealed the winners, and it was a surprised Fred Martin Langøy from Smart Energy Systems AS in Fredrikstad who made his way to the stage to receive the award from Haugerud and Bilet.
The jury had emphasized, among other things, that the partner "is active both in terms of participation in events, but also with good feedback on how the cluster can be a better device for the partners. The company has taken the initiative to establish one of the country's first three battery factories and ensured broad involvement among regional authorities and local businesses. This has helped to position the cluster and lift our expertise into the light".
- It is not often that I am speechless, but I am now, said a happy Langøy.
Experienced partner won
The winner at Cluster for Applied AI has been a cluster member for many years, and the jury's justification states, among other things, that the company "has distinguished itself through its active involvement in cluster development over several years, its strong professional contribution to the cluster in general, and its willingness and ability to both contribute to the common good.
The business has contributed to a number of cluster projects, but has also been able to use the cluster as a strategic platform for its own development.
The partner in question has also been able to be relevant for collaboration with other cluster partners, which we know several of you who are here today have enjoyed."
Finally, the Communities leader together with Bjerkman could congratulate Simula Consulting AS on the victory and ask Anders Aamodt and Elias Myklebust to come up to receive the diploma and flowers.
