A Powerhouse for Innovation

Framdrift is a partnership between Farvatn, the Odfjell family's investment company, VIS and Fana Sparebank, with the University of Bergen as a key partner. Farvatn commissioned Nonspace to develop the brand, identity and digital platform that give Framdrift a clear voice and presence from day one.

Framdrift's ambition is bigger than a regional innovation house. The goal is to become the address by which Norwegian innovation is measured, and a natural meeting place for founders, investors and researchers from Bergen to Stockholm and San Francisco.

Describing it as a local innovation house would undersell the project. Framdrift is built on a partnership rooted in generations of Norwegian capital, knowledge and entrepreneurship, in a city that for nine hundred years has sent ideas, trade and pioneers out into the world.

The brand had to carry that ambition. It had to express international confidence and a long-term outlook.

The work began with the people who would build Framdrift. Nonspace facilitated the founding workshop with founders, investors and partners, visited the villas at Jahnebakken during the restoration, and presented the project to politicians and civil servants. Framdrift is not only about a building, but about Western Norway's ability to attract capital, talent and new ideas.

The brand strategy grew from the values Kristin and Johan Odvar Odfjell brought home from San Francisco: a culture where people cheer each other on and build together. “Pay it forward”, collaboration and courage became the foundation of the community. From there, Nonspace developed a positioning built on the belief that ideas and capital belong in the same room, that the hardest problems hold the greatest opportunities, and that Norway is ready to take a clearer place in the international innovation economy. The ambition became to position Framdrift as the address by which Norwegian innovation is measured, anchored in Bergen's nine hundred years of trade, science and exploration.

The identity starts from movement. The symbol consists of three interlocking orbits representing the people, knowledge and capital Framdrift is built on. A forward-leaning wordmark makes the name itself read as movement. The identity also carries forward the Farvatn heritage through a refined colour palette and a typographic system that lets the symbol and the stories take centre stage.

The brand is developed as a frame for the community, not only as a visual identity. It lifts up the members, the partners and the ideas they build. The same system holds the historic houses, the café and the network of partners together without losing coherence.

The launch lives on a deliberately spare website built on Sanity CMS. The platform is made to communicate the ambition from day one, and built to grow with the house, the members and the stories that will fill it.

Framdrift opens in 2026, but the brand has already started doing the job it was made for: attracting people, expertise and capital. Before opening, the initiative has gathered a partnership of Farvatn, VIS, the University of Bergen and Fana Sparebank. Fana Sparebank has committed NOK 25 million over five years to fund the first key positions.

The two first leadership roles attracted 115 applicants, and early membership interest, political support and national press coverage have followed the project from the start.

The results that matter most will come as the house fills with people and activity. But one sign is already clear: people are moving toward Framdrift before its doors have opened.