Climate-KIC Nordic welcomes their first Norwegian partner – NTNU

Climate-KIC Nordic is pleased to announce their first Norwegian partner, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). 

As part of Climate-KIC Nordic’s expansion strategy in 2015 we are in dialogue with three top academic institutions in Norway, Finland and Sweden.

NTNU – The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is the first of these to join this year.

NTNU and Climate-KIC in Norway

NTNU is already involved in Climate-KIC activities as national coordinator for the Climate Launchpad competition. We are now moving ahead with activities in all areas and the newly appointed NTNU Climate-KIC Coordinator is liaising with Leads at the Nordic office.

Susanne Pedersen, Director of Climate-KIC Nordic is very pleased to welcome NTNU as our first Norwegian partner:

“Since we initiated the dialogue with NTNU they have shown utmost engagement and dedication. They have worked hard to establish an internal organisation to handle Climate-KIC activities as efficiently as possible. We see NTNU as a key partner in our endeavours to expand our activities into Norway. We have been determining our road map for Norway in close cooperation with them, in terms of which industrial partners to invite into Climate-KIC. Together we are now pushing forward and hope to include one or two major cities with climate ambitious agendas into the community as well as four to five corporate partners during the coming year.

This will give added value to the existing and expanding Nordic network – and to Climate-KIC as a whole.”

Introducing NTNU

NTNU is based in Trondheim and is the second largest university in Norway with 23 000 students and 5000 employees. As of 2016 NTNU will merge with three smaller Norwegian university colleges and will subsequently be Norway’s largest university with 37 000 students and 6500 employees.

NTNU has a national responsibility for technology research and education in Norway and educates 85 % of the Master of Technology candidates and 90 % of the technology Ph.D. candidates in Norway. NTNU’s main profile is in technology and the sciences, but the university also encompasses social science, humanities, art, architecture and medicine. Consequently, NTNU has special opportunities and a specific mandate from the Norwegian government to engage in cross-disciplinary research and education. This includes to a very large degree also the climate area where long-term university-wide strategic programmes are running.

Smart Cities and the Built Environment

Sustainability and energy, the cross-disciplinary strategic fields which cover all the Climate KIC thematic platforms are key areas of expertise at NTNU. NTNU is especially strong in the smart cities area, the energy efficiency field and in energy systems analyses – NTNU is hosting long-term national excellence centres and offers International Master’s and Ph.D. Programmes in these areas.

NTNU is working on improving the built environment by developing competitive products and solutions for existing and new buildings. The goal is to achieve market penetration of buildings that have zero emissions of greenhouse gases related to material use, operation and demolition, with activities ranging from development of new materials e.g. nano insulation materials to realising full scale demonstration buildings. For more details please visit The NTNU Centre for Zero Emission Building: http://www.zeb.no/

With its broad scope of disciplines in technology and social sciences, NTNU is aptly fit to contribute to the emerging field of smart cities and communities in a creative and innovative manner, and help solve complex urban challenges involving energy, climate, environment, mobility, economy, planning processes and citizens on the road to a low-carbon society. Find out more about the Smart Cities Initiative at NTNU: https://www.ntnu.edu/smartcities

Links to the Corporate World

NTNU has close collaboration with industrial partners and a strong emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship. In the newly published U-Multirank they received a top score of A on indicators such as external funding and cooperation with industrial partners. NTNU has for many years also been one of the highest ranked institutions in the Leiden ranking of universities collaborating with industry.

The NTNU innovation ecosystem includes the NTNU Technology Transfer AS, on-campus incubator, the NTNU School of Entrepreneurship, the NTNU Entrepreneurship Center, the Norwegian Research School in Innovation, student’s initiatives such as Start NTNU and venture cups and regional triple helix cooperation. Approximately 20 spin-outs come out of NTNU every year.

NTNU offers some 40 International master programmes targetted for international recruitment and international collaboration. Mandatory entrepreneurship courses are included in all master programmes.  

Contacts

For any further information regarding NTNU as a new partner, please contact Nina or Irina.

Nina Sindre
Coordinator of International Affairs, Rector’s Office
Norwegian University of Science and Technology – NTNU
nina.sindre@ntnu.no
Office: + 47 73 59 80 17
Mobile: + 47 908 65 688
www.ntnu.no

Irina Nystén
Partner Coordinator
Climate-KIC Nordic
irina@climate-kic-nordic.org
Office: + 45 4525 1258
Mobile: + 45 9351 1250