PALO ALTO — Nervous? Who’s nervous?

Sure, the crown prince and crown princess of Norway were visiting my little town. And me, I saw myself as an ambassador of Silicon Valley; a guy who could chat up the royal couple as they checked in on a gaggle of Norwegian companies that opened outposts in the valley to connect with brilliant engineers, possible investors and potential partners and customers.

Yes, they have fancy titles — prince, princess — but it’s not like they had to climb their way to the top.

They’re just people, the Norwegian entrepreneurs at the country’s tech incubator, Innovation House, told me as we waited for Prince Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit to arrive.

To be honest, I didn’t believe them. I don’t hang out with much royalty (royal pains don’t count) and the idea had me on edge — until I saw the prince put on what looked like a pair of oversized, opaque black ski goggles to try out Making View’s 360 degree camera and viewing system. He laughed. He looked like a fly — moving his head up, down, from side to side, to manipulate the view of a base jumper (think jumping off a cliff with a parachute) soaring over a beautiful canyon.

“I thought it was fantastic,” the 39-year-old heir to the Norwegian throne told me when we talked later. “I’ve never base jumped myself, but obviously it’s fun to have kind of a test run like that, where you actually get to feel like you’re almost part of it.”

I let on that I felt a little queasy when I tried it. The princess reassured me.

“I think that type of technology is probably not as developed as much yet, so you’ll probably get queasy at the start,” she said. “But now we all go and watch 3-D films with the kids.”

“Sometimes I still get queasy,” added the prince. Never mind the motorcade of black Escalades and Mercedes that the royal couple arrived in; and forget about the stern-faced military officer that accompanied them. Suddenly I could see the prince catching “Wreck-It Ralph” with the couple’s three children.

Making View is just one of dozens of Norwegian companies that have used Innovation House as a Silicon Valley crash pad. The prince and princess also checked out a motion-activated gizmo that can be used as a television remote. The conversation was all in Norwegian, but I’m pretty sure the princess asked the company’s chief engineer if there was a way to program it to stop Prince Haakon from flipping channels.

Other companies on hand Wednesday were working on tools to enhance websites and educational apps and apps that help consumers adopt healthier habits. Norway has come to Silicon Valley, like so many other countries. There are incubators and networking organizations in the valley for entrepreneurs from India, China, Vietnam, Turkey, Poland, Africa, Ireland, Russia, Brazil, Scotland, and the list goes on and on.

“Silicon Valley is sort of this beacon of innovation, especially in the tech world,” said Prince Haakon, a UC Berkeley alumnus. “And for Norwegian companies to come here is obviously inspiring, but I also think it’s an example of why Silicon Valley is successful. You see here some of our brightest minds, very engaged, very motivated, with really good ideas. They come here and that feeds into the process of what makes Silicon Valley so successful.”

In other words, sure, companies come here from around the world to pick up on Silicon Valley’s mojo, as we’ve heard many times. But it works both ways. What entrepreneurs bring from other countries can be as valuable as what they take home.

“We have incredible technology in Norway,” Princess Mette-Marit, also 39, said. “We have incredible engineers. We have incredible people, so we’re obviously very proud of the companies we’re able to bring here.”

As she spoke, I started to think that this was going pretty well. Three minutes into our conversation and I hadn’t yet sparked an international incident. I should say right here that I have something of a problem with Scandinavia and its surroundings. Not with the people. Not with the countries. But with telling the countries apart. I mean no disrespect, especially with the prince and princess in town, but I constantly find myself asking: Which one is that again? Finland? Sweden? Denmark? Is Denmark Dutch? They both start with D. And what’s with The Netherlands? Does having an article in its name give the others a complex? Does Norway secretly want to be The Norway?

I decided not to ask. Instead, I listened to the prince and princess talk about how they were at the opening of the Innovation House nearly two years ago and how pleased they are that 25 Norwegian companies are using the incubator.

“To see the success that it’s become,” the princess said, “is really impressive.”

In fact, it’s been such a success that Innovation House plans to expand this summer, which is news we should cheer. After all, if some Norwegian innovation is good, more Norwegian innovation is better.

Contact Mike Cassidy at mcassidy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5536. Follow him at Twitter.com/mikecassidy.