Press Release: Nor-Shipping has announced plans to debut a new award at its 2021 outing, showcasing companies and individuals working to address ocean challenges and deliver lasting benefits for the maritime and ocean industries. Complementing the bold #ACTION theme of the next Your Arena for Ocean Solutions, the Ocean Solutions Award is open to participants only (ranging from exhibitors, to presenters and conference speakers) and will be awarded on 31 May at the Nor-Shipping Opening Ceremony in Oslo City Hall.
Unlocking potential
Nor-Shipping has an established awards initiative that currently includes the coveted Next Generation Ship and Young Entrepreneur Awards. According to Karen Algaard, Director Operations and Strategy, Nor-Shipping, the Ocean Solutions Award will “fill the gap” in the programme, supporting the activity week’s overarching focus on promoting responsible, sustainable and profitable business activity within the ocean space.
“The maritime and ocean industries face a horizon full of opportunity, but also beset by serious business and environmental challenges,” Algaard explains. “To realise the huge potential of the ocean space there is a pressing need to address these challenges head-on, finding new ways of working, new cross-discipline collaborations, and new technological innovations that can help drive sustainable success.”
Algaard continues: “Nor-Shipping’s exhibitors and participants define the cutting edge – it’s here where we see the very latest solutions capable of accelerating development and setting the future course of this industry. We want to recognise that, celebrating the players brave enough to take positive #ACTION and think differently, while highlighting their break-through solutions. This new award has a key role to play.”
Diverse and inclusive
The award has been deliberately conceived to welcome entrants spanning a spectrum as wide as the oceans themselves, with services, designs, concepts and equipment all competing for the final prize. Participants must prove their entry is either currently available or near commercialisation, ensuring the award goes to a tangible solution capable of delivering positive industry impact.
An expert judging panel will assess the competing field on the criteria of: originality of the service, design, concept or equipment item; impact with regard to either ocean sustainability, logistics, or ship operation; addressing current or anticipated challenges for the industry; expected benefit for the industry generally, and to users/customers specifically; applying best practices or ideas from other industries.
Building momentum
“The last Nor-Shipping was the most successful on record,” concludes Algaard, “and a major factor in that was our revitalised focus on the entire ocean space and how to support stakeholders as they looked to realise ambitions. This award will help build on that momentum.
“It’ll be hugely exciting to see who, and what, manages to secure the first ever Nor-Shipping Ocean Solutions Award.”
Nor-Shipping 2021 takes place at the Norges Varemesse exhibition halls in Lillestrøm, and at a variety of venues across nearby Oslo, from 1-4 June. A call to entries for the Ocean Solutions Award, and its sister accolades, will be issued soon.
