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 Blog » Iceland embraces networking and sustainability during GEW

 36 Comments - Add comment | Back to Blog Written on 13-Jan-2010 by paigeingram

Global Entrepreneurship Week in Iceland included a number of inspiring events, including a meeting held in the northwest part of the country, sponsored by the national power company Landsvirkjun. One of the attendees of this meeting submitted their thoughts on the event:

At this stage there is every reason to believe that the meeting held during Global Entrepreneurship Week, has served as a vital stepping stone for co-operation on exciting opportunities in Northwest Iceland. One of the keys to success in this project was that the meeting addressed issues that were already "cooking“ within the area. It brought together key people from all over the region and they have now identified who else should be involved in the next steps.  

Landsvirkjun Power Company wants to take part in further work on this project in the Northwest, with the main responsibility and driving force resting with the local communities. The company is also considering starting similar projects in other parts of Iceland. 

One of the main objectives of the meeting was to connect people who have the interest and spark to move things further. This is already happening with a firm boost from the manager of the Northwest Growth Agreement. It soon became clear that people were excited about the topic and several ideas had been cooking throughout the region for quite a while. These are some of the ideas that people wanted to take further: branding of local products, environmental certifiations, opportunities in tourism and increased co-operation within natural research.

The vision is that Nortwest Iceland will be an area known for its unique environment, sustainability and local products. And that this will in itself attract people to live in the region and visit as tourists. The format of the meeting encouraged conversation and that all participants were active, and the meeting was organized and run by a specialist in public participation, ILDI Consulting. A part of the meeting was run as a World Café, where the conversation was sparked by the question: "What might be possible?"

Among the participants were people from farming, tourism, institutes of natural history and research and health and environment, arts and crafts, a university and government institutions, to name only a few. They came from all parts of the region and many were meeting for the first time. On a Thursday afternoon, on November the 19th, about twenty people gathered at the Blanda power station. Each person had taken a day away from their regular work environment and driven out to the country to the power station. At Blanda, they were met with a warm welcome from the friendly station manager and his staff.

Thorsteinn Hilmarsson, Head of Corporate Communications, contacted the manager of Northwest Iceland Growth Agreement, Hjordis Gisladottir, and together they decided to bring together people from different parts of the region to discuss whether and how entrepreneurship within environment, local products and sustainability could strenghten employment and regional development in Northwest Iceland. The national power company in Iceland, Landsvirkjun was one of the Icelandic participants in the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.  

Landsvirkjun is the largest electricity producer in Iceland and a majority owner in the national grid company and system operator Landsnet. With it´s twelve power stations in different places of the 103.000 km2 island, the company´s role of entrepreneurship and responsibility stretches throughout Iceland. The company has adapted a policy of Corporate Social Responsibility and wanted to approach the Global Entrepreneurship week from that angle.

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