Here we see Elizaveta Butenco, PhD-student from HiMolde steering a Platform Supply Vessel from the "Upper Bridge" of OSC's 360 Simulation Dome.
On March 27, students from Molde University College (HiMolde) visited the OSC AS and its subsidiary Augment City AS at the Norwegian Maritime Competence Center (NMK) in Ålesund.
The experience offered students a hands-on deep dive into one of Norway’s most innovative tech environments, where simulation, artificial intelligence, and digital twins are shaping the future of offshore and urban planning.
Why It Matters — For Students and the Industry
Molde University College aims to connect education with innovation. The goal?
- Attract more applicants to its IT and Digitalization and Logistics programs.
- Showcase strong industry partnerships and the region’s international, forward-leaning tech ecosystem.
This visit underscored that mission, highlighting evolving collaboration with OSC AS and Augment City AS — two standout players in Norway’s offshore simulation and smart city development sector.
Study programs involved
- Bachelor in IT and Digitalization (IBE440)
- Master in Logistics (IDA715)
- Logistics Analytics
- Supply Chain Management
- Master in Sustainable Energy Logistics (LOG778)
- PhD in Logistics
A global pioneer
Based in Ålesund, OSC AS is a global pioneer in creating virtual prototypes and digital twins for the offshore, maritime, and renewable energy industries. Its powerful simulation tools help companies visualize complex operations and make informed decisions, whether building an offshore wind park, inspecting subsea platforms or rerouting urban traffic during construction.
OSC’s technology is already used by major industry players like Equinor domestically but also globally, helping them reduce risk and boost efficiency.
Highlights from the Visit
Career Pathways in Tech
Kristin Dvergsdal Haugen, Vice President SBX Delivery & Project, Augment City AS.
Kristin has a long track of simulation projects and also shared her leadership insights from one of Norway’s most exciting and growing simulation/visualization companies.
Digital Twins and Smart Cities
Visualization and simulation tools are used to build digital twins of urban areas, speed up the development process and analysis of data for smart and sustainable cities. Augment City AS has been selected by the UN as their global simulation partner for the UN Smart Sustainable Cities program; U4SSC.
with Robin Viken, Product Owner, Augment City AS / OSC AS
One way is to combine layers of photos and data for greater insight and comprehension.
Students saw a live demo from Augment City at the “Lower Bridge” of Simulation Dome and explored questions like:
• How does traffic react during peak hours?
• How can data-driven simulations improve urban planning?
• What happens if Ålesund Municipality shuts down a main road?
OSC Simulation Dome
The simulator offers an in-depth look at physically realistic, detailed and immersive offshore simulations as seen and explained from the "Upper Bridge" of the OSC 360 Simulation Dome imitating a replica of a real offshore vessel bridge. The challenge is to make it all work due to complex hardware and unique software stack to deploy projects across the globe either with a physical simulator or a cloud-based solution.
Students saw several different live demonstrations from the “Upper Bridge”.
Lucky ones had a chance to steer a virtual Platform Supply Vessel. Not an easy task to control a large vessel due to multiple thrusters, inertia even in ideal weather conditions, and way more challenging under high wind and waves, and motion sickness!
OSC Sandbox Workshop
OSC AS has also shared with students trial access to the latest version of developed cloud-based tool Sandbox that enable users to build complex simulation scenarios by drag and drop 3D models into unique virtual cloud environment using consumer PCs. Simulation here is used for physics verification and validation purposes of tested activities and processes. It can also be run multiple times to assess the risks of certain scenario involving vessels / rigs / ROVs and related operations within minutes.
Examples of functions include:
- Insert new load objects
- Placement of load objects and rotation of objects
- Change weight and CoG
- Insert loose objects (shackles, tools etc.)
- Vessel-/Rig layout
- Training scenario creation
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SandBox session
Led by OSC instructors Stig Øverås, Gabriela Sæther and Ellinora Klara Ludwig.
In this session let students:
• Interact directly with OSC Sandbox, a cloud-based simulation platform.
• Build their own accurate offshore scenarios using physics tools and 3D primitives.
• Gain two weeks of free access to the tool and projects.
"This is a second visit to OSC and first time students have live simulation workshop. We greatly appreciate the effort and resourced dedicated by OSC, but also opportunity for HiMolde students to experience cutting-edge technology, to inquire information about potential high tech career paths. It will be grate to further extend our collaboration in the future," he stated.
Want to Explore More?
🔗 Learn more about OSC AS
🔗 Visit Augment City AS
Explore our study programs
🎓 Bachelor in IT and Digitalization
🎓 Master in Logistics
🎓 Master in Sustainable Energy Logistics
🎓 PhD in Logistics