Anders Waage Nilsen

Who they are

Anders Waage Nilsen is an opportunity developer at Bergen kommune — he co-founded Fri Flyt, a Norwegian outdoor/adventure magazine, in 1998, and later WasteIQ, a circular economy tech startup.

Person

Anders started at Bergens Tidende as a journalist, then pivoted hard into media entrepreneurship: he co-founded Fri Flyt, an outdoor/adventure magazine, in 1998 and served as its editor. From there he moved into digital agency work, founding the Bergen branch of Netlife, before accumulating a cluster of sustainability-oriented ventures — WasteIQ (circular economy tech), Carrot, New, and Resourcer — alongside a personal holding company, Anders Waage Nilsen AS. He studied Business Development and Digital Strategy at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), which runs underneath the more visible editorial and startup chapters. His most recent employed role before Bergen kommune was Chief Sustainability Officer at COWI, the engineering consultancy. Now he works as an opportunity developer focused on urban logistics at Bergen kommune. The through-line is consistent: media → digital → sustainability → public sector, each move broadening the scope of the systems he's trying to change. He writes actively at waagenilsen.medium.com and holds an author page at Agenda Magasin, covering circular economy, urban development, new business models, and nature; he also edits three separate editorial projects — Fjordish, Stormkast, and Myldring. Possibly — his musician side and the adventure-magazine roots reflect someone who came to sustainability through lived experience of the natural world, not through consulting.

Company

Bergen kommune has recently introduced the 'Little Local' subsidy scheme, which supports small innovative projects improving learning, working, or living environments, with applications open until September 30, 2026. The municipality has also launched a comprehensive Environmental Programme for rural areas aligned with Environmental Vision Bergen 2040, targeting biodiversity, nature-inclusive farming, and sustainable living environments. A 50% property tax refund has been introduced for local sports clubs and volunteer groups. A potential municipal merger with neighboring regions is under consideration to streamline services and reshape community representation.

Market

Bergen kommune operates in Norwegian local government and public administration, where the visitor economy is booming but a hiring crisis — driven by wage ceilings anchored in collective bargaining and municipal ownership structures — is pushing a strategic shift toward higher-yield, experience-intensive tourism models. The city's key industries — maritime, aquaculture, and offshore petroleum — are exposed to geopolitical tensions and shifting trade patterns, themes that the Bergen International Shipping Conference 2026 is actively addressing.

How they likely show up

Founded Fri Flyt in 1998 and has co-founded multiple ventures (WasteIQ, Carrot, New, Resourcer, Netlife Bergen) across decades → high agency, comfortable starting things from scratch rather than waiting for institutional permission.
Moved from journalism to digital agency to sustainability ventures to CSO to municipal opportunity developer → thinks in systems and sectors, not job titles; each move was a deliberate expansion of scope.
Active public writer across Medium, Agenda Magasin, and three editorial side projects (Fjordish, Stormkast, Myldring) → processes ideas by publishing them; likely arrives at meetings with a developed point of view already.
Podcast appearance on Shifter arguing for new business models (2022) → comfortable making structural arguments in public; not shy about challenging incumbents or conventional thinking.
Possibly — mixed tenure shape across roles (SOFT claim) → may prefer project-based or phase-based engagement over long institutional entrenchment, moving on once a concept is proven.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific piece he's written — the circular economy platform post or the broken food system piece — to signal you've actually read his work, not just his LinkedIn.
→ Engage on the systemic level: he talks about 'new business models' and 'circular economy platforms,' not incremental improvements, so frame problems at that scale.
→ Ask about the tension between working inside a large municipality and his history of founding startups — that gap is probably where his most interesting thinking lives right now.
→ His journalism background means he'll spot vague or hollow claims quickly — be precise and evidence-based rather than aspirational.
→ Don't ignore the outdoor/adventure angle; Fri Flyt was founded in 1998 and he's a musician — he's not a pure policy person, and acknowledging the full picture builds rapport.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on WasteIQ and the circular economy platform piece he published on Medium — he was building tech infrastructure for a circular economy before most municipalities were even writing strategies about it. Ask what happened next.
Reference the Shifter podcast episode 'Vi trenger nye forretningsmodeller' (2022) — he made a public argument that new business models are non-negotiable, and he's now inside a large public institution. That tension is worth naming.
Mention Fri Flyt: co-founding an outdoor/adventure magazine in 1998 is an unusual origin story for someone who ended up as a CSO at an engineering consultancy and is now doing urban logistics for a municipality — the arc is genuinely interesting.

Discovery questions

You've argued publicly that we need new business models — what does that actually look like when you're working inside a municipality like Bergen rather than a startup?
WasteIQ, Carrot, Resourcer — you've co-founded several sustainability-oriented ventures. Which of those bets do you think aged best, and which one taught you the most?
Bergen's Environmental Programme targets 2040 and you're focused on urban logistics — where does circular economy infrastructure actually sit in a city that still runs on maritime and petroleum industries?

Avoid

Don't treat him as a public-sector generalist — he came up through journalism and startup-founding, and pitching him generic sustainability frameworks without operational specificity will signal you haven't done the work.

Make it yours