H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway Visits Northern California: Day Two (VIDEO)

On October 25, 2011, H.R.H. Crown Prince Haakon of Norway was in Berkeley, California (an area familiar to the crown prince.  He received his M.A. in Political Science from this awesome university) to participate in the opening of the 2011 Transatlantic Science Week (TSW).

So what is TSW?  It is an annual event that is organized by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Washington, D.C. which is:

… designed to increase transatlantic cooperation in research, innovation and higher education. Alternating between Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities, the conference meets this year for the first time on the West Coast. UC Berkeley is the initial stop, with sessions moving later in the week to Stanford University, the IBM Research-Almaden laboratory, NASA Research Park and Google. source

During today’s event the heir to the Norwegian throne gave a speech.  Other notable speakers included Graham Fleming, UC Berkeley vice-chancellor for research and professor of chemistry, and Wegger Strommen, Norwegian ambassador to the United States.

Later in the afternoon Crown Prince Haakon visited the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art where the Norwegian architecture firm, Snøhetta, is currently designing a new building that will be apart of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. According to the official website for the royal house of Norway:

Crown Prince Haakon met with representatives from the museum, the Fisher art collection and Snøhetta at a luncheon where he learned more about the plans for the extension. Afterwards the Crown Prince was given a guided tour of the collection by the curator Laura Satersmoen.

Then it was off to the Norwegian Seamen’s Church to celebrate its 60th anniversary. Soon, it was time to meet with representatives from the Norwegian software company, Meltwater, in Silicon Valley:

During his visit, the Crown Prince learned more about Meltwater’s journey and what the future holds for this type of software and the services Meltwater offers. The Crown Prince was also given a presentation on the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology. Founded in Ghana in 2007, this philanthropic foundation teaches young Africans the skills they need to start their own software companies in an international market.

Crown Prince Haakon ended his day back at his old stomping grounds at UC Berkeley where he visited the International House … his old dorm house on campus.

To view photos from today’s events please click here and here.   

Crown Prince Haakon gives a speech (begins at the 14:00 mark)

Meltwater Group welcomes Crown Prince Haakon of Norway

Sources:  Berkeley.edu and Kongehuest

Photo courtesy of: Daylife/Reuters and thank you to the Meltwater Group for sending me the links to your photos and video!  :)