Student Exchange

The student exchange within SUNECO is designed to strengthen cross-cultural learning, build entrepreneurial mindsets, and deepen collaboration between students from HVL and UCT. By working together in new environments and engaging directly with each other’s innovation ecosystems, the students gain broader perspectives, practical experience, and a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurship can address societal challenges in both the Global North and the Global South.

HVL Students Visiting UCT

Students from the University of Cape Town participate in a two-week intensive exchange at HVL in Bergen, where they take part in the course INN524 – Innovation in Interdisciplinary Student Teams. During their stay, the students work closely with Norwegian master’s students and industry partners on real-world innovation challenges linked to sustainability, aquaculture and emerging technologies.

Each student team works on one of five case challenges, such as global aquaculture technology solutions, seaweed value-chain analysis, end-user needs for seaweed-based products, cost-reduction strategies for European seaweed farmers, or opportunities for international collaboration and mechanization in South Korea.

Through lectures, teamwork, company visits and social activities, the students gain insight into the Norwegian innovation ecosystem and reflect on differences and similarities between innovation practices in the Global North and the Global South. The exchange provides valuable cross-cultural learning, collaboration skills and hands-on experience with applied innovation processes.

Short video HVL students made after their mobility to South Africa.

HVL students 2025:

UCT Students Visiting HVL (Bergen)

Master’s students from HVL spend two intensive weeks at the University of Cape Town, where they take part in the Genesis Programme and collaborate with UCT students in interdisciplinary venture teams. Throughout the stay, the HVL students gain insight into how entrepreneurship is taught and practiced in a different cultural and socioeconomic context, and they experience how South African students work creatively and resourcefully to address local challenges.

The exchange exposes students to new methods, perspectives, and innovation practices, while also giving them the opportunity to contribute with their own knowledge and reflections from a Norwegian context. In addition to academic activities, the students take part in workshops, team meetings, cultural experiences, and social events, allowing them to develop a deeper understanding of South African society and the diversity within its innovation ecosystem.

The stay strengthens their intercultural competence, collaboration skills, and entrepreneurial mindset — and provides valuable reflections on how innovation differs between the Global North and the Global South.

UCT students 2025: