A week of innovation events, lasting impact

From 10–17 September 2026, Innovasjonsuken OPP brings together hundreds of people and organisations working with entrepreneurship, innovation and business development across Vestland. The programme spans everything from hackathons and student entrepreneurship to investor meetings, research, technology and business events. 

The festival is deliberately built as a shared platform. Private companies, public institutions, investors, universities, students and entrepreneurs contribute their own events and expertise. The result is not one conference, but a week of different meeting places connected by a common ambition: to strengthen the conditions for new ideas and new businesses in the region.

Connecting people, capital and competence

A strong innovation ecosystem depends on more than good ideas. Entrepreneurs need access to competence, customers and capital. Investors need promising companies. Students need opportunities to test their ideas in practice. Researchers and businesses need places to meet and develop new solutions together.

Innovasjonsuken OPP creates opportunities for exactly these connections.

After the opening ceremony 10 September, Demo Day Vestlandet will bring carefully selected startups together with investors and other key players in the innovation ecosystem. Later the same day, DNB NXT will continue the conversation between founders, companies and investors.

Read more about Demo Day, where Invest in Vestland is a proud event partner.

Reaching out to the younger

Other events put students and businesses at the centre. Bergen Brainstorm, for example, gives students real cases from companies and challenges them to develop solutions together.

This mix matters. Innovation rarely happens in isolation. It happens when knowledge, capital, experience and ideas meet, when people who would not normally work together find a reason to do so.

A region that builds together

The breadth of Innovasjonsuken OPP is also a reflection of Vestland’s innovation landscape. The festival involves actors from across the region and deliberately crosses organisational and sector boundaries.

The 2026 programme is being developed with contributions from, among others, Vestland County Municipality, Bergen Municipality, Innovation Norway, VIS, GC Rieber Eiendom, Agenda Vestlandet, PwC and DNB, alongside a much wider network of companies, clusters, student organisations and innovation communities.

For a region as Vestland, collaboration is itself an asset. The region already has strong environments in areas ranging from maritime industries and energy to seafood, technology, health and finance. Bringing these communities together makes it easier to share knowledge, find partners and identify opportunities across sectors.

Would you like to joint any of the events?

Reach out if you would like to attend toghether with us!