New Arena Project to Sørlandet - Arena Usus

It was recently revealed that Agder Research has received a new Arena Project – Arena Usus – for the tourism industry in southern Norway (Sørlandet). Visit Sørlandet is the contract partner, and Kirsti Hjemdahl from Agder Research is the project manager. Well done and congratulations!

This is Arena
Arena is a cluster development programme directed by Innovation Norway, the Research Council of Norway and SIVA. Agder has three commercial clusters with Arena status: Arena Wireless Future (ict cluster), Arena Recreational Boats and Arena EYDE (process industry).  The NODE cluster of the oil and gas industry went from Arena status to NCE (Norwegian Centre of Expertise). Today, Agder is receiving another commercial cluster with Arena status, Arena Usus, in the culture and recreation industries.

This is Usus
Arena Usus stands for Use, Experience, Skill, Advantage, Profit.
The project manager is Kirsti M. Hjemdahl, Agder Research AS and the contract partner is Visit Sørlandet AS. The project has a budget of NOK 6 million per year for three years (50/50 % private and public financing).

Arena Usus is about increasing innovation, value creation and competitive edge through more systematic, holistic and coordinated handling of streams of visitors through Agder. Usus is Latin and means "use, experience, competence, advantage and profit." These are also the pillars of the cluster development that will be realised through this Arena project.

Contact: Kirsti Mathiesen Hjemdahl, 95 49 59 30, kirsti.hjemdahl@agderforskning.no

Heidi Sørvig, 48037152, heidi@visitsorlandet.com