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group. He then retired from UiS and, not a global export business, while trying to there are challenges facing the industry long after, received a call. “The director make the industry safer. It’s also close today, however. “We have a challenge in told me they had found an author. And to the hearts of many people who have industry in general with environmental that was me. That was three years ago,” been involved in the industry over the issues,” says Nergaard. “I think that our recalls Nergaard. “I’ve always been in- last ? ve decades. society is still very dependent on energy. terested in history and this is a history I While there’s a lot to celebrate about Our challenge is to continue our devel- have been involved in from the start, so Norway’s remarkable technological and opments and to maintain it with a lower

I really wanted to do it.” He’s worked industrial journey over the last 50 years, environmental footprint than we have on the book over the last two and a half years with Gjerde, who has also co-au- thored a book on the history of Norwe- gian diving and the pioneer divers; On the edge, under water: offshore diving in Norway.

Research and writing the book has given Nergaard chance to re? ect. “I’ve been involved in many projects over all of these years, but, to see all the things that I wasn’t involved in was quite amazing seeing how many innovations there were all the time, technologically,” he says. “A lot of people, inventor had some success, some didn’t.

“Also, throughout the crises that we have had over the years, some compa- nies have disappeared and some stood up and became billion NOK companies that were not so much worth anything at one time. There’s been a lot of cost for people involved; it’s an extreme sport.”

Norway’s success in subsea technol- ogy has been driven by a number of factors. The Norwegian government very much pushed new technology, says

Nergaard. There was also strong compe- tition among the Norwegian players to come up with the best solutions – a thirst which has continued through the de- cades. A 2012 Quest Offshore survey of who put the most effort into subsea tech- nology development put Statoil (now

Equinor) in top place (against interna- tional super majors), with double the number of projects of the company in second place, says Nergaard. And there was support for Norwegian companies.

So, while some of the core technology came from Houston, it was adapted, de- veloped and evolved into new solutions provided by Norwegian companies.

Recording this history is important, not least because it celebrates this remark- able industrial achievement, says Ner- gaard, building not only an industry but www.marinetechnologynews.com

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