Mechatronics Innovation Lab, Nord University and Nordland County Municipality are establishing a new offer for education, industry and business.
The University of Agder can today announce on its website that its Mechatronics Innovation Lab is entering into a collaboration with Nord University and Nordland County Council to establish a completely new, exciting and industry-oriented teaching offer in Mo i Rana.
The new venture has been named TechLab and will be a center for training and testing digital tools and technology. The aim is to own, rent and have expertise in technology, robotics and digital equipment and contribute to teachers, students, researchers, pupils, business, and the public sector gaining access to knowledge about digitalization.
- The Mechatronics Innovation Lab (MIL) in Grimstad has a national mission to increase the rate of innovation in Norway, and wants to strengthen our investment and activity level in Northern Norway. Through our ownership in TechLab, we facilitate exactly this, says MIL's general manager, Lene Merethe Liodden on UiA's website.
The county council for planning and industry in Nordland County municipality, Linda Haukland, writes that the new initiative should be a driving force for innovation, and at the same time be a low-threshold offer to increase the competitiveness of small businesses in particular in the face of the green shift, digitization, and the region's demographics and competence challenges.
- The company was established to make it more affordable and not least easier for education, industry and business to become familiar with modern digital solutions, without having to make the larger investments themselves, says Haukland.
Pro-rector Ketil Eiane at Nord University is delighted, and says that for Nord University it is positive that Nordland County Council is making a commitment together with the university.
- This is a solid ownership which, together with the Mechatronics Innovation Lab, ensures that not only companies, but also upper secondary schools and the vocational school in Nordland have access to wider expertise, says Eiane.
The board of TechLab consists of chairman Gry Alsos, (dean at Nord University Business School), board member Torger Lofthus (managing director of Lofthus AS) and Lene Merethe Liodden (managing director of Mechatronics Innovation Lab). One of the board's first tasks will be to hire a general manager.
The Mechatronics Innovation Lab in Grimstad was established in 2017 and is owned by the University of Agder and Norce.