At a meeting on Tøyen in Oslo June 15, attended by the British Ambassador Sarah Gillett and The Trampery´s CEO Charles Armstrong, the tech organization ICT Norway voiced high hopes to recruit new entrepreneurs to the Oslo Innovation Embassy in Hackney, London, while expecting new young talent to flock to a future tech village in Tøyen.
The event at the music club Postkontoret at Tøyen gathered young men and women in the hope of being recruited to the Oslo Innovation Embassy´s staff. Other attendants were the British Ambassador in Oslo Sarah Gillett and the CEO and founder of The Trampery Charles Armstrong.
Hear the Ambassadors introduction speech:
– Today was the start of the discussion about the neighbourhood of Tøyen, and how it can become a home for creative industries, technology and the start-ups that are flourishing in Oslo at the moment. There are a lot of different voices here; architects, property owners and entrepreneurs, says Armstrong.
Hear why Armstrong thinks ICT Norway´s event is important:
Fredrik Syvertsen of ICT Norway and the Vice Major of Oslo Hallstein Bjercke spoke about the importance of new entrepreneurship, and the opportunities the Oslo Innovation Embassy at The Trampery represents.
Oslo Innovation Embassy is an office space at The Trampery, one of London’s most innovative working environments and a trailblazer for the creative scene in Hackney. It helps hundreds of talented innovators to set up, co-work and advance towards realising their business ideas.
An outsider might ask if there is space in the somewhat small entrepreneurial milieu of Oslo for yet another startup initiative. Manager of one of the first, Oslotech at Forskningsparken (by the University), does not feel any real competition from a startup enterprise such as Tøyen Startup Village.
– We have room for all, says Karl-Christian Agerup.
As long as the Oslotech builds on what Agerup calls "hardcore research" he sees no danger of conflicts with newer initiatives.
Sleeping bags? Not here!
– Our StartupLab hardcore technology oriented. Here we do not develop sleeping bags or golf bags. Various activities with unlike focus is great, says Agerup.
He points out that Oslo already has several innovation centers that complement each other.
– As long as Tøyen does not get a new hospital or university, what happens there will not change our position.
He points to the city's need to develop Oslo and how that makes it sensible to stimulate more innovation in a part of the city like Tøyen.
– There is already a lot of entrepreneurial spirit at Tøyen, not least among the many immigrants who live there.
Regardless of who does what from where in the city, all the different startup initiatives unite in October for the yearly Oslo Innovation Week. The convention, that markets itself as "the preferred innovation arena in Europe", will this year include 60 events from keynote talks to pitching competitions to investor meetings.