Norwegian Startups Eye U.S. Defense Market.

• Author: Easley, Mikayla
• Position: NEWS BRIEFS

* Some of Norway's most innovative companies are looking to break into the U.S. defense market with help from Silicon Valley.

Hacking 4 Allies--a program run by the Norwegian-American Defense and Homeland Security Industry Council--recently announced the selection of eight companies to participate in the program. The effort aims to generate investments, research-and-development funding, and contracts for startups to enter both military and civilian markets in the United States and Norway.

Peter Newell, CEO of Silicon Valley-based BMNT Inc., which is helping lead Hacking 4 Allies, told National Defense the two countries have mutual problems within their defense and commercial sectors.

"Because of Norway's unique positioning, it's easier to recognize the problem for what it is in Norway, and then find and identify where that problem presents itself in the United States," he said.

Eight startups based in Norway will be trying to put their products into the hands of defense personnel both in Washington and Oslo to solve the nations' shared obstacles. The products each company specializes in are diverse--including artificial intelligence, electronic blank ammunition, cybersecurity solutions and robotics.

Norway's defense industrial base is extremely niche compared to the rest of the world, explained Torbjorn Svensgaard, CEO of the Norwegian Defence and Security Industries Association. The country's specialized technologies could fill gaps in larger defense markets such as the United States, he said.

During the selection process, Tore Helland, senior advisor at the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment, said each startup's product was evaluated based on whether it could be beneficial to both U.S. and Norwegian defense sectors.

"I think that makes the companies selected... a mixture of the personalities needed...