Thor Sigfusson

Thor Sigfusson is an Icelandic entrepreneur, author and speaker. He is the founder and chairman of Iceland Ocean Cluster. He is also the co-founder of Codland, Hlemmur Food Hall and Grandi Food Hall.[1] He has written eight books on topics of international business, knowledge networks and salmon.[2][3]

Thor Sigfusson
Born
Vestman Islands, Iceland
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina
University of Iceland

Early life and education

Sigfusson was born in the Vestman Islands archipelago just off the south coast of Iceland. He completed his BA degree from University of North Carolina in 1991.[4]

Career

After completing his MS degree in Economics in 1993, he became a special advisor to the Minister of Finance of Iceland in January 1994. After working there for four years, he left the ministry to join the Nordic Investment Bank as deputy managing director.[5] In January 2003, he left Nordic Investment bank and joined Iceland Chamber of Commerce as Managing Director.[6]

In 2005, Sigfusson joined Sjova Insurance as Managing Director of the company. He left Sjova Insurance in 2009, after technically bankrupting that company by spending the claims fund on stocks, and joined University of Iceland for PhD in Business. In his studies he focused on how entrepreneurs used networks in their internationalisation.[7] His studies indicated companies and entrepreneurs in the marine industry were not well connected with each other.[8] He began working on a network to increase interaction between marine tech companies and launched the Iceland Ocean Cluster in 2011.[9] The cluster focuses on developing innovative ideas in the fishing industry. In May 2012, Sigfusson founded the Ocean Cluster House.[10][11]

Since establishing the Iceland Ocean Cluster, Sigfusson has spent his time speaking to audience in US and Europe about the opportunities in building networks in the marine industry.[12] In 2015, Sigfusson co-founded a sister cluster to the IOC, the New England Ocean Cluster to drive new ideas in the marine industry.[13][14]

Using the research and information generated from Iceland Ocean Cluster, Sigfusson founded Codland in September 2012. Codland emerged as the merger of a biotechnology company and fishing companies with plans to fully utilize byproducts from the North Atlantic Cod.[15] The cluster also initiated the North Atlantic Marine Cluster Project, which works to increase relations between ocean and marine industries in the North Atlantic.[16] In 2013, he founded the company Collagen with the aim to use fish skin to create marine collagen. In 2016 he co-founded Hlemmur Food Hall, Sjó-Food Hall and Reykjavik Foods.[17][18]

Bibliography
  • Brennan and Isis (2007)
  • International Business: New Challenges, New Forms, New Perspectives (2012)
  • Nordic Ways (Simonyi, Andras Ed.) (2016)

References
  1. "Meet the greatest dating service agent in Iceland's fishing industry". 30 January 2014.
  2. "Building International Entrepreneurial Virtual Networks in Cyberspace".
  3. "The economic importance of the Icelandic fisheries cluster—Understanding the role of fisheries in a small economy".
  4. "2014 SPEAKERS". 16 January 2021.
  5. "Thor Sigfusson".
  6. "Thor Sigfusson". FIS. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  7. "In Celebration of Cod Day: Interview with Thor Sigfusson". 22 September 2015.
  8. "Consortium plans 'marine cluster' similar to Iceland's on Portland waterfront". 27 August 2015.
  9. "Iceland's Startup Scene Punches Above its Weight". 28 July 2016.
  10. "Tuna leather? Icelandic innovator tells Louisiana seafood industry to think beyond daily catch to new products".
  11. "Couillard s'applique à parler français en Islande".
  12. "Icelandic innovator churning out marine tech spinoffs".
  13. "Portland waterfront to be site of New England ocean 'cluster'".
  14. "UNE leads pursuit of marine funding from bond". 6 November 2014.
  15. "From Iceland to New Bedford: Waste not, want not for fisheries".
  16. "Portland follows Iceland model for waterfront business incubator". 17 March 2015.
  17. "Maine startup Lobster Tough LLC developing a children's bandage from lobster shells". 20 January 2016.
  18. "Thor Sigfusson: Harnessing Networks to Create Value".
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