Blue Circular Economy (BCE) is a transnational project funded by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme, that helps Small and Medium-Sized enterprises (SMEs) offering products and services within fishing gear recycling solutions to attain a great market reach

Business Hub for Sustainability (BH4S) aims to develop knowledge, skills and foster cooperation to transform businesses through business models that contribute to solving the challenges highlighted in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030.

CIRCNETS (Jan 2023-Dec 2025) is a transnational project (Norway, Finland, and Ireland), co-funded by the EU Interreg Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme (NPA). The CIRCNETS project is a follow-up to previously implemented NPA projects of Circular Ocean, Blue Circular Economy, and Blue Circular Tech. The main outcome is a blueprint for collection, treatment and reuse of end-of-life (EOL) fishing gear for the NPA-region that will help the stakeholders involved in the fishing business to implement these legislative changes. 

Amount for the total budget of the CIRCNETS project (1,499,969 EUR / to NTNU 311,995 EUR)

DatSam – Data-driven co-creation - methods and tools for sustainable innovation and societal development - is an innovation project funded by the Research Council of Norway. The project is led by Bærum municipality and is a collaboration with Ålesund municipality, NTNU and AugmentCity. In this project, we develop, implement and evaluate new integrated tools for data acquisition, analysis and visualization to support municipalities in handling sustainability challenges. In Ålesund municipality, a marine litter management system will be deployed with stakeholders from the local innovation ecosystem to improve the prevention, mitigation and recycling of marine plastic waste.

Grøn Kai is national project funded by the Research Council of Norway and led by Stranda Harbour Authority. The project is dedicated to investigating various zero emission technologies and possible consequences of the governments’ zero emission requirement (2026) from cruise ships in the World Heritage area of Geiranger. 

Prowad Link will engage small and medium-sized enterprises in nature conservation areas to unlock the potential of nature heritage brands as a driver for jobs and sustainable regional development. Innovative tools and strategies will be developed and tested to improve access to nature heritage brands, enhance sustainability efforts and develop innovative marketable offers

In the Re-Value project, 9 European waterfront cities will demonstrate how climate neutrality and urban quality can be aligned by re-valuing their connection to the waterfront, strengthening co-benefits, and mitigating potential adverse impacts - in short, making their urban transition irresistible for citizens and professional stakeholders. All 9 cities will work with long-term Territorial Transformation Plans (TTP) combined with area-based Waterfront Pilots. The project is funded by the Horizon Europe program

SFI Harvest aims to develop knowledge and technologies for responsible harvesting of lower trophic marine resources, allowing for sustainable growth of Norway's biomarine industries.

Smart Plan will create a digital twin of Ålesund municipality to analyze and visualize smart, sustainable solutions in city planning. The project will engage policy-makers, citizens and industry in developing co-creative tools and processes for sustainable cities and regions.

Sustainability Analytics is an interdisciplinary research arena established as a collaboration between Department of International Business (IIF) and Department of ICT and Natural Sciences (IIR) at NTNU in Ålesund.

The Sweet Spot project is an interdisciplinary collaboration to identify the primary sources and hot-spot areas of plastic pollution in Norwegian waters. The terminology “sweet spots” reflects the idea of using mutually complementing knowledge systems to build a comprehensive picture of marine plastic pollution in Norway and use this as a springboard for co-developing interventions that are eco-effective. 

Twin Fjord aims to create a participatory planning support system using digital twin technology. The project is a collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders from academia ad the public and private sector and will use Stranda and Fjord municipality as case area.

There are many ways to define a sustainable business model (SBM). Often, you may also hear the term, business models for sustainability. While the debate continues among academics, we’ll use the explanation below to frame our general understanding:

Archetypes for Sustainable Business Models work to incorporate the principles of and goals for sustainability into their value proposition, value creation & delivery, and value capture activities. This means integrating innovative activities and a wide-range of stakeholders, including society and the natural environment, and planning for the long-term viability of the organization along environmental, social and economic lines.