How people, technology and ideas can best work together towards further developing the energy sector on an international scale, will be the subject of a free seminar at the University of Aberdeen this week.
Expert geographers, sociologists and economists from the Universities of Oslo, Bergen and the Norwegian School of Management in Norway will discuss the way in which services are grouped in the Norwegian oil and gas industry to maximise economic impact and efficiency.
They will focus specifically on how this technique – known as clustering – is being applied in subsea engineering in Norway.
The seminar – which takes place on Thursday (October 21) at 5pm in the University’s St Mary’s building (Room 117) – will look at how this idea could be applied in Aberdeen and the north-east.
Topics to be discussed in the seminar include how diverse companies can come together to support the energy sector.
For example investigating how engineering, pipe services and shipment companies can work alongside satellite communications service to support remote oil platforms, or conservation groups who could advise on any potential impact of work on local wildlife.
How the technology, ideas and skills of people from within energy sector could be diversified to areas outside of the industry towards the long-term sustainability of cities such as Aberdeen where energy is a key focus, will also be explored.
The seminar – A local cluster going international: findings from a study of a Norwegian oil cluster - is hosted by the University of Aberdeen’s Geography Department.
The speakers are Professor Stig-Erik Jakobsen, Department of Sociology and Human Geography, University of Oslo, Professor Arnt Fløysand, Department of Geography, University of Bergen and Dr Inger Beate Pettersen, Norwegian School of Management, Bergen.
The seminar is free to attend. For more information contact Dr Sergei Shubin at s.shubin@abdn.ac.uk