Technical Director of Danish cluster Offshorenergy.dk visits Basque Energy Cluster

Submitted by Jose Hormaeche on 09 May 2017

Johannes Bie, Director of Offshorenergy.dk, the Danish cluster made up of companies of the value chain of “Subsea Oil&Gas”, offshore wind energy and marine energy, came to the Basque Country on 5 and 6 April to meet with the Basque Energy Cluster and Oil&Gas companies.

In the first meeting with the Basque Energy Cluster, both clusters analysed collaboration projects that were of interest to companies of both associations, mainly as part of Vanguard Initiative, a European initiative with which they have been working for two years. They specifically take part in the pilot project for advanced manufacturing of energy applications in harsh environments (offshore).

Later on Johannes Bie met with Oil&Gas companies and presented the situation of this sector in Denmark, challenges facing Danish companies and the activities carried out by the Offshorenergy.dk cluster to add value to the work of its members. Then, participating companies (VICINAY, ERREKA, TALLERES GAINZA, SUPRA, TECNALIA and the UPV-EHU) presented their products and activities for the Oil&Gas markets, and after that there was a discussion about the foreseeable evolution of these markets and collaboration potential between Danish and Basque companies.

On the second day Mr Bie visited the facilities of NAVACEL, where he was able to learn first about the manufacturing process of towers contracted by Statoil for the five turbines at HyWind Scotland Pilot Park, the first floating offshore wind farm.

After visiting NAVACEL, Mr Bie met with Alex Arriola, General Manager of the SPRI, and the Head of Strategic Initiatives, Cristina Oyón. They exchanged information and experiences regarding public policies and regional innovation indicators, as well as regional cluster policies. At this last meeting they agreed to strengthen cooperation between both clusters, and this could lead to a Basque companies travelling on a mission to Denmark in the near future.

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