A brief history

Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park

Oslo Cancer Cluster was initiated in 2006 by Kaare Norum, former Principal of the University of Oslo and Jónas Einarsson, CEO of RADFORSK (formerly, the Radium Hospital Research Foundation).

At the time, Norum and Einarsson realised that a natural cluster within oncology had developed around the Norwegian Radium Hospital.

By initiating a cluster member organisation, Norum and Einarsson wanted to accelerate the ongoing collaborations and stimulate even more commercialisation. In 2007, they succeeded with their application for Oslo Cancer Cluster to become a Norwegian Centre of Expertise – the only one within health.

Already from the start, the idea was to expand the cluster from a regional Oslo-based oncology cluster to a national and international cluster. In 2011/2012 the University of Bergen and Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, and their associated Technology Transfer Organizations (TTO) joined as members. Oslo Cancer Cluster also includes organisations from the UK, Sweden and the Norwegian branches of most larger pharmaceutical companies developing cancer treatments.

In May 2015, the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park and Incubator opened at Montebello, right next to the Norwegian Radium Hospital and the Institute of Cancer Research. The Innovation Park brings the industry to the Radiumhospital Innovation Campus, gathering the entire oncology value chain in one place.

Oslo Cancer Cluster was awarded the Gold Label certificate from the European Cluster Excellence Initiative (ECEI) in December 2019. This is the highest recognition a European cluster organisation can achieve. The certificate was renewed in December 2022, when Oslo Cancer Cluster was given an overall score of 94%.

Oslo Cancer Cluster also received Mature Cluster status within the Norwegian Innovation Clusters programme in the beginning of 2021.

The second building phase of Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park was started in April 2023. This includes setting up a fourth tower of the current building, which will house an additional 12 000 sqm of offices and laboratories for companies and public institutions working for the development of new cancer treatments.