Icelands Innovation minister Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir was present at the Iceland Ocean Cluster to award the four winners for their contribution to a stronger collaboration of people within the ocean cluster in Iceland, and contribution to increased value creation in the entrepreneurial community. The winners who received the annual awards for outstanding leadership was; Hrund Gunnsteinsdottir for her leadership in sustainability, Eydís Mary Jónsdóttir for pioneering seaweed utilisation, Björgólfur Hávarðsson for building innovation bridges between Norway and Iceland and Arnar Snorrason on behalf of Saeplast for nurturing startups in plastic upcycling.
The Iceland Ocean Cluster says: Björgólfur Hávarðsson is project manager at the Seafood Innovation Cluster in Norway. Björgólfur has for years been an active enthusiast for increased connections between entrepreneurs in Norway and Iceland and has helped many innovative companies in the Iceland Ocean Cluster to strengthen their connections in Norway.
“Yesterday I gratefully received a recognition I did not see coming as the Iceland Ocean Cluster recognised my passion for bridging the blue ecosystems in Iceland and Norway. None that knows me fails to understand my passion for seafood and my love for my two home countries, Iceland and Norway. It feels truly natural for me to reach out and connect the the two, both with more in common than differences. Both countries are at the cutting edge in redefining the next wave of innovation and both countries are renowned for the quality of their produce, innovation and engineering” – Björgólfur Hávarðsson
Congratulations to all the winners!
In NCE Seafood Innovation we believe in a collective effort towards sustainable growth and innovation. Knowledge sharing and networking between clusters and across boarders is therefor important when working together to secure a sustainable seafood industry for the future. We look forward to further collaboration with Icelandic companies, and creating synergies across boarders.
“I am so fortunate to work in one of the powerhouses of this development, NCE Seafood Innovation, and cooperating with another; Iceland Ocean Cluster” – Björgólfur Hávarðsson
