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