For generations, the sea has shaped Norway's economy and identity, giving the country deep expertise in shipping, offshore industries and ocean technologies.

China, meanwhile, has emerged as a global industrial powerhouse, leading the world in shipbuilding and playing a major role in energy and advanced manufacturing.

As these industries become greener and smarter, demand is growing for new technologies and specialized expertise.

For Norway, this opens a new avenue for cooperation with China, bringing not only products, but also knowledge, technology and digital solutions developed through decades of experience in demanding ocean and energy industries.

That opportunity comes into focus this year at the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), where Norway is the Guest Country of Honor. The event runs from September 9 to 13 in Beijing.

At its national pavilion, Norwegian companies showcase services and solutions focusing on green energy, digital technology, healthy living products and premium nutrition.

The ambition goes beyond selling individual products. Henning Kristoffersen, commercial counsellor at the Norwegian Embassy in China and director of Innovation Norway China, said Norwegian companies hope to move from offering individual products to providing more comprehensive solutions, and from one-off transactions to long-term cooperation.

China is Norway's most important trading partner in Asia. Kristoffersen said the two countries have complementary strengths in areas including maritime industries, energy and sustainable development, while the CIFTIS offers a platform for Norwegian companies to expand their business networks and build long-term partnerships.

Greener shipping

For DNV, a Norwegian-founded risk management company, that cooperation has been taking shape for more than a century.

It has had a presence in China for nearly 140 years, and its relationship with China's maritime industry began with ship inspection and classification in 1888. It provided independent technical assessments to help ensure that vessels meet required standards.

Today, however, this partnership extends far beyond inspecting ships. As international laws are demanding the ship industry searches for ways to cut emissions, and financiers are also paying greater attention to the environmental performance of vessels, DNV is increasingly working with Chinese shipbuilders and shipowners on designing and building the next generation of vessels.

But the path toward greener shipping is far from straightforward. There is no single alternative fuel suitable for every vessel and every shipping route. The choice depends on factors including the type of ship, where it operates and whether a particular fuel is available along its route.

That uncertainty creates both technological and financial risks. Many companies have adopted a cautious approach, building conventional vessels while leaving room for future retrofitting.

Chinese shipbuilders and shipowners, however, are increasingly moving directly toward vessels designed to use alternative fuels, according to Norbert Kray, senior vice president and regional manager for Greater China at DNV.

This is where DNV says it can play a role. The company is working with Chinese clients earlier in the process, providing technical expertise, data and analysis to help them assess different technological options. It helps companies navigate uncertainty as they transition to greener shipping.

Kray said China's influence on the global transformation of shipping is significant. As Chinese shipbuilders receive more orders for vessels designed to meet new environmental requirements, decisions made in Chinese shipyards are gradually shaping the future of the global maritime industry.

Deep Sea digital 

If DNV illustrates how a traditional maritime service is evolving to meet the demands of greener shipping, Falkor, a company developing industrial software and digital solutions formerly known as Kongsberg Digital, illustrates another direction: the growing role of digital services in managing complex industrial operations.

Deep Sea No. 1 (Shenhai-1), China's first independently operated deepwater gas field, lies beneath the South China Sea. At peak production, the field can supply more than 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year, providing energy for about 21 million people.

Operating a gas field deep beneath the surface leads to challenges that are difficult to see and even harder to manage.

On the seabed, temperatures can fall to around 3 degrees Celsius. Low temperatures, combined with the mixture of gas, water and other fluids moving through subsea pipelines, can create risks including hydrate formation and unstable flow.

In such an environment, operators cannot simply wait for something to go wrong before responding.

This is where the Norwegian company steps in, using a digital model to create a virtual representation of the gas field's highly complex physical operations.

This can simulate different operating conditions, collect data and give engineers a clearer picture of the operation, helping them make decisions before problems arise.

It can also support decisions about pipeline cleaning, optimize operating parameters and analyze energy consumption.

Sorting salmon

The broader shift in China-Norway cooperation can be seen not only in large industrial projects, but also in efforts to address environmental challenges.

Norway is home to countless rivers where wild Atlantic salmon migrate upstream to spawn. But the country's wild salmon populations have faced growing pressure in recent decades, from invasive humpback, or pink salmon that compete with native fish for habitat and food, and also climate change and human activity.

According to the Norwegian Environment Agency, more than 480,000 pink salmon were caught or observed in Norwegian rivers in 2023, exceeding the number of wild Atlantic salmon that returned to Norway's rivers to spawn in 2024.

Removing the invasive fish has traditionally relied heavily on volunteers, a labor-intensive process which has been made more difficult by the challenge of identifying fish as they move underwater.

In 2021, Huawei Norway joined with Norwegian technology partners to develop an AI-powered fish trap to help address the problem.

For the first year, a system using an underwater camera and machine vision was tested in the Storelva River near Berlevag, northern Norway, to identify different fish species as they passed through the trap.

Trained on tens of thousands of images, the AI system learned to distinguish native Atlantic salmon from invasive pink salmon in real time, with an accuracy of more than 90%.

Since 2022, a sorting system designed to distinguish between wild salmon and invasive pink salmon has been installed downstream in the Storelva River, before it reaches the sea.

Once a fish is identified, the system opens the gate for native salmon, allowing them to continue upstream to spawn, while diverting invasive pink salmon into nearby holding tanks for removal.

Tor Schulstad, administrator of the hunting and fishing association Berlevag JFF in Norway, said native salmon face critical challenges from invasive pink salmon and escaped farmed salmon, while the monitoring systems using AI is helping to stop this and enable future-proof river management.

In the summer time last year, the system helped intercept more than 4,000 invasive pink salmon in the Skallelv River, easing the pressure on native species.

Services cooperation

These examples illustrate cooperation is no longer limited to the exchange of products. It increasingly involves knowledge, technology and specialized services, with companies from both countries bringing different strengths to address specific needs.

The CIFTIS has become a forum for companies to understand where to find common ground, connecting expertise and technology with China's industrial scale and growing demand for advanced solutions.

This year, the CIFTIS is bringing together more than 1,800 companies from around 90 countries and international organizations, showcasing new technologies, solutions and achievements across a range of fast-growing fields, from high-tech and fintech to smart healthcare.

Around 100 promotional events and business negotiations are also scheduled, giving companies from around the world an opportunity to explore partnerships and turn new ideas into practical cooperation.