Thor Sigfusson

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Thor Sigfusson
Thor Sigfusson.jpg
Born
Alma mater University of North Carolina
University of Iceland

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]

Contents

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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cod</span> Common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus

Cod is the common name for the demersal fish genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus Gadus is commonly not called cod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic cod</span> Species of fish

The Atlantic cod is a benthopelagic fish of the family Gadidae, widely consumed by humans. It is also commercially known as cod or codling. Dry cod may be prepared as unsalted stockfish, and as cured salt cod or clipfish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Economy of Iceland</span> National economy of Iceland

The economy of Iceland is small and subject to high volatility. In 2011, gross domestic product was US$12 billion, but by 2018 it had increased to a nominal GDP of US$27 billion. With a population of 350,000, this is $55,000 per capita, based on purchasing power parity (PPP) estimates. The financial crisis of 2007–2010 produced a decline in GDP and employment that has since been reversed entirely by a recovery aided by a tourism boom starting in 2010. Tourism accounted for more than 10% of Iceland's GDP in 2017. After a period of robust growth, Iceland's economy is slowing down according to an economic outlook for the years 2018–2020 published by Arion Research in April 2018.

The Cod Wars were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended with an Icelandic victory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Atlantic right whale</span> Species of whale found in the North Atlantic Ocean

The North Atlantic right whale is a baleen whale, one of three right whale species belonging to the genus Eubalaena, all of which were formerly classified as a single species. Because of their docile nature, their slow surface-skimming feeding behaviors, their tendencies to stay close to the coast, and their high blubber content, right whales were once a preferred target for whalers. At present, they are among the most endangered whales in the world, and they are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act and Canada's Species at Risk Act. There are fewer than 370 individuals in existence in the western North Atlantic Ocean—they migrate between feeding grounds in the Labrador Sea and their winter calving areas off Georgia and Florida, an ocean area with heavy shipping traffic. In the eastern North Atlantic, on the other hand—with a total population reaching into the low teens at most—scientists believe that they may already be functionally extinct. Vessel strikes and entanglement in fixed fishing gear, which together account for nearly half of all North Atlantic right whale mortality since 1970, are their two greatest threats to recovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry</span> Economic sector

The fishing industry includes any industry or activity concerned with taking, culturing, processing, preserving, storing, transporting, marketing or selling fish or fish products. It is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization as including recreational, subsistence and commercial fishing, and the related harvesting, processing, and marketing sectors. The commercial activity is aimed at the delivery of fish and other seafood products for human consumption or as input factors in other industrial processes. The livelihood of over 500 million people in developing countries depends directly or indirectly on fisheries and aquaculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georges Bank</span> Oceanic bank in the North Atlantic

Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia (Canada). It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lobster fishing</span> Aspect of the fishing industry

Lobsters are widely fished around the world for their meat. They are often hard to catch in large numbers, but their large size can make them a profitable catch. Although the majority of the targeted species are tropical, the majority of the global catch is in temperate waters.

<i>Nephrops norvegicus</i> Species of lobster

Nephrops norvegicus, known variously as the Norway lobster, Dublin Bay prawn, shlobster (shrimp-lobster), langoustine or scampi, is a slim, coral colored lobster which grows up to 25 cm (10 in) long, and is "the most important commercial crustacean in Europe". It is now the only extant species in the genus Nephrops, after several other species were moved to the closely related genus Metanephrops. It lives in the north-eastern Atlantic Ocean, and parts of the Mediterranean Sea, but is absent from the Baltic Sea and Black Sea. Adults emerge from their burrows at night to feed on worms and fish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Scotland</span> Aquaculture and marine catching in the UK countrt

The fishing industry in Scotland comprises a significant proportion of the United Kingdom fishing industry. A recent inquiry by the Royal Society of Edinburgh found fishing to be of much greater social, economic and cultural importance to Scotland than it is relative to the rest of the UK. Scotland has just 8.4 per cent of the UK population but lands at its ports over 60 per cent of the total catch in the UK.

<i>The End of the Line</i> (book) Book by Charles Clover

The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat is a book by journalist Charles Clover about overfishing. It was made into a movie released in 2009 and was re-released with updates in 2017.

This page is a list of fishing topics.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in the United States</span>

As with other countries, the 200 nautical miles (370 km) exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coast of the United States gives its fishing industry special fishing rights. It covers 11.4 million square kilometres, which is the second largest zone in the world, exceeding the land area of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cod fisheries</span> Fisheries for cod

Cod fisheries are fisheries for cod. Cod is the common name for fish of the genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and this article is confined to three species that belong to this genus: the Atlantic cod, the Pacific cod and the Greenland cod. Although there is a fourth species of the cod genus Gadus, Alaska pollock, it is commonly not called cod and therefore currently not covered here.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fisheries:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fishing industry in Denmark</span>

The fishing industry in Denmark operates around the coastline, from western Jutland to Bornholm. While the overall contribution of the fisheries sector to the country's economy is only about 0.5 percent, Denmark is ranked fifth in the world in exports of fish and fish products. Approximately 20,000 Danish people are employed in fishing, aquaculture, and related industries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seafood restaurant</span> Restaurant mostly serving fish from the sea

A seafood restaurant is a restaurant that specializes in seafood cuisine and seafood dishes, such as fish and shellfish. Dishes may include freshwater fish. The concept may focus upon the preparation and service of fresh seafood,. Some seafood restaurants also provide retail sales of seafood that consumers take home to prepare. Seafood restaurants may have a marine-themed decor, with decorations such as fish nets, nautical images and buoys. Fare can vary due to seasonality in fish availability and in the fishing industry. Seafood restaurants may offer additional non-seafood items, such as chicken and beef dishes.

<i>Jasus paulensis</i> Species of crustacean

Jasus paulensis, also commonly known as the St Paul rock lobster, is a species of spiny lobster found in the waters around Saint Paul Island in the southern Indian Ocean and around Tristan da Cunha in the southern Atlantic Ocean. At one time the rock lobsters on Tristan da Cunha were believed to be a separate species known as the Tristan rock lobster, but the use of mitochondrial DNA sequencing has shown them to be identical. Some authorities, for example the International Union for Conservation of Nature, retain them as separate species. The Tristan rock lobster features on the coat of arms and the flag of Tristan da Cunha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yorkshire coast fishery</span> History of sea fishing in Yorkshire, England

The Yorkshire coast fishery has long been part of the Yorkshire economy for centuries. The 114-mile (183 km) Yorkshire Coast, from the River Tees to the River Humber, has many ports both small and large where the fishing trade thrives. The historic ports at Hull and Whitby are important locations for the landing and processing of fish and shellfish. Scarborough and Bridlington are also sites of commercial fishing.

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".