NTNU and VARD with collaboration agreement
Norway’s largest university, NTNU and VARD formalize their collaboration through an agreement to help strengthen collaboration in research, education, innovation, and dissemination. The collaboration is based on NTNU's desire to ensure industry-oriented and relevant research and education, and VARD's desire for recruitment and relevant educational and research collaborations.
02. May 2024
The agreement is between VARD and NTNU’s Department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering and the Department of ICT and Science on the basis that the parties want a long-term collaboration defined through specific projects and activities.
-We will collaborate in areas that are relevant to both parties. For VARD, technology development, digitalization, and the green transition of ocean operations are of particular interest,
– Håvard Vollset Lien, Vice President Research & Innovation in VARD.
- We can contribute with practical expertise to the study programs on several levels, with relevant issues for bachelor's and master's theses, guest lectures, excursions and collaboration in research and innovation projects, to name a few.
– Håvard Vollset Lien
The agreement will cover collaboration in areas of common interest such as technology development, digitalisation and the green transition, and will include education and competence development, research and innovation projects, access to locations and cooperation on seminars and meeting places.
The main purpose of the agreement is to strengthen the professional collaboration regarding education, research, innovation and dissemination. NTNU in Ålesund is known for being close to the business community and we offer relevant educational programs, research projects, innovation, and dissemination activities.
– Hans Petter Hildre, Head of Department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering at NTNU.
Fruitful collaboration
NTNU and VARD have a long tradition of cooperating at different levels. A more recent example is the Maritime Innovation Bootcamp case-solving competition, which was conducted for the first time in Norway in the fall of 2023. During the bootcamp, 30 students from NTNU’s 3 Norwegian locations were presented with a case about the offshore wind industry made by VARD where they were given four days to outline a solution to the challenges. The students received input from GCE Blue Maritime, Equinor, Vard and Seaonics in the process. The bootcamp provided many good solutions and one of the students is already employed by VARD.
On the photo:
Anne Seth - Head of innovation at Department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering at NTNU, Hans Petter Hildre - Head of Department of Ocean Operations and Civil Engineering at NTNU, Inger Johanne Krohn - Head of Innovation at Department for ICT and Science, Håvard Vollset Lien - Vice President Research and Innovation in VARD, and Kjetil Clementsen Vice President HR and Organization in VARD.