Take a university with its main focus on science and technology. Add international top technology research institutes, season it with entrepreneurial drive and the result is a technological capital. Trondheim is often called Norway's technological capital. As the name of the university states - the Norwegian University of Science and Technology - NTNU has the main responsibility in Norway for education and research in technology.

NTNU educates 80 per cent of the graduate engineers in Norway and many of the alumni now hold senior positions in industry and the public sector. The university has focused on six strategic areas where technological expertise is to successfully compete on international markets.

These six strategic areas are energy and the environment, medical technology, materials technology, marine and maritime technology, information and communication technology and globalization.

A toll plaza in Sydney is controlled by Q-Free, an electronic payment system based on an idea originated at NTNU and industrialized by a spin-off company from the research environment in Trondheim. Photo: Q-free

The other technological axis which brings Trondheim to the international forefront is SINTEF, one of the largest independent research institutes in northern Europe.

There is considerable common research and use of staff, equipment and resources between SINTEF and NTNU. Many of the special purpose laboratories are operated jointly.

Trondheim has also become a technological centre in Norway for its efforts in entrepreneurship and innovation. Many spin-off companies have been formed and young scientists and established researchers are found among the managing directors in companies engaged in commercializing new technology.

One of the university campuses, Gløshaugen, has its own innovation centre. This is an extra helping hand in keeping the innovative spirit and momentum very much alive at NTNU and SINTEF.