NCE Heidner Biocluster

NCE Heidner Biocluster is Norway’s national cluster for green bioeconomy and sustainable food production. The Cluster consists of 50 members with approximately 15,000 employees and NOK 66 billion in turnover. Member companies work with research, innovation and commercialisation in breeding, biotechnology, feed development and residual raw materials.

NCE Heidner Biocluster has grown out from the cooperation and innovation in the environment around companies in Hamar, with the breeding companies as early drivers. The bioeconomy accounts for most of the workplaces in Inland, and the national cooperatives have all major departments distributed throughout the region and have naturally joined the cluster over time. The Cluster has participants from leading academic environments within bioeconomy and key interest organisations for Norwegian agriculture. The members have a long tradition of joint R&D projects that have led to the foundation and adoption of several entrepreneurial members.

The purpose of the Cluster is to strengthen the competitiveness of the Norwegian bioeconomy, nationally and internationally, and to serve as a platform for services and technologies developed in Norway for a global market. The Cluster serves as a meeting place where members can network, get to know, and have competence development on common issues. This will lead to more collaborative projects between the companies.

Value Chain

We are Norway’s national cluster for sustainable food production, representing the entire value chain in green bioeconomy.

Our members can be separated into the following links in the value chain:

Genetics and biotechnology (related to animal and plant breeding)
Sustainable feedstock (ingredients like protein, fat)
Biorefinery (utilization of production side-streams and recycling)

The Cluster is led by a steering committee, made up of representatives from member companies elected at the annual meeting. The steering committee delegates the day-to-day running of cluster work to cluster management, which is facilitated by Klosser Innovasjon AS.

The Cluster administration has expertise in project management, sustainability, competence development, EU advisory, business development, relationship building and communication. The Cluster administration holds meetings and workshops, assists with project applications, and communicates about members’ contributions to cluster work. Cluster management can also contribute expertise to, for example, individual projects or strategy development. In November 2018, the Cluster through the National Cluster programme was awarded the highly recognized status of Norwegian Centres of Expertise (NCE).

The vision of the cluster is to increase growth and profitability for our members through research and innovation and international commercialization. Our Norwegian businesses offer innovative solutions to global problems, such as: