In close cooperation with business, the new research center will contribute to the green shift. In front of politicians, partners, colleagues and guests, the rector of Høgskolen i Innlandet, Peer Jacob Svenkerud, had the honor of welcoming.

- The center is a powerful investment in the region, and an example of how we as a university wish to contribute. We want to be relevant and work on issues that matter to society, and we want this to happen in close cooperation with business and others in our outside world, Svenkerud said at the opening.

The Center for Digitization and Sustainability (CREDS) is a joint venture between business, municipalities and the University College in Innlandet. The aim of the new center is to work closely with business to contribute to a sustainable and digital transition.

- This is an incredibly important investment for the Kongsvinger region. Through the research centre, we hope to increase the amount of research-driven innovation in business. In addition, as part of the investment, we will further strengthen cooperation with various R&D players and exciting companies nationally and internationally, which will contribute expertise, ideas, technology and capital in the region, says Lars Gillund, general manager of Klosser Innovation Kongsvinger .

Klosser has been involved in the entire establishment, from the idea stage via the strategy for establishment to realization.

-Together with the university center, we have also contributed with raising capital, which has been a prerequisite for the realization. We have already put in place several research projects together with CREDS, and have more on the way, adds Gillund.

Head of the centre, Professor Bård Tronvoll, wants the center to be a regional, national and international knowledge driver in understanding the green shift.

- We will help businesses in a restructuring process with a goal of being more sustainable. We will try to understand and help businesses to change. In a green transition, we see that digitization is one of the keys to achieving this, says Tronvoll.

Kongsvinger's mayor, Eli Wathne talked about "From the global to the local! The Kongsvinger region as host for CREDS". She emphasized the importance the center has for the region, and announced that the Kongsvinger region feels a strong sense of ownership of the centre, which has come about after a close collaboration between Høgskolen i Innlandet, Høgskolesenteret i Kongsvinger, business, Klosser innovation, municipalities and the county council.

Wathne also particularly highlighted the importance of the efforts that general manager Vegard Herlyng at the University Center in Kongsvinger and general manager Lars Gillund from Klosser Innovation have put in to realize the research centre.

- Their countless meetings and conversations with representatives of academia, business and political leadership over a long period of time have made it possible for us to now have a research center for the Kongsvinger region, says Eli Wathne.

CREDS will help companies to change to using less resources, or to use them better. Links must be established between companies, students and researchers to ensure industry-oriented R&D projects, master's theses and internships. The center will have 18 employees, of whom 6 are doctoral students.

After a couple of years of the pandemic, it was finally time for the food fair in the Viking Ship in Hamar again! The organizer of the Midt i Matfatet fair offered all food regions and destination companies in the interior a place on a joint stand during this year's fair.

This year, Matruter in Gudbrandsdalen, the Hamar region and the Kongsvinger region put up a great stand with atmospheric photos and delicious samples for sale.

Our own local chef hero Max Ivan appeared at our joint stand with his people and delivered both great food and a good mood. In addition to meat products from Max Ivan and vegetables from

Skarstad Gartneri presented representatives from the food network Finnskogmat with wonderful products on a joint sales stand Visit Kongsvingerregionen treated them. Here you could buy both silppo and motti & pork from Finnskogen, jams, juices, jellies and chutneys and more from Ebbas Matgleder, Grinnemo Honung & Hallon and Maja Strand.

On Friday 16 September 2022, representatives from agriculture, tourism, food producers, food festivals, apprenticeship offices and municipal food gardens gathered in Hamar to start a collaboration to develop the food region Innlandet. It was agreed to collaborate on and find concrete measures on the following:

• Recruitment for the food subjects
• Develop the food producers
• Profiling and building reputation
• Develop the food arrangements we have
• Work for more food from the Inland on the table

We called on the state administrator in Innlandet and Innlandet County Municipality to join us and support this work in every possible way.

The declaration of cooperation was solemnly handed over to Per Gunnar Sveen (head of the committee for industry in Innlandet county council) and Haavard Elstrand (Environment and agriculture director at the State Administrator in Innlandet), who both praised the initiative and promised that they would both support and follow up on the declaration.

Time to focus more on our local and tasty food!

#innsikt is the arena where business, social actors and others meet to gain knowledge and discuss current topics over lunch.

The organizers (the research center CREDS - Center for digitization and sustainability, the University Center in Kongsvinger, 7sterke and Klosser) are pleased to be able to present an exciting agenda for the meeting on 7 September!

Agenda

11.30-12.00 Simple lunch

12.00-12.10 Welcome. Jan Egil Melby, head of 7sterke

12.10-12.30 Presentation of newly awarded research project "Minimization of wood waste on construction sites". Odd Anders Amdahl, Head of HSE, Environment and Competence, ØM Fjeld AS

12.30-12.50 New cooperation agreement with OsloMet. Dean Carl Thodesen

12.50-13.10 The government's strategies for business-oriented research. Storting representative Lise Selnes

13.10-13.20 Closing. Bård Tronvoll, head of CREDS

Practical information

Place: The university center in Kongsvinger

Time: 7 September at 11.30-13.30.

Sign up via the link here by 31 August at the latest: REGISTRATION

WELCOME TO A FEW HOURS OF RELEVANT KNOWLEDGE ENHANCEMENT!

The potato is in the center when this year's Potato Scandinavia opens in Grue on 18 August.

Potato Scandinavia saw the light of day in Dagsmark in Finland in 2015, and in Norway the potato fair was held for the first time at Grinder farm in Grue in 2017. The event is wanted to be held every three years in Norway, Sweden and Finland, but has had some hiatus in recent years due to the pandemic.

But now it's happening again: on 18 August, you can once again be invited to a new round of Potato Scandinavia at Grinder farm! A total of 1500-2000 visitors are expected this day.

Grue is the largest potato municipality in the country, and it is therefore only natural that the event is added to our region, says Asbjørn Holmen in Klosser Innovation, who is in charge of the project. Here, the latest research and technology in the area is presented, and when so many relevant actors meet, this could eventually lead to further innovation, he adds.

During the fair, there are opportunities to participate in exhibitions and talk to actors in the entire potato industry. Most of the suppliers are represented to show off the latest news in potato production and tillage. Here, the equipment suppliers get a unique opportunity to show what the machines are capable of in practice. There will also be specialist lectures, where you will get the latest updates from equipment suppliers, advisers and researchers on potato-related topics.

In addition to this, you will be able to take part in a tour of the Hvebergsmoen potato packing plant, which is one of Europe's most modern packing plants. You can also experience trial fields, demo fields and large-scale fields with both existing and new potato varieties in realistic surroundings.

Stay tuned program through the day. Minibuses run a shuttle service from the car park to the exhibition area. The bus also runs to Hvebergsmoen Potetpakkeri.

At this year's fair you will find:

• Machine demo in the field
• Display
• Experimental field under the auspices of NLR East
• Lectures
• Tour of Hverbergsmoen Potato Packery
• Food and drink

Read more about the event here: www.potatoscandinavia.no

Together with the new research center CREDS - Center for Digitization and Sustainability, Høgskolesenteret, 7sterke and Klosser join forces to create a new knowledge arena for social and business development in the Kongsvinger region, called #insight.

It is those who wear the shoes who know best where it presses.

In close cooperation with the young people and those around them, "Young inclusion" will, through a new and positive approach, find out what works and where we find the good solutions.

The Young Inclusion project in the Kongsvinger region was established on the basis that a far too large proportion of young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are out of work and school.

 - There was a need to do something. We know that youth projects around the country almost "abound". Despite national reforms and measures, the results have so far been limited. Both the municipalities and NAV express that they are unable to find new solutions. Through HiNN, we gained knowledge of a methodology that has been used elsewhere in the world, and which seems to work well. This method is called «Positive deviation», PD, which is translated to «positive deviations» in Norwegian. It is about finding out what makes some young people manage against all odds, what is it that makes them succeed despite, says project manager Marianne Grøndahl Pedersen.

The project Young Inclusion is a development and innovation project, and is a collaboration between the six municipalities in the Kongsvingger region, NAV, the State Administrator, Innlandet County Municipality and Høgskolen i Innlandet, HiNN. The project lasts until the end of 2023 with follow-up research from HiNN.

Dialogue with enthusiasts and resource persons

It is those who work and live in the municipality who know the challenges and can say something about what we succeed at. The project therefore conducted seven digital dialogue meetings with around 120 different professionals around the municipalities at the end of January. The participants came from volunteering, schools, kindergartens, business, health nurses, SLT coordinators, employees in culture, NAV supervisors, PPT, nurses, FAU, psychologists in addition to other important resource persons for children and young people. Many are passionate people who know a lot about young people who do not succeed in school and working life with a burning desire to find good solutions to make more people succeed. - One of the challenges that is pointed out is the lack of a common arena to work together in to take care of the young people who need it. We need cooperation across units and municipalities, so that we can play each other well, emphasizes Grøndahl Pedersen.

The voice of young people is important

It is the young people themselves who know what it is like to be young. They are the ones who have the experiences we want to learn from. Through interviews, dialogue meetings, workshops and close collaboration with the young people in the young people's arenas, their experiences will be given great weight in the work.

Good feedback

The project manager says that the feedback after the first meetings has been very positive. There are many who have a great commitment to the youth, and who see that they have an important role in their lives. The project will follow up the dialogue meetings in January with separate working meetings, workshops, in early April. - We arrange municipal and physical work meetings with enthusiasts and various professionals. Then we must together find out how we - overall - can contribute to more young people succeeding, which is the goal of this project, says Grøndahl Pedersen.

International methodology

The PD approach has so far not been widely used in Norway, but the method has been used in over 65 countries to solve a wide range of social and organizational challenges. The starting point in PD is that there are always some individuals or groups who find solutions and who succeed, despite equal access to resources. These "some" are the positive deviations. This means that you have to look for, and focus on, solutions rather than the problems, Grøndahl Pedersen explains.

To learn more about the PD approach, watch this video in 3 minutes: What is the Positive Deviance Approach?

Interesting to follow from research

- To be closely followed by the research is both interesting and useful. We receive method guidance, assistance with network analyzes and many other good advice and tips that we actively use in the project work, says Grøndahl Pedersen. The collaboration with HiNN contributes to us working more knowledge-based and we have access to researchers with different expertise who have worked with different professional approaches and methods, so this is incredibly exciting, concludes Grøndahl Pedersen.

The way forward

Many have already signed up for workshops in April, but we have room for more. Do you have thoughts and experiences about what works well in your work, in your professional environment and in your workplace? What do you find challenging? Do you have ideas on what can be done better? Do you want more collaboration within the municipality and in the region? Do you have a belief that together you can come up with better solutions that in the long run prevent young exclusion? Do you have a desire to make a difference in this work?  Da er debt et cooperation you will be a part of.

Read more about the project here.

First Seafood establishes Norway's most modern fish filleting facility at SIVA in Kongsvinger. With the plant in Kongsvinger, First Seafood takes home production that today takes place abroad. This means new jobs in the Kongsvinger region and increased Norwegian export revenues. The investment is therefore important for both the nation and the Kongsvinger region.

- The plant in Kongsvinger will receive salmon that arrive on trailers from Western Norway and Northern Norway. The location in Kongsvinger is perfect as it is both close to Gardermoen and close to the market in general, says Andreas Sundnes who is the general manager of First Seafood.

The fish that comes from the shore must be two to three days old before one can remove bones from the fillet after it has been slaughtered. It fits perfectly with the time it takes to transport it to Eastern Norway, says Sundnes.

The factory that will be established in Kongsvinger will initially have 35 jobs, but Sundnes hopes that it will be possible to increase to about 60 after a relatively short time.

- Theoretical capacity in the factory is 60 tonnes of raw material per day and that will be our goal in the long run. This corresponds to a turnover of almost 1 billion.

Sundnes also emphasizes that the establishment of a fillet factory near Oslo and Gardermoen will save on logistics costs, and give a lower CO² footprint than the production that is done today. In addition, production in Kongsvinger will increase durability for end customers and therefore reduce waste. Kongsvinger as a location opens up in the future for the use of railways for logistics.

Sundnes praises the actors in the Kongsvinger region for the assistance and support they have received in connection with the establishment process.

- The reception we have received in Kongsvinger has been crucial for the establishment in Kongsvinger! Klosser Innovation has helped us with various clarifications along the way and helped to ensure that the process went smoothly. I would say that having bricks is very important for the Kongsvinger region. Kongsvinger municipality has been welcoming all the way, and we feel warmly welcomed in the region.

The most important thing now in the future will be to recruit people with the right skills for the factory, says Sundnes.

- Automation means that the requirement for competence is much higher than before. We need skilled workers and good people at all levels. We are particularly interested in recruiting young people with a desire to work. For young people who have the ability and willingness to work and learn, we can offer an exciting career path, concludes Sundnes.

Blocks that have worked with the establishment of First Seafood cheer for the establishment.

- This is a very important establishment for both the region and Norway. When processing of Norwegian salmon is taken home from abroad, it means more new Norwegian jobs and increased national value creation. The establishment will also have major ripple effects locally! For several years, Klosser, together with various players in the region, has worked intensively to stimulate the establishment of new ones in industrial companies and it is fantastic for the Kongsvinger region when this succeeds. There are few places in Eastern Norway where so much exciting is happening in industrial development as in the Kongsvinger region - both in the existing industry and through new industrial establishments. It has been a pleasure to work with such good industrial entrepreneurs as First Seafood and Berggren, say Ola Boisen and Stian Gulli Hansen in Klosser.