From its base in Horten, Kongsberg Digital delivers world-leading technology to oil companies, offshore companies and maritime academies worldwide.

Kongsberg Digital was established to be a driving force for digitalization internally within the Kongsberg Group. In recent years, they have also proven to be a strong driving force in the international maritime industry.

– Maritime has always been a part of Horten, says Tone Merete Hansen, Senior Vice President at Kongsberg Digital.

– We have an office here because the maritime industry is strongly established here, in addition to the fact that Horten has developed into a proper technology city.

TURN REALITY INTO RAINPIECES

Kongsberg digital's main business is maritime simulation.

– In short, we turn reality into calculations, and we do this via advanced mathematics, physics, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics and programming, says Hansen.

– So we create a synthetic world where we can build different scenarios. We can choose where in the world we want to be, what time of year it is, what the weather and wind will be like.

In this synthetic world, Kongsberg Digital can then add different ship models or different events. They simply create a virtual world where people can test their abilities, expand their knowledge and build additional expertise.

The virtual worlds are used to train everything from high school students to more advanced offshore operations.

CREATE MORE SECURITY

The maritime industry is known to be conservative when it comes to new initiatives, and has generally been slow to jump on the digitalization bandwagon. Kongsberg Digital nevertheless sees many opportunities ahead, especially as the industry now focuses heavily on autonomous vessels.

The most famous example is the Yara Birkeland, which will soon run between Vestfold and Telemark. Hansen believes this
is the beginning of an autonomous wave in the shipping industry.

– I can't imagine that you can run autonomous vessels and similar projects without first using a simulator, says Hansen.

– Unfortunately, we see that accidents still happen in the maritime sector, but these are almost never due to equipment errors or human use of the equipment. These accidents are due to the human perception of the situation.

The key to future safety may lie in their simulation models. Kongsberg Digital believes that by building expertise, as well as providing better situational awareness, the maritime industry can achieve safer and more cost-effective operations at sea.

– This can lead to fewer accidents, less pollution, as well as better sustainability and the environment. So I really believe that this is the way forward.