The hours count down to a new year. Surrounded by fireworks and "Happy New Year" by ABBA on the loudspeakers, we welcome the new year with open arms. But before we do that, we want to look back at the year that has been and what the new year brings.
We received two pieces of good news at the end of the year. For the past ten years, Kobben has been part of SIVA's incubation program and on 1 December it was announced that there will be ten more years with SIVA. We are very proud and grateful for this.
Then it was also decided in the last municipal council that Kobben will retain the support from Horten municipality in the coming year. We greatly appreciate this. We value cooperation with the municipality and believe that the interaction between established businesses and the start-up environment contributes to a lot of good innovation, so cooperation with the municipality is important to us.
Back to pre-corona times
It has undoubtedly been an eventful year for us. We have gained two new colleagues; Siri and Linn . Hurray! Otherwise, after two years of the pandemic, there has been more activity both at the house and in our environment. We like that.
As of today, we have 38 companies with us. It's no secret that after the corona virus, people felt a little too comfortable in their home office and we had quite a few vacant offices. Now, however, we can rejoice that all the cell offices with us have been let.
But it's not just pleasant news when we look back on the year that has been. In June, our dear colleague Roger Dalseg passed away, after several years of illness. Roger was a very good and kind colleague who always had a reflected and nuanced view of various issues. We will remember Roger fondly for his positive and spontaneous inventions. We will always carry the memories with us.
What has happened in 2022?
Among other things, have:
- nanoCaps has expanded its team with more employees and will soon have a product ready for the market
- In November, Equal Opportunities Products received a commercialization grant from Innovation Norway
- Kickon, Horten business forum and Easy AD have moved in with us
- Kobben helped organize an idea competition in collaboration with Gründeruka. Here Aron Folmoe ran away with the victory, and among other things won a place in the incubator.
- Our companies have collected NOK 162 million
Plans for 2023
In the spring, a new round of incubation programs will start together with Entreprenerdy and the other entrepreneurial houses.
Over time, entrepreneurship has proven to be a good methodology with an associated platform that works over time. Elsewhere in Vestfold and Telemark, their incubation program has produced good results.
START in Vestfold has had successful implementations in 2022. As a measure to collect and utilize the resources in our county in a better way, we in Kobben, together with Start and the startup houses Hi5, Gründeriet and Colab, will organize new implementations of the incubation program together.
By collaborating on expertise, recruitment and implementation, we hope to improve the offer for start-up companies across the entire county. More information about the program and how you can sign up will come in the new year.
Save the date
This year we conducted the first Kobben Talks. One of hopefully many! Interested in taking part in the next one? Then you must save the date for Thursday 9 February. Invitation and more information will come in the new year.
With that, we send our thanks to members, partners and others who help create a good environment for innovation and entrepreneurship!
We look forward to a new year filled with new opportunities, innovations and collaborations.
Greetings to us in Kobben
