Norway aims to cement its status as a world player in cancer research with the creation of a $200 million Cancer Innovation Park based in Oslo. The park, announced in November and due to be completed in 2012, will include pharma giants London-based GlaxoSmithKline and AstraZeneca, 25 biotech companies working on developing cancer treatments, the University of Oslo's Radium Hospital and a specialist science high school. The Norwegian Cancer Registry, which holds data on all Norwegian cancer cases since the 1950s, will also be on site. By encouraging organizations to pool their expertise, the creators—the Oslo Cancer Cluster (OCC) in partnership with the Oslo City Council—hope to speed the delivery of drugs from basic research to the market. The Institute of Cancer Research at the Radium Hospital will run phase 1 clinical trials. Organizations will also be obliged to take on interns from the high school, which the OCC hopes will turn out a new generation of scientists. One company setting up shop at the park is Oslo-based siRNAsense, which develops RNAi therapeutics for melanoma and breast cancer. “It's a great advantage being in an environment with other innovative companies and academic groups,” says CEO, Hanne Mette Kristensen. “Also, being able to support a school where it's easier for students to see why science is important is definitely very positive and we would like to be able to contribute to that.”