NorTex was established on initiatives carried out by the Norwegian Consulate General in Houston, Innovation Norway, NORWEP (previously INTSOK) and the Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce in Houston. The aim is to promote research collaboration between Norway and Texas. Areas of collaboration were identified which led to the establishment of several clusters under the NorTex umbrella, among others, the NorTex Petroleum Cluster, the NorTex Nano Cluster and the NorTex Data Science Cluster which was initiated by Jan E Odegard (Rice University) in 2014.

The aim of the NorTex Data Science Cluster is to strengthen collaboration between Norwegian and Texan academic and research institutions and industry within data analytics and data science.

The Offshore Data Analytics project group was established under the NorTex Data Science Cluster Spring 2015 by IRIS, GCE NODE, University of Agder, Rice University and University of Texas Austin, and the project was granted funding November 2015 from the Research Council of Norway November 2015 under the INPART program (International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research). The project will run from 2015 – 2018.

The NorTex Data Science Cluster objectives are:

• Initiate and expand collaboration on education and research between universities and industry in Norway and Texas
• Establish the NorTex Data Science Cluster with sponsors and partners outside the original consortium
• Strengthen collaborative network between industry and academia and develop models for technology transfer, innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Initial focus on Offshore Drilling and Well Operations with the ambition to expand to other areas such as Health, Urban Development and Education

The Offshore Data Analytics project goals are:

Technological

• Improved data quality and accessibility – necessary to enable drilling automation
• Increased value creation by more intelligent use of data from drilling and well operations
• Accelerated innovation through shared use of research infrastructure in Norway and US

Education

• Facilitate education and knowledge sharing through better mobility for students and researchers
• Facilitate summer schools and online courses on special topics

Collaboration

• Facilitate joint workshops/seminars
• Integrate relevant industry into the different university collaborations
• Joint publications
• Create an arena for generating new research and innovation projects