Path extension and path creation in the seafood sector in the Bergen region - Investigating the potential for cell-based seafood production

Abstract

This master thesis is a comparative case study of the salmon industry path in the Bergen region and the emerging cell-based seafood industry. Cell-based seafood is an industry that is utilizing biotechnology to produce seafood in a process that is innovatively disruptive compared to traditional aquaculture such as salmon aquaculture. In this master thesis I interview key stakeholders from the cell-based seafood industry in San Francisco, USA and salmon farming industry in Bergen, Norway to characterize the cell-based seafood and salmon aquaculture to uncover differences and similarities. Through the analysis I intend is to uncover the potential for renewal of the seafood sector in the Bergen region through the introduction of cell-based seafood production. The thesis conclude that salmon aquaculture is a dominating industry path in the Bergen region that is based on a synthetic knowledge base and utilizes a DUI innovation mode while experiencing positive path lock-in. The cell-based seafood industry is based on analytical knowledge base and utilizes a STI innovation mode while in a pre-formatory industrial state. The thesis further concludes that the enabling opportunities for cell-based seafood establishment in Bergen outweigh the disabling obstacles and I therefore encourage the import of the cell-based seafood industry path to the Bergen region to renew the seafood sector. The thesis makes two main contributions to existing theory on path development and path creation within EEG.