This is what NorSea Denmark's director Jesper Høj-Hansen said when he inaugurated the 7,000 square meter office community House of Offshore Innovation on the quay in Esbjerg in September 2020. The house was built with the ambition of creating a framework for common ideas and collaboration on new innovations, and the first half year has shown that a good network and partnerships are sprouting in the House of Offshore Innovation.
- We have of course been challenged by opening a house for community and cooperation in a time where you must not meet and have to keep to yourself - but we can see that both ourselves and several of our tenants have managed to create the professional community we had in mind, says Jesper Høj-Hansen.
Unique concept
Right now, 24 companies are sharing House of Offshore Innovation. Among them is DIS Engineering Services, and Sam Dehdar, Director, Head of DIS South, has been really happy to move in.
- The vision with House of Offshore Innovation was to gather all competencies under one roof. It has succeeded. You can hand in a requirements specification at the front door and have the solution sailed out on a barge at the back door. It is unique, says Sam Dehdar:
- It was the collaboration with the others in the house that was the reason we moved in. And it works. We collaborate with NorSea and with the Energy Cluster, and we can easily see a potential at other companies in the house, with which we have a good dialogue, he says.
Martin Fink Vang Jensen, Head of Service at ProCon Wind Energy, has also seen the network work.
- One should not underestimate the strength of having a shared reception and canteen. You meet a lot of people at the coffee machine, and you can easily exchange ideas at a walk-and-talk with some of the other tenants. In a relatively short time, we have expanded our network and established good contacts with several of the other companies in the house, and it is even in a time of restrictions, he says.
