Offshore Center Danmark Wins Distinguished EU Award

The Danish knowledge center for the offshore sector, Offshore Center Danmark, has been acknowledged in a very distinguished way for its efforts in helping to create collaboration through networks and for making visible Danish competences in the oil, gas and offshore wind turbine sectors.

In its capacity as a cluster organization, Offshore Center Danmark has just been awarded a gold medal in accordance with the standard ‘Cluster Management Excellence Labels Gold,’ which is the highest level a cluster organization can reach in the EU.

The center competed with 350 networking and cluster organizations from all over Europe to win the medal, and Offshore Center Danmark is only the 4. organization to be acknowledged in this way.

Offshore Center Danmark director Peter Blach says:
“The recognition we’ve been given here is very distinguished, and we’ve been competing with many other European cluster organizations. The recognition underlines our significance as a bridge-builder between the players in the offshore sector and our ability to keep launching new projects and initiatives and so contribute to Danish companies’ continued growth.”

He adds:
“The fact that the EU has recognised our efforts in this way will open many doors for us. We’re obviously proud of the medal, and we ‘ll make use of it in future to communicate even more with foreign partners than we’re already doing and become a partner in international projects in this way. All experience shows that companies enhance their exports by being involved in cluster collaboration, and Offshore Center Danmark’s objective is to ensure Danish participation in projects abroad.”

Offshore Center Danmark is one of the 22 innovation networks that the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education is supporting in order to help especially small and medium-size companies enhance their innovative efforts and their use of new knowledge from universities and other knowledge institutions.

The Cluster Management Excellence scheme was brought about on the initiative of the EU with the aim of generating collaboration in sectors and clusters that can use the scheme as a springboard to entering new fields of business.

Over the years, Offshore Center Danmark has launched a series of initiatives that are to ensure Danish companies play a role on the international market and, each year, the center organizes well visited B2B events where Danish and foreign companies meet and present themselves to one another with a view to collaboration or exchange of experience.

Offshore Center Danmark and the other 350 organizations were assessed in 31 fields ranging from the number of networking events they had organized and the number of participants at these events to their ability to plan and coordinate large development projects. Offshore Center Danmark scored 134 points out of 150, which is the highest number of points ever achieved.

Bjarne E. Jensen, who is the head of secretariat with the independent organization and think tank for regional business and promotion of innovation, REG LAB, stresses the importance of the recognition of Offshore Center Danmark. He believes the award will “open doors for the entire offshore sector.”

He says:
“This is a solid seal of approval of quality that means companies, knowledge institutions and other potential partners in Europe as well as in other markets far away will trust you. The significance of this kind of recognition shouldn’t be underestimated. A great number of organisations and development projects exist on the European level, and it’s not easy to know about all of them. Cluster Management Excellence helps underline the fact that an organisation possesses the methodology and the professionalism required for creating growth in the sector and ensuring that the companies in the cluster take part in international projects.”

Offshore Center Danmark has been highlighted as a well-functioning networking facilitator – for instance, in a survey performed by University of Southern Denmark.

However, the gold medal from the EU is the very finest recognition the center has achieved.

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Offshore WIND staff, August 14, 2012; Image: Offshore Center Danmark