Referat fra arrangementer

Celebration of the 100Y, Forum Sustainable Future, BtoB & Gala Dinner

25 September 2019

September 19th-20th, Oslo

Further to the success of the first part of our 100 years celebration dedicated to Blue Growth at the French Senate in Paris in May, we gathered our members and partners again, this time in Oslo on the 19^th and 20^th of September for an energizing second part of celebrations: Building a sustainable future, together!

French-Norwegian Forum on Sustainable Future

September 19th, BI Norwegian Business School

Raymond Johansen, Governing Mayor of the city of Oslo, European Green Capital 2019, set the tone with an enthusiastic and engaged keynote speech for the 200 French and Norwegian participants: “Combating climate change cannot be left to someone else, somewhere else, at another time. We need to act– here and now.”

Session I - A smart and clean energy

The first session was dedicated to the topic “Smart and clean energy for the future”, moderated by Florent Andrillon who came especially from France.

It was striking to learn how rapidly business models from energy companies are evolving and converging to adapt and create a more sustainable way of working, technologies, services and a greener energy mix. We will hear more and more about hydrogen, electrification, capture of CO2, interconnections between countries and holistic energy approach for urban development in the years to come. France and Norway have a lot to share on these topics.

Presentations available to download:

Session II: Sustainable Mobility

The second session focused on "Sustainable mobility", moderated by John Berland, Innovation Director at SopraSteria.

Norway is one of the most innovative markets in the world when it comes to mobility. 2/3 of all cars sold in Oslo are electric. Many foreign companies are considering the Norwegian market as a laboratory to innovate and test new technologies. Again, French-Norwegian cooperation in this field is very promising.

Presentations available to download:

ALD Automotive / Annie PIN
Alstom / Christophe WACRENIER | Watch the video "Alstom, Mobilty by nature" here

Pitch session

The first part of this session was held in cooperation with the Norwegian Research Council to invite two TTOs: Inven2, Universitet i Molde

Presentation available to download:

Norwegian Technology Transfer Offices / Anne Marie BJØRGO, Steinar KRISTOFFERSEN

9 French startups put on their boxing gloves for a muscular pitch session. The selection was made through a cooperation with Bpifrance.

Terabee | website
Powidian | website
H2SYS | website
Delta Dore | website
Sunny Shark | website
GoSense | website
Oxycar | website
Uwinloc | website
Kyanos | website

Session III: Reinventing the industry for a sustainable future

The topic in the afternoon was "Reinventing the industry around circular economy and open organisations". The debate was passionate and could in everyone’s opinion have lasted much longer. Point taken.

“The world economy is only 9% circular. We will see a radical shift towards circular economy in the 10 coming years”, Cathrine Barth, Co-founder Circular Norway.

More and more companies will make their portfolio products circular. France has already a circular roadmap and Norway is moving fast with really exciting best practices that must be shared. Exciting discussions around specificities of modern companies, how climate constraints can stimulate innovation and generate new competitive advantages, and new production models built around the reuse of products. All panelists agreed to state that we are entering a new collaborative era where public-private cooperation and open innovation will be decisive to face major global challenges. The young generation was represented by students from the French School in Oslo “Lycée Français René Cassin” who had prepared highly relevant questions together with their teachers to challenge the experts.

It was then time to honor the dynamism of the city of Toulouse which had responded to the invitation from the city of Oslo. We can see, also here, a strong potential for cooperation between the two cities, particularly as far as a smart city, mobility and digital / Artificial Intelligence topics are concerned.

Toulouse, the world’s aerospace hub, 1st R&D region in France is willing to explore further potential for bilateral cooperation. On this purpose, the French-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce brought a Norwegian industrial delegation to Toulouse on the 20-22^nd of November to learn about the best local practices on digital transformation of the aerospace industry and exchange on cross-industry cooperation with for instance the Norwegian maritime and energy industries.

The company “The Sea Cleaners” then showed us their project « Manta » designed to clean the oceans of plastic pollution.

Stefan Fürnsinn from Yara presented how technology and digital solutions also can serve to support farmers across the world.

After having seen all these projects and initiatives for a more sustainable world, we had to approach the financing issue from the green shift’s leading bank on this topic: BNP Paribas introduced ClimateSeed, the digital platform for your climate-actions. The Norwegian public investment fund NySnø opened a potential cooperation for greener solutions to new French-Norwegian projects.

Presentations available for download:

We would like to thank all the speakers, our partners, moderators and in particular our master of ceremony for the day, Jakob K. Bruun from Implement Consulting Group for their participation in making the Forum a success.

Gala Dinner

September 19th, Gamle Logen

220 guests including the French Senator Olivier Cadic and the two Ambassadors participated in the gala dinner at Gamle Logen.

Prior to the Gala Dinner, there was a meeting “Invest” organized by the French Embassy’s Economic department and Business France.

During the gala dinner we paid tribute to the team, the members of the board and the presidents who have contributed through 100 years to build the CCFN. Even if the main focus is on the future, it is important to remember the women and men’s legacy and their huge investment throughout the years.

Highlights from the Gala Dinner:

Opening speech by our president and exchange with the ambassadors who praised the actions of the CCFN and the excellent collaboration we have with their services.
A remarkable cultural program, appreciated by all, chosen and orchestrated by the famous artistic director Andreas Sønning with whom we have cooperated for several years. The latest renditions of the acoustic “Take on Me” and “La Mer” of Charles Trenet left our guests speechless [Picture A].
Wine presentation by the Norwegian Consul in Bordeaux, Yann Schÿler [Picture B].
The 100 years anniversary cake created for the occasion by SebastienBruno and the chocolatier Bruno Gerard was a fantastic piece of art [Picture C].
The Fransk-Norsk Trophée 2019, given in cooperation with Air France KLM Norway, was awarded to the Norwegian company Yara which has historical and strong connections with France. Historical, because they were created in the beginning of the 20^th century in cooperation with a French financial investor, Paribas. They then innovated and developed themselves worldwide to become a leader. France is still an important market for the company with 5 industrial sites. Yara’s history represents more than 100 years of fighting famine through fertilizers [Picture D].

BtoB meetings

September 20th, BI Norwegian Business School

15 innovative French startups and SMEs, more than 70 companies and more than 100 quality meetings during the matchmaking session as part of our 100 years celebration in Oslo last week!

A great opportunity to foster cooperation between both countries in the fields of Smart City, Green Mobility and Energy Transition!

This event was held in cooperation with Bpifrance, and Innovation Norway who presented a "Pardon my French" introduction to the Norwegian companies.