Summing up Aqua Nor 2021

Four exceptional trade fair days are now over, and the first hybrid version of Aqua Nor is officially over. Thousands have followed the exhibition both digitally and in Trondheim – read the summary of this year’s fantastic fair days!

With a large turnout from all parts of the value chain throughout the industry – and with a great atmosphere – we have once again seen that Aqua Nor is the industry’s most important meeting place. After months and years of digital meetings, the atmosphere at the physical part of the exhibition has been almost euphoric and there have been big smiles and good meetings around the stands.

At the same time Aqua Nor has for the first time been held on a digital platform, which has received fantastic feedback. Arne Hjeltnes and Karen Kirstine have entertained 9,200 digital visitors during the fair days and introduced us to familiar and unknown faces, great professional and cultural elements – and a number of insights into the physical part of the exhibition.

Digital kickoff

SINTEF, NTNU and the management of Aqua Nor kicked off this year’s event on Monday, with the digital conference «More Food from the Oceans. Blue is the New Green». The exhibition started on Tuesday, with the official opening, including the presentation of the Innovation Award, which went to SeaRAS.

Report from Tuesday:

Award presentations

In addition to the prestigious Innovation Award, several popular awards were presented on Wednesday. This year we have for the first time awarded two Best Stand awards – one digital one physical winner. In addition, winners of the Norwegian Seafood Championship were announced during the digital event.

Contracts and agreements

That people were very keen to meet again is clear from the many meetings and new agreements entered into during the fair. Contracts in different price clases were signed.

Christening and festivities

The days of the exhibition have been very eventful and varied, with high quality professional elements and debates at one end – and festivities at the other end. The grand gala dinner was held on Tuesday, followed by informal Night Fish on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the sun finally shone over Trondheim, and the baptism of AQS Tor was a great success at Skansen – with a large number of visitors, bands and a solemn celebration of the baptism.

Student Day

True to tradition, the fair ended with the Student Day on Friday. This year, almost 1,000 students had registered – an increase of 40% from previous years! Many followed the Student Day digitally, and the number of students at the physical fair reached maximum capacity.

A recurring theme in several of Friday’s lectures was the importance of educating more skilled people to drive the industry forward.

A lot of activities on social media

We have received a lot of feedback from both visitors and exhibitors regarding the great innovation we have initiated on Aqua Nor’s social media platforms. It is great fun that so many have shared glimpses of their own trade fair participation, and tagged Aqua Nor.

Management sums up

For the management of Aqua Nor, this year’s exhibition has exceeded all expectations.

Last year’s sister fair was held as a purely digital event with a short planning time. This year, the management has had better time to plan the digital part of Aqua Nor, while the decision to hold a physical exhibition was made as late as May. For Aqua Nor, there was hardly any time to prepare the exhibition in Trondheim.

– Not only am I very happy that we managed to carry out such a successful physical event, but I am also very positively surprised by the number of visitors, says Kari Steinsbø, who has been responsible for the physical exhibition.

The general manager of Aqua Nor, Kristian Digre, is satisfied with the digital platform that was used for the first time during Aqua Nor. The digital part of the event will be a permanent addition to all future exhibitiopns – and will be further developed over time.

– We are in many ways in the start-up phase with the digital concept, and have already received encouraging feedback from exhibitors who appreciate the opportunity to meet people digitally. This year we have had 80 fully digital exhibitors, in addition to the 550 exhibitors who have had a physical stand at Trondheim Spektrum, he says.

Open until 2022

In total, approx. 100 lectures have been broadcast on the digital platform. The platform will remain open to everyone who has participated in Aqua Nor this year until 1 August 2022.

See also: Digital Team Scotland plans to use the digital platform in the time ahead.

Shortly after the end of the fair in Trondheim, all lectures will be posted in the webinar area. Feel free to take more trips to the event next year!

Thank you to all the exhibitors, visitors, students and partners for a fantastic trade fair! See you in 2023.