The cluster has been approved for gold certification in the EU’s certification scheme. This shows that NSCC is a professional organization and attractive as a partner in EU projects. Read more here.
In October 2021, two nice people visited the clusters main office in Stavanger. Yet the whole team was quite nervous. Why? These two were to go through the entire organization from A to Z in two days. And finally we can spread the happy news, the result after the review.
– We can rightly say that the Norwegian Smart Care Cluster is as good as gold! Not least, this is an important stamp of quality for us, says Arild Kristensen.
He has been CEO of the Norwegian Smart Care Cluster from it’s start 7 years ago. At that time, the staff consisted of himself and a communications advisor in a 30 percent position. Now the cluster consists of seven and a half FTE’s spread between a wonderful bunch of people.
WHO IS NSCC? Get a full overview of the cluster
The European Secretariat for Cluster Analysis (ESCA) assess whether the clusters live up to the standard required to obtain the Gold Label certification. ESCA assess, among other things, the cluster’s structure, management’s maturity, financing, strategy, goals and services.
– The certification is valid for two years. We must continuously work on improvement to reach recertification in two years and keep the gold quality stamp, emphasizes the cluster leader.
– The cluster program will congratulate the Norwegian Smart Care Cluster so much with gold certification. It’s a confirmation of a well run cluster. We hope the certification will give the cluster more contact points and collaboration opportunities in Europe, and contribute to the member companies having even greater opportunities for more value creation and export, says Espen Warland, head of the cluster program Norwegian Innovation Clusters.
During the review in October, the professionals from ESCA measured the cluster on 31 indicators. Here, the cluster must achieve a minimum quality requirement at each point. A total of 80 percent is required for the goal achievement.
– We are very proud to get a total score of 95 percent on our first application for gold certification, and now qualify for NCE status in the national cluster program. This is a good indicator that we work professionally for the best for our members, says Kristensen.
The cluster team is looking forward to new goals. High activity and many exciting projects are ongoning and coming up.
In August, the first pilot of this new program was launched with six companies that are gearing up to grow. This growth program will provide them with tools to achieve their goals. Through practical tasks and challenges, companies can individually adapt development courses.
Norwegian Smart Care Cluster has started this program in collaboration with Validé, Aleap and Norway Health Tech. This collaboration provides the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge of the partners, and give the participating companies the best possible boost in their development.
– When we started the development of EIRA, it was important for us to talk to the companies we were developing this for. The review melody after the user survey was: Companies in growth wanted a scheme that was individually adapted and more focused on health. In other words, a program where the activities were more tailored to the companies’ own goals and needs. We have taken this seriously, says Therese Oppegaard, project manager for EIRA.
WANT TO KNOW MORE: EIRA – a digital accelerator for the healthcare industry
Norwegian Smart Care Lab (NSCL) is an international test center and Living Lab for welfare technology. – We help you test tomorrow’s welfare technology solutions, says Marit Hagland.
Norwegian Smart Care Lab is involved in the entire innovation race. The lab is a resource center for companies that develop new solutions, and players who want to use the solutions.
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