INAQ is proud to share the successful completion of an engagement for Advansia, a part of AFRY, acting as strategic advisor towards establishing a new aquaculture division in Norway. The engagement, running from June 2023 to June 2024, included assuming the role of temporary market manager for Advansia in the initial phase of the strategy implementation.
AFRY has a successful Blue Foods strategy internationally and has a market leading position within designs and planning of aquaculture facilities, led from the Swiss-based office. The aim with this engagement was to complement this ongoing activity with a new aquaculture division for the daughter company of AFRY, Advansia, a project management firm with activities in Norway.
Advansia is one of Norway’s leading firms within the field of project management, with over 700 employees and PM roles in some of the country’s largest and most complex projects spanning from infrastructure and civil works to huge industrial enterprises. Although the company had some experience from aquaculture projects, Advansia was largely unknown within the aquaculture industry in Norway up until 2023.
Based on a thorough strategic process, including numerous interviews with key players in the Norwegian aquaculture industry, INAQ developed a strategy and action plan for Advansia’s entry into the aquaculture segment. INAQ than put the plan into action, where Onno Musch, senior advisor in INAQ, assumed the role of market manager for hire.
The initiative has been a big success and over the course of one year, Advansia now has an impressive portfolio of aquaculture customers including some market leading players in the landbased segment, such as Salmon Evolution, Smart Salmon, Andfjord Salmon, AquaGen, Salfjord and other big players in the pipeline. With good help from recruitment firm, Panamera, Advansia recruited some of the industries’ most experienced project managers and the new division now further boasts a team with first-hand experience from projects such as Proximar in Japan and other landbased postsmolt and grow-out facilties in Norway and internationally.
Advansia has, over the course of one year, become a prominent actor within the space of project management of landbased aquaculture in Norway.
‘With the aquaculture industry aiming to establish large scale landbased production facilities for grow-out and postsmolt, we understood that the actors would be in need of competence and experience regarding planning and construction of complex process orientated facilities’, says Hans Hagby, Area Director in Advansia, ‘hence fish farming onshore is quite different from production in the sea’. Hans Hagby is the aquaculture sponsor in Advansia and was the one who engaged INAQ to this assignment. ‘Understanding this to be a market opportunity for us and that we were in need of skilled help to make a quick and effective entry into the market, the engagement of INAQ and Onno Musch seemed to be a good choice, which it also proved to be, he adds on’.
Onno Musch mentions that the engagement was particularly motivating seeing as Advansia is able to provide highly professional and experienced project management services, which will be of great value to the landbased aquaculture sector going forward. Therefore it felt like we were able to contribute with something meaningful for the industry. In addition it was great to work together with such a competent and dedicated team of professionals towards a shared goal.
We wish Advansia and AFRY all the best going forward and will continue to support them in future developments.