Where health pioneers find their edge

Project: Nonspace, working alongside strategic partner Uncommon and facilitated by Bergen Næringsråd's Health Expert Group, was tasked with creating something unprecedented: a shared brand platform that could unite university hospitals and startups, municipalities and venture capitalists, research institutions and scale-ups under one credible, internationally compelling identity. This wasn't a typical branding project. It was an exercise in ecosystem architecture – securing buy-in from 40+ financial sponsors, facilitating complex stakeholder alignment across public, private, and academic sectors, and building the strategic relationships that would make a fragmented but world-class health region visible, cohesive, and magnetic to international talent and investment. The work began in early 2025, building on momentum from 2024 when Nonspace and Bergen Næringsråd had supported Uncommon in securing the winning bid for LSX Nordic Congress 2025 – a premier biotech, healthtech, and medtech event that moved from Copenhagen to Bergen, validating the region's capacity and catalyzing unprecedented collaboration. Challenge: Western Norway's health ecosystem has all the ingredients for global impact: world-leading university hospitals, cutting-edge research environments, innovative startups, strong municipal health services, and a culture of collaboration. But these strengths existed in fragments. There was no shared story, no collective identity, no clear way for the outside world to understand what made this region essential. Meanwhile, Norway's national platform for trade and investment is positioning the country internationally with a bold promise: "Pioneering sustainable health solutions – together!" But the promotion places Oslo as the primary destination, with little emphasis on Bergen or Vestland. The region risked invisibility in its own national story. The strategic challenge was threefold: First, create genuine alignment. With 300+ organizations spanning vastly different cultures—from public hospitals bound by bureaucracy to venture-backed startups moving at speed—any platform would need to earn trust and demonstrate value to incredibly diverse stakeholders. It couldn't feel like one sector dominating another, or one city claiming credit for regional work. Second, position without competing. The brand can't position Bergen in opposition to the national story. It needs to complete Norway's health narrative, not contest it—showing why Bergen's edge is essential to proving Norway's pioneering promise. Third, design for adoption. Whatever we create has to be flexible enough to work across 300+ existing brands without overpowering them, yet distinctive enough to be worth adopting. It needs to unite and promote simultaneously—giving individual organizations a reason to participate while projecting collective strength internationally. Underlying all of this was a fundamental question: could a region that had never collaborated at this scale actually come together? Could we facilitate the alignment, secure the sponsorship, and build the relationships that would make this more than another well-intentioned regional initiative that fades after launch? Solution: Strategic Foundation: Edge, Not Centre Through extensive insight work – synthesizing key findings from EY's mapping of the healthcare sector, input from Bergen Næringsråd's Health Expert Group, comparative analysis of 10 regional healthcare platforms across Norway and Europe, stakeholder surveys, meetings with Business Region Gothenburg and Health Capital Helsinki, and a critical workshop with 22 organizations across the sector – we identified Bergen's true strategic position. Norway's strength is its values. Bergen's strength is its edge – where care, research, and innovation meet real-world needs. The region offers Norway something Oslo cannot: a globally relevant testing ground for scalable solutions, a bridge between research and results, a magnet for partnerships built on proximity and collaboration. Not in competition with the national story, but completing it. Not just a region in Norway, but a reason to believe in it. This positioning was crystallized in a set of brand qualities that became the foundation for everything that followed: Close to reality: Applied research, frontline practice, human-centered innovation, ready to share. Edge-focused: Not the center of big pharma – the sharp edge of diagnostics, care, data, and digital pathways. Human scale: Small enough to be fast, connected, and collaborative – large enough, and ready, to lead. Forerunner mindset: Bergen moves early, not loudly. Quiet firsts, tested well, poised to scale. Cross-sector by default: Public, private, academic, municipal working as one ecosystem; our collective identity is the proof. Rooted and global: Regionally grounded with Nordic values, internationally connected through trust, openness, and outcomes. Not obvious... Original: The cutting edge can't be like anywhere else. A health region that surprises. Not defined by size – defined by opportunities and impact. Naming: One Word, Many Channels Names are complex. They have to be a smart fit for the market and mission, but they also have to be available and ownable. Through a structured process involving key stakeholders from the region's expert group, we landed on HealthFjords – the name for the region's health sector brand platform. One word to build brand equity. Plural to represent many channels and the diversity of the ecosystem. Pronounceable internationally. Uniquely Norwegian. Ownable. A strong point of origin as a destination name – famed as the edge where pioneers launch from and are drawn to. The fjords as both metaphor and reality: carved by persistent forces over time, meeting points of currents, channels that connect inland depth to open ocean. Brand Design: The Ripple Effect Anchored in the force of the landscape, water becomes a symbol of life, growth, and lasting progress – a meeting of currents that shape connections. Waves carrying knowledge outward, tides drawing talent and capital in. The visual identity captures movement, reach, and collaboration – a region working together and extending outward. Energy that arises in one place, in one moment, transfers and spreads further into the world. A single drop's ripple effect all the way to the edge. Our symbol focuses on the meeting point – from individual meetings and influences to the big ambition of trade and investment. It captures our collective power and shared ambition through HealthFjords. The effect of our collective energy and momentum, driving new connections and innovation. Critically, the brand was designed to unite and promote. To represent over 300 health-related organizations and growing, the design was carefully tuned not to be too characterful – not to shout over those it exists to lift up. To fit with such a diverse collection of brands in the health ecosystem, from universities and municipalities to hospitals, tech companies, startups, family offices, and venture capitalists, the system needed restraint and flexibility. The Story: A Narrative for All We wrote a story that captured the culture of the region, the reason to believe, and the ambition and mission of the future. A narrative for all – to drive collaboration on a shared focus and inspire growth and attraction nationally and internationally. The film script opened up production to the 40+ sponsors and broader ecosystem, using content from the health brands and projects of the region. Working with local film company FIRE Media in Bergen, we directed the documentation and editing process, with motion graphics and film direction from Nonspace. The narrative positioned Bergen not as the obvious choice, but as the right one: "Not the obvious choice. Not the centre of attention. And that's exactly why you're here. At the edge of the world, something else takes shape. Where harsh conditions breed resilience. Distance inspires connection. And care for people, for progress, runs deep..." "From the microscope to the genome, from clinics to code, the spirit of Western Norway has always pushed ahead. Not louder, just further. Here, research meets real life. Here, collaboration is culture – for patients, partners, and the world." "This is where health finds its edge. This is the gateway...opening the future of health. HealthFjords." Launch Platform: Flag in the Ground We designed and developed HealthFjords.no and .com as a flag in the ground – the story out in the world as a show of commitment. A launch platform and guide for all in the sector to be part of the region's health ecosystem story and future. The site hosts the brand film and profiles the ambition and story of the ecosystem, with key contact points, links to businesses and organizations in the region, a press page, and endorsement guidelines with open, easy, and available logo downloads through our Brandspace® Brand Manager toolkit. By using the HealthFjords endorsement, organizations and businesses in the region can freely show they are part of a collaborative region and committed to developing solutions that are human, proven, and ready for the future – placing them at the center of Norway's most dynamic health region. Ecosystem Building: The Invisible Work Behind the brand was months of strategic facilitation and relationship building. Nonspace played a critical role alongside Uncommon supporting Bergen Næringsråd in securing 40+ financial sponsors – an unprecedented level of regional alignment. The sponsor list reads like a comprehensive map of leaders in Western Norway's health ecosystem: Bergen Næringsråd, Stiftelsen Diakonova Haraldsplass / Haraldsplass Diakonale Sykehus, Universitetet i Bergen, Haukeland Universitetssjukehus, Høgskulen på Vestlandet, Kristiania, Bouvet, Bergen kommune, Atea, Norengros K.J. Brusdal, GC Rieber Fondene / GC Rieber Eiendom, EG Checkware, Alrek Helseklynge, NEO Consulting, VIS – Vestlandets Innovasjonsselskap, Eitri, Norway Health Tech, Nonspace, Uncommon, EY, Helse Vest IKT, NordicNeuroLab, Vestland fylkeskommune, Stiftelsen Betanien / Betanien sykehus, Tryg Norge, Youwell, Vinco Innovation, SafeChoice Clinic & Research, Folkehelseinstituttet Bergen, Unilabs, Farvatn, InvestInBergen/Invest in Vestland, Noteless, Sarsia, Hadean Ventures, Lifecare, Norce, DNB, Novartis, Sonat. This wasn't simply fundraising. It was proof of concept – demonstrating that the region could actually collaborate at scale before the brand even launched. Effect: HealthFjords launched on December 3, 2025, with strong endorsement from every major stakeholder in the region's health ecosystem. University hospital CEOs, university rectors, the mayor of Bergen, the county mayor of Vestland, and startup founders have all publicly backed the platform—a level of unified support unprecedented in Norwegian regional development. The brand is immediately fulfilling its dual purpose: uniting the region internally while projecting strength externally. The open Brandspace® toolkit enables any of the 300+ organizations to adopt the endorsement, showing they are part of a collaborative ecosystem committed to human-centered, proven, scalable health solutions. Early momentum is already building. In early 2026, the region's health sector leaders will travel to Helsinki for collaboration and learning – a relationship founded directly through this work by Nonspace, Jeremy McCrohan at Uncommon, and Sverre Simen Hov at Bergen Næringsråd. The platform is already enabling the concrete international partnerships it was designed to facilitate. For Nonspace, HealthFjords represents a decade of evolution from Media City Bergen – proof that collaborative sector brands, when built on genuine strategic insight and facilitated with patience and rigor, can transform how regions compete and cooperate. The work demonstrates our capabilities not just as brand strategists and designers, but as ecosystem architects who can navigate complex stakeholder environments and build the alignment that makes ambitious visions possible. The West Coast of Norway now has a clear ambition: to be known as the place where meaningful health progress begins and grows. With HealthFjords, that ambition has a name, a story, and a growing community of believers ready to prove it to the world.

Bergen

Trondheim

Stian Ward Bugten

Tom Morgan

Robert Dalen

Highlights

About the project

Project

Challenge

Solution

Effect

Life Saving Design

Some Choices Last Longer

Revitalising a Local Shopping Centre Brand

Scent Becomes Strategy