Bjørnar Skjold is an Innovation Presearcher

Bjørnar Skjold is currently a presearcher at Bioregion Institute. Bjørnar is doing his Master of Science in Business management and innovation at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL). As a presearcher spring 2023, he is working with Bioregion Institute first start up cases; Woolly Pot – proposing to replace single-use plastic plant pots with pots made with discarded wool – and fossil-free non-toxic playground surfacing. Both products give value to residual biomass from regional industries.

He is writing a reflection paper based on his experiences and learnings during his time with us, considered in light of innovation and organisation theory. In particular, Bjørnar examines how a business organisation influences its capacity for innovation.

“Here, I get to apply theory to real-world cases and problems. The theoretical foundation is important, but to apply models in the classroom is abstract and more challenging than what I experience here in the outside world” he says.

Reality isn’t as straightforward as what we learn in theory, demonstrating that business models and tools do not always fit and sometimes it is necessary to adjust and modify the tools we use, especially in a new biocircular economy.

We are looking forward to learn from Bjørnar’s conclusions!