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Comment by blahbap | Hacker News Reader

As a Norwegian IT Professional and Hackernews junkie, I have to suggest that the startup scene in Norway is not as hot as it could be. I am very aware of several Swedish sucesses (Spotify on top of that list), but I can't think of a single Norwegian startup that anyone outside of the business wouldn know of. It's actually surprising that the high level of education combined with the obscene amounts of oil-money floating around has not spurred more startups. I think it boils down to a lack of entrepeneurial spirit - you can basically make a very comfortable living in Norway without investing too much time and effort into creating a career for yourself. As any swede that has worked in Norway will tell you, at 16:01 the office is pretty much empty. Life's pretty good in Norway

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Somewhat OT :

I'm a Norwegian-American dual citizen and have often thought of spending a few years working in Norway. I would like to establish rapport with with interesting people and companies, particularly in the startup community.

Would you have any thoughts as to how I could go about getting introduced and involved?

FWIW I'm fully bilingual, although having never actually lived in Norway or attended school there, my writing is probably slightly below college level.

I live in Stavanger, the Norwegian "oil capital". There are lots of tech companies here who make a living from serving the oil industry. I would recommend that you start out working for one of the bigger consultancy firms (Bouvet, Evry) - you get in touch with lots of people and you'll have some time to come up with the next big idea or team up with someone who beat you too it.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Truth be told, I hadn't actually considered Stavanger as I was working under the assumption that the majority of the tech scene was centered around Oslo.

Also OT - I thought Norway did not allow dual citizenship? http://www.udi.no/templates/tema.aspx?id=7397 - how did you pull it off?

That UD link actually does leave some wiggle room for dual citizenship :

"Although Norwegian law is based on the principle that dual citizenship is not acceptable, Norwegian authorities cannot answer for what legislation in your home country says about citizenship."

"In other respects than in the abovementioned No 1 and No 2 dual citizenship is allowed."

In my case, I was born and raised (mostly) in the US with a Norwegian father who is still a Norwegian citizen (permanent work visa). Therefore, I have held dual passports since I was a teenager and submitted the formal application for full citizenship when I turned 18.

While a lot of work was put into my application, including references from family and friend, I believe the most important element, from a legal standpoint and otherwise, was my immediate family.

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