The Americas 2006

The Americas Region consists of offices in Washington, New York, Houston, San Francisco and Boston in the US, Toronto in Canada, and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. 

Abraham Foss manages this region.

A few main sectors

The Americas Region strengthened its focus on a few main sectors in 2006. This represents a continuation of the strategy from previous years. The region’s primary focus is on ICT (technology in a broad sense), oil and gas, health and biotechnology, tourism, and renewable energy. With regard to projects, we are working on customer-specific advisory projects, network projects related to the development of multi-company forums, and the repatriation of knowledge on opportunities for Norwegian interests in the broadest sense.

ICT sector

In the ICT sector the primary focus has been on links to the venture capital market, market evaluations, production of trend information and general links to potential partners/market channels. The repatriation of knowledge on market dynamics has been key here. There are significant challenges related to building relevant networks in selected niches in an extremely broad and fragmented industry.

Oil and gas

Other dynamics distinguish the oil and gas sector, and it is more defined geographically. The primary focus was on the Gulf of Mexico and the continental shelf off Brazil. This sector is more geographically focused. There have also been some activities aimed at the Mexican side of the Gulf of Mexico. Statoil and Hydro are the promoters, but there are significant Norwegian interests and establishments in both these markets. In Brazil there is a lot of focus on links to the state-owned Brazilian oil company with its enormous investment programme, while building the right networks for a very large and dynamic environment has been of key importance in Houston. On the service side, the primary focus has been on finding partners and infrastructure questions in connection with the establishment of companies.

Medicine and biotechnology

Global dynamics also distinguish the medicine and biotechnology sector in the same way as the ICT sector. There has been a great deal of focus on introducing Norwegian interests to the positive intermingling taking place in the borderland between research institutions, venture capital environments, incubator environments, entrepreneurs and major companies/distribution systems. This is accomplished by the repatriation of knowledge, as well as the introduction of Norwegian companies and other interests to this environment. The primary focus has been on building networks in the Boston area, as well as comprehension of some of the main environments elsewhere in the US, including Minnesota, California and North Carolina.

Canada

In Canada the primary focus has been on renewable energy and the fisheries sector.  There has also been a significant focus on a couple of major ICT projects. Canada represents a large, but relatively unknown market to Norwegians.

Tourism

The primary focus for tourism has been on PR, the campaign market, as well as various measures aimed at tour operators in North America. A great deal of effort was also made to expand the transportation services from various cities in the US to Bergen via Reykjavik. There was a significant focus on finding business partners that can help build up our efforts.

Brazil

In Brazil there has been a great deal of work on establishment services and the transfer of knowledge on local market dynamics and corporate culture. There is much less knowledge of this market among Norwegian players in general. The other countries in South America are covered on a project basis by Innovation Norway’s office in Brazil and through cooperation with the various embassies/consulates.

Cooperation

On the service side, some of the projects were carried out with more comprehensive, in-depth cooperation with the customer. This will be continued and strengthened.
The region has also worked a great deal with the development of partnerships, and its role in relation to the Research Council of Norway, Norwegian American Foundation, Foreign Service and INTSOK (Norwegian Oil and Gas Partners) can be mentioned as examples here.