Entrepreneur? Here’s how to start a business.

Planning to start a business but not sure how to get started? Or do you need help moving forward from the initial phase? We encourage you to contact the municipality’s partners for guidance and support.

Step-by-step startup guide

If you want to start a business in the Stavanger region, we recommend visiting Altinn. There, you’ll find a step-by-step startup guide and thorough instructions on how to get started.

For those who want to start small

Wondering whether it’s possible to open a tattoo studio in your basement? Or turn your greenhouse into a coffee bar? Maybe you’d like to sell items you’ve grown or produced yourself? You can read more about what’s required here.

Support organisations

These are companies and public institutions that work with the startup phase through collaboration with networks and directly with other businesses.

Skape
Skape offers three hours of free counselling for those who want to start a business. They also provide many useful courses.

Innovation Norway
Innovation Norway offers advisory services, competence development, networking, and financing through grants and loans.

Accelerators

Accelerators support early-stage companies through training, guidance, and financing. This is often done through a business programme over a limited period and together with other startups.

ITSA
ITSA offers two intensive programmes: ITSA Start and ITSA Growth. The programmes include lectures, workshops, networking events, and guest speakers with relevant knowledge and experience. This provides startups and growth companies with a strong platform to build from.

Fauna
The Fauna Eksperiment programme offers a tailored programme for sustainable companies. It provides access to expertise, mentors, investors, an alumni network, and interest-free financing.

Gründeracademy
The Gründeracademy programme is run by Validé, one of Norway’s leading incubators based in Stavanger. The programme includes introductions to business development, law, leadership, marketing, sales, and presentation skills. You will also receive close follow-up from business developers and meet skilled entrepreneurs who are in the same situation as you.

Stavanger Unlimited
Storhaug and Kvernevik Unlimited are accelerators for startups developing solutions to social challenges in their own neighbourhoods. Here, you can apply for financial support and help to develop and mature your social idea or business.

For students

Lyspæren Innovation House and LevelUp Student Incubator

Lyspæren and LevelUp are available to all students at UiS who are interested in starting their own business. There, you can receive free advice and guidance.

Incubator

A startup incubator is a collaborative programme that helps new startups succeed. They offer workspaces, seed funding, mentoring, and training to run your business.

Validé
Validé supports around 50 new companies in their incubator each year. You will receive one-on-one guidance from Validé’s business developers, who have particular expertise in energy, health, and digitalisation.

Scale up

A scale-up programme is designed to help established and new entrepreneurs with high growth potential. This is achieved by entering new markets or adapting the business model.

Slingshot
Slingshot is a non-profit organisation with the goal of scaling companies along Norway’s west coast. The aim is to create growth and sustainable jobs. The programme targets early-stage companies with untapped growth potential.

Coworking spaces

Coworking is exactly what the name suggests: places where people from different companies come together to work, share knowledge, and explore ideas.

Innovation Dock
Innovation Dock has locations in both Stavanger and Sandnes, and is suitable for companies at all stages. It is a place designed for collaboration and for people who inspire each other.

Fomo
Fomo is a coworking community with unique office and meeting facilities—often called “a playground for innovation.”

Innoasis
Innoasis is the place for entrepreneurial spirits, public-sector innovators, investors, and developers; for anyone dreaming of creating solutions for smarter and greener communities. Here, you’ll find a 4,000-square-metre toolbox offering everything you and your business need to grow and scale.

Clusters

Stavanger is home to several clusters that strengthen collaboration between the private sector and the public sector. The clusters provide access to valuable networks, opportunities for knowledge exchange, new insights, and innovation. The Norwegian Innovation Clusters programme is state-funded and aims to support value creation through sustainable innovation.

Energy: Energy Transition Norway
Energy Transition Norway is an energy cluster whose overarching goal is to lead the transition to low-emission energy solutions by developing renewable and sustainable technologies, as well as improving existing energy solutions.

Offshore wind: Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster
Norwegian Offshore Wind Cluster aims to be a preferred global supplier of floating offshore wind farms. With many years of experience in oil and gas, the industry has unique expertise as installations are built further offshore.

Aquaculture: Stiim Aqua Cluster
Stiim Aqua Cluster represents an innovation ecosystem for aquaculture-related industries. Technology transfer is the foundation of Stiim, connecting strong technology environments in oil and gas, automation, electronics, robotics, maritime mechanical industries, and IT with the established aquaculture sector to accelerate global growth.

Smart City: Nordic Edge Smart City Innovation Cluster
The Smart City Innovation Cluster aims to drive the development of smarter cities and local communities. The cluster is a collaboration between businesses, research environments, and public actors to develop smart city solutions for—and with—municipalities. The collaboration shortens the path to market for the public sector and makes the public sector more accessible to businesses.

Transport infrastructure: VIA
VIA – the transport infrastructure cluster – is the leading cluster for safe, smart, and sustainable transport infrastructure. VIA contributes to the development of smart and sustainable roads, tunnels, bridges, and railways, improving safety and reducing accidents. This is important for road users, emergency services, transport companies, and our cities and regions.

Health and welfare: Norwegian Smart Care Cluster
NSCC’s mission is to facilitate member collaboration so they can more quickly and effectively succeed in commercialising new solutions and selling health and welfare technology services and products in Norway, the Nordics, and internationally.