About

About NCE Smart Energy Markets

Norwegian Centers of Expertise (NCE) is Norway's heaviest investment in the development of competitive and dynamic business clusters - across industries and sectors, both nationally and internationally.

In 2009, the Smart Energy Markets cluster, led by Smart Innovation Norway, received status as a so-called Norwegian Center of Expertise (NCE). In Norway, there are a total of 14 business clusters that are eligible for the NCE programme.

NCE Smart Energy Markets is a catalyst for ambitious problem solvers and problem owners, who want to create business development and opportunities out of growing energy challenges in the green shift

Sustainability

About the cluster

  • Growing at record speed

    NCE Smart Energy Markets aims to promote business development and international growth through research-based innovation. The programme is owned by the Research Council of Norway, SIVA and Innovation Norway. The cluster currently has over 70 members (companies, academia and public actors) and is the fastest growing and most internationally oriented energy and ICT industry cluster in Norway.

    NCE Smart Energy Markets acts as a strong innovation engine because the cluster streamlines the public sector, creates business development and facilitates future market opportunities.

  • Expertise in energy

    The cluster partners in NCE Smart Energy Markets have unique expertise and knowledge in smart energy and digital technologies, and the aim is to be a world leader in these areas. Energy is central to all the cluster's projects, which has given solid experience in research and development both nationally and internationally.

    The awarding of the prestigious EU Horizon 2020 projects PERMIDES, EMPOWER, INVADE, E-LAND and FLEXGRID are important examples of the position the cluster has built up internationally.

  • Drivers of change

    We are in an era where high demands are placed on digitalisation, automation and the culture of sharing is spreading. How we consume products and services, how we live our lives, conduct our business and produce our goods is changing. And it goes quickly. We are in the middle of the digital transformation.

    With increasing levels of renewable energy resources and high expectations of energy reliability, we need to rethink how we connect and utilize our available energy resources, to fully benefit from the synergies between them.

    New investments in electrical infrastructure will be costly, requiring alternative solutions such as expanding existing infrastructure along with new affordable technologies.

    Decentralized power production and storage are forcing their way forward and are on the agenda of a large number of companies. By producing renewable power locally and storing it locally, business will take greater control over its own costs, and society will be able to reduce investments in the regional and distribution network. The development requires local production, local storage and local use.

    The need for rapid, structured innovation and sustainable business development is precarious. The drivers for the necessary restructuring are new, sustainable business models, intelligent technology and increased user focus.

Become a member of the NCE Smart Energy Markets cluster and gain access to unique expertise from a growing network

Is your company sufficiently equipped for digitization and a changing society? Our network has expertise that can give your company competitive advantages in the market.

Inge Michael Bilet

"By just being present here, we have managed to establish very valuable and good contacts with other partner companies, and this provides a synergy that we find very exciting! "

John Amundsen, Storespeed (Partner Conference 2022)

News

The industry cluster's advice to politicians: - Increase investment in renewable energy exports!

The climate crisis and the world's need to take it seriously represents a huge business opportunity in an area where Norway has considerable expertise, namely climate-friendly energy technologies.