Enabling sustainable growth in the Norwegian seafood industry

Abstract

This master thesis focuses on the seafood cluster of Western Norway, and analyzes how the cluster can resolve the environmental challenges in the industry through innovations. The industry is currently facing a turning point, where further growth can be feasible only if the environmental challenges in the industry, namely sea lice, fish escapes and area utilization, are resolved. The government has introduced means, in the form of development licenses, to incentivize the industry to realize new technological innovations. This created an exciting impetus for empirical application of theories – clustering, innovation and sustainability. The study contributes by exploring the intersections between the different theories. The data collected for this thesis contain semi-structured interviews carried out with cluster member representatives that were knowledgeable about the industry and the innovations emerging from the cluster. In addition, a comprehensive selection of secondary data was collected to support the primary data. The authors applied the Emerald Model (Reve & Sasson, 2012) for the purpose of analyzing the cluster, and consider its completeness and knowledge interactions in relation to its capacity to innovate. Further, specific selected innovation projects were analyzed in terms of their nature and impact on the industry. Moreover, Porter and Linde’s (1995) theory of a properly crafted environmental regulations were applied in the analysis of these projects, and their potential to resolve the sustainable issues of the industry. The innovation projects subject to the case study were “The Egg” (Marine Harvest and Hauge Aqua) and “Ocean Farm 1” (SalMar). The research found that the chosen cluster obtains a complete value chain and to an extent strong knowledge relations and interactions, and hence possesses a high capacity to innovate. The authors regarded the innovations “The Egg” and “Ocean Farm 1” as sustaining radical innovations that may eliminate the environmental challenges, if successful. However, the realization of such projects hinges on the granting of development licenses, and thus the authors question whether the rest of the industry is able to adopt similar solutions. In addition, the authors believe that a technical solution is unlikely to solve these issues alone, but could prove successful in combination with a biological solution.