Introduction
The aquaculture sector is in transition. Not only is the sector expected to contribute to global food security , it also needs to comply with increasing societal demands for responsible and sustainable production and adopt the new digitalization opportunities. Enabling technologies provide a new window of opportunities, with the exploration of high-tech solutions as steppingstones towards this paradigm shift. The development of efficient, green and smart production systems requires expertise across a wide range of technology and soci al science disciplines , whilst setting the farmed species and the production ecosystem in the centre . The Bridgehead Aquaculture 2050 project is developing a toolbox to acquire a strengthening of the innovation capacity across the value chain.
Methodology
The region of Mid-Norway is used as a pilot area for the development of a knowledge exchange and capacity building platform. The county of Trøndelag is ranked high in the top 25 Regional Innovation Leaders in Europe1. It also represents about 1/3rd o f the total national aquaculture production (amounting to 1,45 million tonnes in 20192) , and locates two major aquaculture educational and research centres , i.e. NTNU and SINTEF . Alongside fish, shellfish and algae farming companies, Bridgehead Aquaculture involves mainly businesses supplying technology, services, or feed to the aquaculture sector. Many of them are connected t hrough their membership in a regional cluster3.
The knowledge and innovation c apacity in the aquaculture sector can be considerably strengthened through a more efficient utilisation of existing scientific and p ractice-based competences .
Applying the toolbox across the aquaculture value chain has an expected impact on three different levels:
Results
The toolbox of Bridgehead Aquaculture 2050 has developed and implemented routines for more and stronger cross-stakeholder interactions at the education and skill development level. More specifically, the presentation wants to highlight four pilot instruments that were developed in 2020/21.
Minor in aquaculture4 is a set of aquaculture courses and seminars directed to civil engineering students across a variety of specialities , i.e. marine technology, renewable energy, environmental engineering, ICT, cybernetics and robotics, mechanical engineering, electronics systems design. The minor enabled the students to recognise how their specific expertise can be applied to problem-solving in aquaculture planning, operations, and development across the value chain. In addition, they developed biological and cross-disciplinary communication skills and increased their knowledge about the sector’s structure and its stakeholders.
At a Bachelor level, a study programme in aquaculture engineering5 was developed . This is a 3-year’s professional education programme within operations and maintenance of aquaculture farming systems, both at sea and on land. The study programme was developed and set off in 2020 because of a clear demand by the sector, emphasising a lack of c andidates with this specific set of skills .
Students represent a powerful instrument for change , of which the sector is not adequately aware. In order to lower the threshold for student-industry interactions, an online portal6 for the aquaculture sector was established at the university . It provides, amongst others, guidelines , agreement templates and examples of past student assignments in aquaculture, an annual wheel for collaborating opportunities and deadlines , and open summer job assignments or internships. Overall, it helps both students and companies with little experience or network to interact.
Additional instruments in the toolbox are existing collaborative mechanisms adapted to the particularities of the aquaculture sector: the industry PhD scheme, continued education courses at bachelor and master level, trainee programmes, and lifelong learning.
Discussion and conclusion
As a response to the need for a more efficient and mutual exchange of theoretical and practical knowledge, t he Bridgehead Aquaculture 2050 project developed a regional knowledge platform with a set of new and improved instruments.
It was shown that the instruments stimulated aquaculture stakeholders in the target region to build up trust, competence and experience in collaborating with groups they previously had little knowledge about. Participating students and researchers opened a wide range of expertise within the fields of technology, natural sciences and social sciences. The sharing of knowledge, creation of engagement and general networking across the stakeholder groups using one or several Bridgehead instruments, contributes to the realisation of the paradigm towards a sector-wide acknowledgement of the importance of research-based innovation in the green and digital transformation .
The Bridgehead Aquaculture toolbox is based on strengthening existing assets that have so far been underexploited by the aquaculture sector. Being supported and implemented by strong institutions and networks, the legacy of the instruments is secured. As a next step, the toolbox can possibly be expanded to other regions in Europe with similar needs and area of opportunities.
References