SINTEF

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SINTEF
Type Private
Founded 1950
Headquarters Trondheim,Oslo and Bergen, Norway
Industry Research
Products Research projects
Employees 1900 (2006)
Parent NTNU(NTH)
Website www.sintef.no

SINTEF, headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, is the largest independent research organisation in Scandinavia. Every year, SINTEF supports research and development at 2,000 or so Norwegian and overseas companies via its research and development activity.

The acronym SINTEF means "The Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research" at the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH). SINTEF was established in Trondheim in 1950 and expanded rapidly in the following years. The largest expansion came in 1993 when the "Centre for Industrial Research" in Oslo merged with SINTEF and created the SINTEF Oslo campus.

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[edit] Locations

SINTEF has approximately 1900 employees, most of which are located in Trondheim, and approximately 350 in Oslo. There are also offices in Bergen, Stavanger and Ålesund, in addition to overseas offices in Houston, Texas (USA); Skopje, F.Y.R. of Macedonia; and Hirtshals, Denmark (the Hirtshals location being a laboratory installation).

[edit] Some key figures

  • In 2006, SINTEF had an income of some NOK 2 billion.
  • Over 90 per cent of the income came from commissions from industry and public administration, and from project funding from the Research Council of Norway. Basic funding from the Research Council amounts to approximately 7 per cent.
  • In 2006, SINTEF worked on more than 6000 projects for 2100 different clients.
  • Some 40 per cent of SINTEF's research staff holds a doctoral degree.


[edit] Partners

SINTEF works in close cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim and with the University of Oslo (UiO). The cooperation with NTNU involves personnel from NTNU working on SINTEF projects while SINTEF staff teaches at NTNU. In addition, there is extensive use of shared laboratories and equipment. More than 500 persons are employed both by NTNU and SINTEF.


[edit] International activities

In 2006, 12 per cent of SINTEF's turnover came from commissions outside of Norway. Approximately one third of the international turnover comes from research programmes in the EU. These projects have a high priority as SINTEF recognize the necessity of participating in multi-national knowledge development, and because the projects provide access to important networks.


[edit] Organisation

The SINTEF Group consists of the SINTEF Foundation and limited companies. The newest research division, SINTEF Building and Infrastructure, became a part of SINTEF on 1 january 2007 when the Norwegian Building Research Institute formally merged with SINTEF.

The limited company SINTEF Holding was established to separate SINTEF's commercial activity from the core activities of research and development. SINTEF Holding is a taxable entity, which comprises strategic ownership and newly established companies.


[edit] Innovation

SINTEF considers the development of new enterprises as a part of its social responsibility, and promote the commercialization of technology and ideas developed in SINTEF. Over the years, a large number of spin-offs, patents and licencees have originated at SINTEF.

Some SINTEF spin-off companies:


[edit] External links

The material in this article has to a large extent been copied from the SINTEF website.