FHF – Norwegian fish and aquaculture research

FHF is an organization owned by the Norwegian government. The organization works in and with the fishing and aquaculture industries. The industry is financially important for Norway as a nation and offers a lot of employment opportunities along the long and beautiful Norwegian coastline.

After having invested huge amounts of resources on research and development into the business, Norway is now among the leaders in managing marine resources. Their biggest achievements have been in developing new and sustainable protein products.

With only 5 million citizens, Norway has a major global presence in the fishing industry. Almost 95% of the fish caught in the country is exported all across the globe. Norwegian fish products are now synonymous with good health and high quality. A lot of other nations that are focused on fishing look to Norway as an inspiring beacon.

Measurable results

FHF is funded by the Norwegian marine and fishing industries, the organization gets a 0.3% cut of the revenue from every company in the fishing business. This totals around 300 million NOK per year. Because of this, everyone that backs the organization wants to see clear, measurable results on their investments.

”It’s not an easy task to provide results from research done on our business as a whole, but everyone wants to see a clear return on their investments, for obvious reasons”

Hans-Petter Næs – Director of Communications FHF

The project needs to be profitable, so we need to prioritize the correct measures to fund. At the same time, FHF needs to clearly log the results that come from the invested funds. It’s not an easy task to handle, a pretty hefty challenge, says Hans Petter.

“This is where Questback has a good solution that we can use as a central tool […] The results justify our presence and the returns on the invested 300 million”

Hans-Petter Næs – Director of Communications FHF

It is important for us to be able to measure how the industry sees us and if they find value in our results and if they can see that our investments lead to profits on their ends. This is where Questback has a good solution that we can use as a central tool to show our investors that we have created valuable returns on their investments. The results justify our presence and the returns on the invested 300 million.

We have lots of different types of projects every year. One project can be related to changes in demands from the EU about exporting to Europe, while another project can be about new technological advancements that make cod production more efficient. A project can be about reducing the amount of sick salmon in plantations, or how to use salt in the packaging phase in a way that doesn’t affect the taste of the fish.

The industry as a whole decides if a project is worthwhile and if the results fulfill their predictions

We invite 2 to 5 people from the business side to be a reference group on every project. Their job is to let us know if any particular project is relevant and something the businesses want. The group is part of the entire project from beginning to end. It is the opinions of these groups that let us know if a project was meaningful and if the results have been acceptable, something that we measure with a questionnaire in Questback.