MARITIME INDUSTRY AND ENGINEERING. Our utilization of the sea has played a decisive role in increasing prosperity in Norway, both directly—though the resources we have harvested and the income earned; but also through the industries created by shipping operations and maritime activities. This significant value creation is based on knowledte and expertise, in which research is playing an increasingly important role.

THE OIL AND GAS EPOCH in Norway began in April 1965, when the first North Sea Continental Shelf grid areas were leased. The first discovery occurred a couple years later, and in 1971 production began on the Ekofisk-field, in the southern corner of the Norwegian sector. Today, Norway is the world's second largest oil exporter, after Saudi Arabia. In 1999 the value of oil exports was 168 billion, and accounted for approximately 15% of the nation's income.

FISHERIES TECHNOLOGY AND AQUACULTURE is Norway's second largest export industry, after oil and gas. Our nation is one of the world's largest exporters of seafood, sending approximately 95% of all production abroad. Norway is also one of the biggest fish farming nations, specializing in the production of salmon and trout. Technological challenges still remain, tied to issues of efficiency and the environment.

Trondheim Marine Systems RI (Research Infrastructure): To advance the development of marine measurement, monitoring and modelling, a complex array of facilities and sophisticated instrumentation are provided, both within technology and marine sciences. This gives scientists the opportunity to conduct interdisciplinary research at the boundary of the marine environment and advanced instrument development. [ more concerning facilities and access ]

Centre for Ships and Ocean Structures (CeSOS ): seeks to develop fundamental knowledge about how ships and other structures behave in the ocean environment, using analytical, numerical and experimental studies. This knowledge is vital, both now and in the future, for the design of safe, cost effective and environmentally friendly structures as well as in the planning and execution of marine operations. [ CeSOS ]

Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre (UTC):
Marine propellers must also perform well in rough weather. One might think this obvious, but the fact is that up until today propellers and propulsion systems have been designed for optimum performance in calm waters. Rough weather operations have been taken into account using only crude safety factors. In order to further understanding and provide the necessary tools for the rational design of propellers and propulsors in rough water operations, Rolls-Royce Marine, MARINTEK and NTNU have engaged in a ten-year research programme focusing on seaway performance. The name of this particular UTC is «Performance in a Seaway». [ Rolls-Royce UTC site ]

CyberMar (Marie Curie Training Site): is a multidisciplinary research and development program addressing the integration of mathematical modelling of marine structural dynamics and hydrodynamics, control engineering and information technology. [ more about CyberMar ]

Extreme Wave Load Effects in Sea Structures: A Strategic University Program (SUP), which deals with the nonlinear behaviour – motions and structural response – of ships and other sea surface structures, subjected to chaotic wave action. [ more concerning this SUP ]

FPSO Operational Safety: considered are individuals, procedures, organisation and environment, or classified alternatively; equipment, people and management systems, all within the framework of culture and environment. [ more about FPSO Operational Safety ]

Ship Propulsion in Extreme Seas - SeaPro
The objective of the project is to develop knowledge and tools for optimisation of ships and ship propulsion systems for operation in heavy sea conditions, with respect to safety, reliability and efficiency. [ SeaPro webpage ]

Viscous Flow Around Ships and Other Marine Constructions: A Strategic University Program (SUP) focusing on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) . The program is a collaboration involving several research environments at NTNU, the primary actors being: Marine Hydrodynamics (IMT), Fluids Engineering (EPT), and Applied Mathematics (IME and SINTEF).[ more about Marine CFD ]