Kristiansand
Kristiansand is the largest city of the Sørlandet (south of Norway) region with 82,000 inhabitants and covering an area of 776 km2. It has been a member of the Nordic City Network since 2006.
Kristiansand and the region have an international business community that is leading in several fields and represents top-level global technical expertiseregion. This includes a large number of shipping companies, suppliers to oil and gas market and the process industry, and an increasing industry focusing on renewable energy.
Several educational and research environments make their mark in the region. The largest, The University of Agder (UiA) has a total of 8,500 students and nearly 1,000 employees. A variety of private educational institutions, like Handelshøgskolen BI (BI Norwegian School of Management) , Mediehøgskolen Gimlekollen (Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication) and Ansgarskolen (Ansgar College and Theological Seminary) contribute to a innovative enviroment.
Several milieus outside UiA also conduct extensive research in a number of specialist fields, including metal and medicinal industry. These work closely together with the educational institutions.
Kristiansand was recently named the best cultural city in Norway on account of its strategic work to develop a broad spectrum of cultural activities. The region has a number of festivals of various kinds, including music festivals in all genres, a short film festival, a children’s film festival, a puppet theatre festival and the Protest festival, the aim of which is to fight indifference.
The new concert and theatre centre, Kilden, will be completed in 2011. It is the biggest cultural boost for the city in decades, housing all types of cultural event such as pop, rock and stand-up, as well as being the home of Agder Teater (Agder Theatre), Opera Sør (Opera South) and Kristiansand Symfoniorkester (Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra).
The Municipality of Kristiansand established in 2002 the Cultiva foundation, with capital of over NOK 1.5 billion. The foundations provides financial support for the establishment of art, culture and knowledge institutions or organisations that contribute to innovation, development and expertise building in connection with creative environments in Kristiansand.
3 major challenges
The major challenges in Kristiansand relates to its new status as a university city. A part of this, is creating a good dialogue between the municipality and the academia, and to contribute to more jobs for the high educated workforce, so more people will consider working in Kristiansand after their studies.
- Establish a good long-term plan for the area between the campus and the city centre (Kvadraturen) that can contribute to both efficient communication and the establishment of expertise enterprises and cultural experiences.
- Transformation of the port areas into an exciting district for residential and business purposes and cultural experiences.
- Maintain a vibrant commerce and business city centre, in balance with one of one of the biggest business parks in Norway, situated 8 km outside the city centre.
3 measures/projects related to the knowledge city
- A research study via the R&D programme of the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) together with six university cities in Norway, investigating the characterises of the municipalities as host for knowledge institutions.
- Preparations for a joint report with the University of Agder, describing the visions and ambitions for the ‘University city of Kristiansand’.
- Sørlandet knowledge park, who will offer an attractive environment for knowledge-based business enterprises.