Energy & Sustainability Conference ~ Stavanger ~ June 17-20-2007

This is the conference that my friend Elin Oftedal has been working on for the last 6 months or so.

The 10th International Conference on Technology Policy and Innovation (ICTPI), will be held in Stavanger, from Sunday, June 17, to Wednesday, June 20, 2007.

With the focus of energy and sustainability the “Stavanger2007” event is expected to be a particularly valuable part of the ICTPI series. The relevance of these two topics is high with the current pressure on energy supply and with the challenge of balance the increasing need for energy with environment issues.

Some of the speakers include:

• Justin Adams from BP to expand up on the corporation's new message of "Beyond Petroleum"
• Neil Hirst, the Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Energy Technology Office which has broadened its mandate broadened to incorporate the "Three E’s" of balanced energy policy making: energy security, economic development and environmental protection
• Arne Mogren is one of the main architects behind 3C - Combat Climate Change an initiative led by Vattenfall to integrate question concerning climate change and environment in the business – strategy
• Jan Egeland, special envoy for the UN Secretary General, formerly Deputy Secretary General has agreed to be a keynote speaker on the ICTPI conference on the topic: "Societal Sustainability in times of Complex Crises".
• Dr Leena Srivastava, is an Executive Director at TERI, New Delhi and Senior Vice President of TERI-NA (Tata Energy and Resources Institute, North America), Washington, DC, USA.
• Dr. Shi Zulin who works at the Tsinghua University in Beijing where he is well known for his research on optimization and policy research on China's energy structure information technology and reform of state owned enterprises and research on new growth approaches for traditional industries.

Naturally there will be opportunities for conference participants to enjoy the gorgeous Norwegian summer weather and get to know their hosts. Who knows...I may get to head over there too!

Texas and Norway Meet in Houston

Mayor of Stavanger meets ExxonMobil CEO

A delegation headed by Mayor of Stavanger Leif Johan Sevland visited Dallas and Houston January 21 - 26. In Dallas the delegation met with with CEO and Chairman of ExxonMobil, Rex W. Tillerson.

2/20/2007 :: In Houston the delegation met with CEO of Greater Houston Partnership, Jeff Moseley, with President of Statoil Gulf of Mexico LLC Øyvind Reinertsen and with Consul General Svein Holst Andreassen and members of the Norwegian Consulate General and Innovation Norway.

Stavanger is well known for its petroleum industry supporting Norway's stand as the world's third largest exporter of oil. In 2005 the Stavanger Region was awarded the position of being Norway's most successful region.

The Council of the European Union has designated Stavanger as European Capital of Culture 2008 .

"The Stavanger region's history, culture, mentality and attitudes are characterized by their European influence. This has given us the inspiration to seek out international contacts and challenges", mayor Sevland says.

The City of Stavanger is situated in the south-western part of Norway. The city itself has about 113 000 inhabitants. The Greater Stavanger Region is Norway's 3rd largest urban area with its 300 000 inhabitants.

Stavanger will be well represented at the upcomingen Offshore Tecnology Conference (OTC) in Houston which will take place April 30 - May 3. In thhese days Greater Stavanger Economic Development is organizing a delegation of business representatives to the OTC.

In 2006 more than 40 Norwegian companies participated at OTC in Houston.

Cultiva - Kristiansand Norway

In truth, everything really came together because of Richard Florida's book The Rise of the Creative Class because the folks at Cultiva had pegged Austin as a place to come to discover how to grow their own entrepreneurial class. In fact, the name of their organization truly represents their goals as stated on the website: Cultiva is derived from the Latin word “cultio” which means, “to cultivate”. The name “Cultiva” clearly communicates growth, innovation and development. We see Cultiva as an appealing and harmonious name that is easy to pronounce, easy to read, and works well in any language.

I was introduced to Cultiva just over two years ago by Elin Oftedal. A few months after she left Austin, she gave my number to Daniel Norgaard as a contact during SXSW06. From that meeting came the trip to Norway last August that is chronicled in the early part of this blog.

There is much more to the story...past, present and future. Many more interesting characters to introduce, still sorting out the trolle...lol.

rg

Greater Stavanger Economic Development

My friend Elin Oftedal works for this organization and she is the one who has had the greatest faith in bringing the iCREATE model to Norway to help develop their entrepreneurial class. I had the opportunity to meet some of the folks when I was in Norway last August, the majority of them were on vacation. Which, quite frankly, amazed me since I think I'd take my vacation during the very long and very cold winter. But, Norwegians have their own perspective on the world. This blog will showcase that point of view by highlighting some of the people, places and events throughout Norway.

There are two big stories that will be tracked as well:
Stavanger 2008 and the development of the Sister City relationship between Austin Texas and Kristiansand Norway.

Much more information to come, until then, explore the Stavanger 2008 site. If you ever thought about going to Norway, 2008 will be a fantastic time to go!

rg