A digital information company from Norway will operate out of Grand Forks, with an outgoing Economic Development Corp. executive hired to lead North American operations.
ESmart Systems of Halden, Norway, told the Herald it plans to open an office in Grand Forks. The company has been working with the Center of Innovation for about a year and a half, said Knut Gustavsen, corporate vice president of international markets for eSmart.
Terry Sando, who has served as director of UAS sector development for Grand Forks EDC since 2013, will join eSmart on Sept. 1 as the company’s UAS business manager of North America, Gustavsen said. The eSmart executive praised Sando for his expertise in drawing interest and UAS companies to North Dakota.
The company is working with property owners to find a location for its Grand Forks office, Gustavsen said.
The five-year-old company that develops digital intelligence has been operating in the U.S. for about three years and has offices in Germany, Singapore, Denmark and Sweden. Its offices in Palo Alto, Calif., are moving to Seattle, eSmart Communications Adviser Karoline Rodsmoen wrote in an email.
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“We are a software company trying to make sense of all the data SkySkopes and Robot Aviation is capturing for us,” Gustavsen said of the two unmanned aircraft companies that have ties to Grand Forks.
He suggested publicly-owned companies -- utility companies, for example -- could use information and services from eSmart.
ESmart has 85 employees with plans to expand to 100, Gustavsen said. There are five in the U.S.
