The pace of innovation in Norwegian aquaculture is accelerating

At Clarify, we work closely with some of the most innovative and pioneering companies in the industry. Their facilities are often complex, with a large fleet of equipment and many data sources. Even with long experience and strong biological expertise, they now face problems no one has dealt with before.

To solve them, and to improve and innovate faster than the competition, data has never mattered more. The companies that invest most precisely, learn fastest and best adapt technology to their own sites and facilities will pull ahead.

From luck to precision

Historically, success in the pen has often depended on factors beyond our control: good or bad sites, varying infection pressure or unpredictable biology. Now we see a clear shift. More and more, the difference between winners and losers will come down to who can give their biomass the best conditions for welfare and growth.

Many of the companies we work with have realised exactly this. But we also see the other side of the coin: multimillion-krone investments in new technology that fail because decisions were made blind.

Running a modern fish farming company without good data is like driving with the windows covered. Looking through the windscreen is not enough; you need side and rear mirrors to manoeuvre safely.

The operations agent: your new digital colleague

It is not only the production process that is changing, but also the way we interact with our data. The arrival of modern language models has made it far easier for everyone in an organisation to work with data. And soon, you will not be the one looking for the data. Timely, relevant information will come to you, in your specific role.

We are entering an era of digital operations agents. Think of one as your personal digital colleague, a specialist in exactly your reality. Forward-looking companies will manage a “fleet” of these agents:

• One per site.
• One per facility type.
• One per critical process.

Each agent learns from its context and keeps improving through feedback from the people at the edge of the pen and tank, who see what is actually happening. This creates a verified feedback loop that captures domain expertise and speeds up insight. Data stops being a passive report you have to go looking for, and becomes an active team player that helps you make the right moves before problems escalate.

From data to value

The digital shift therefore calls for a new approach to how we handle data. The competitive advantage of the future does not lie in owning code, but in the ability to use the best tools on the market and turn data into action.

The winners will be those who build the best infrastructure, connect their systems and let information flow seamlessly to the people who need it:

• For the operations team, that means an alert if the current strengthens or turns during a crowding operation.
• For the technical manager, it means continuous control over the health of the equipment fleet.
• For the fish health biologist, it means an immediate notification as soon as negative trends start to develop in the pen.
• For the R&D manager, it means thorough cross-disciplinary analyses that make future investments more precise.

The pace of innovation is accelerating. The opportunities to pull ahead have never been greater – and it has never been easier to fall behind.

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This op-ed was first published in Norwegian in IntraFish on 1 June 2026.

Link to original article: https://www.intrafish.no/debatt/innovasjonstakten-i-norsk-havbruk-eskalerer-det-har-aldri-vart-enklere-a-bli-akterutseilt/2-1-1996774