Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The engineering education in Trondheim began with Trondhjems Tekniske Læreanstalt (Trondheim Technical College) in 1870, and in 1910, Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) opened officially. In 2010, NTNU celebrated the 250th anniversary of Trondheim Academy. NTNU also celebrated the 100th anniversary of NTH in the same year. The centennial was also celebrated by the publication of several books, among them a history of the university, entitled "Turbulens og tankekraft. Historien om NTNU" which translates as "Turbulence and mindpower: The history of NTNU".

1700s

Det Trondhiemske Selskab (Trondheim Academy), Norway's first academic society, was founded in 1760. In 1767, it changed its name to the Royal Norwegian Society of Science and Letters (DKNVS) upon receiving recognition from the Danish-Norwegian king. DKNVS library – today known as NTNU Gunnerus Library – was founded in 1768, and is Norway's oldest library.

1800s

First proposal for a Norwegian Polytechnical Institute was made in 1833. Trondhjems Tekniske Læreanstalt (Trondheim Technical College) or TTL was founded in 1870. The newly formed school educated engineers of various fields. In 1898, TTL moved to a larger building in Munkegata. TTL was disbanded in the 1900s, giving a way to a Norwegian Institute of Technology.

1900–1968

In 1900, the Norwegian Parliament passed a resolution supporting the establishment of Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH) in Trondheim. NTH was officially opened on 15 September 1910. Five academical departments were originally present in the parliament's resolution of 31 May 1900, such as Architecture and Urban Planning, Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering (a. General and b. Naval, i.e. ship and ship engine construction), Electrical engineering, and Chemistry (a. General and b. Electro-chemistry).

In 1922, Norwegian College of Teaching in Trondheim (NLHT) opened at Lade gård.

In 1950, Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning (Industrial and Technical Research Centre) or SINTEF was founded as part of NTH and as its link to Norwegian industry.

1968–1996

The University of Trondheim (UNiT) was established in 1968, and the Department of Medicine (later the Faculty of Medicine) was established as part of UNiT in 1974. It was designed by the architect Henning Larsen. In 1984, NLHT also absorbed the Norwegian College of General Sciences (AVH) as part of UNiT.

1996–2016

On 1 January 1996, the University of Trondheim became the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). As early as 1989, NTH Rector Karsten Jakobsen had broached the idea of a Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. On 21 March 1995 the Parliament, with barely a majority after a long debate, decided to establish NTNU in Trondheim. In 2012 the popular trivia game Kahoot was founded in by Johan Brand, Jamie Brooker and Morten Versvik in a joint project with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. They teamed up with Professor Alf Inge Wang and were later joined by Norwegian entrepreneur Åsmund Furuseth.

2016–present

In 2014, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research asked the country's universities and university colleges to provide suggestions, observations, and ideas for rebuilding Norway's institutions of higher education. The context of the request was that the Norwegian government wanted to cut back on the number of institutions in the sector.

The NTNU board decided on 28 January 2015 to merge NTNU with the University Colleges of Sør-Trøndelag, Ålesund and Gjøvik to form a new university that would retain the university's current name, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The merger, which went into effect in January 2016, made NTNU Norway's largest single university.

Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering

The Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering has seven departments:

Department of Computer Science

Department of Electric Energy

Department of Electronic Systems

Department of Engineering Cybernetics

Department of ICT and Natural Sciences (in Ålesund)

Department of Information Security and Communication Technology

Department of Mathematical Sciences

The Trøndelag Health Study, with the HUNT Research Centre and HUNT Biobank located in Levanger, is organized under the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

Research vessel

The NTNU operates a research vessel, 'Gunnerus' named after Johan Ernst Gunnerus. It has been in operation since 2006 and can serve as a platform for ROVs. The vessel is 31.25m length and was retrofitted/upgraded in 2017/2018.

Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience

The fifteenth Kavli Institute was inaugurated at NTNU in 2007, as the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, which was the fourth Kavli Institute in neuroscience in the world and the first Kavli Institute in Northern Europe. In 2012, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg opened the Norwegian Brain Centre as an outgrowth of NTNU's Kavli Institute. It is one of the largest research laboratories of its kind in the world.

Enabling technologies

NTNU has funded the fundamental long-term research and infrastructure through three Enabling Technologies such as NTNU Biotechnology, NTNU Digital and Nano@NTNU.

Research excellence

NTNU Research Excellence is an initiative to develop elite researchers and research groups in international class, which was launched in 2013, and includes established and new initiatives. The established initiatives are financed by the Research Council of Norway, the EU, and private-sectors (R&D), while the new initiatives are funded by NTNU's own funds in light of strategic prioritization of NTNU's resources. These cover a number of research funding schemes including Outstanding Academic Fellows Programme, Onsager Fellowship Programme, K.G. Jebsen Centres, EU projects, and ERC grants. NTNU participates in about 218 projects in the EU Horizon 2020 Framework Program.

NTNU-SINTEF partnership

NTNU works closely with SINTEF, Scandinavia's largest independent research institute and one of the largest contract research organizations in Europe, which is integrated into NTNU Campuses. The cooperation of NTNU and SINTEF has been further developed through the project "Better Together", which was launched in 2014. The research collaboration includes a number of joint research laboratories, for example:

Gemini Centres: NTNU and SINTEF have established a wide range of Gemini Centres. Scientific groups with parallel interests coordinate their scientific efforts and jointly operate their resources.

MARINTEK: It has been working in the area of the developing of cost-effective and high-performance ships with the usage of model testing in the laboratories. It provides testing facilities, expertise, and analytical tools for developing ship concepts. MARINTEK is located at the NTNU Department of Marine Technology, and has recently joined SINTEF Ocean.

Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre: Rolls-Royce Marine, MARINTEK, and NTNU has been working on the development of propellers, propulsion systems, ship designs, and various ship equipment. The Rolls-Royce University Technology Centre is focused on propellers and propulsion in waves and off-design conditions.

NTNU NanoLab: It works in the area of providing collaborative research environment for scientists within the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, electrical engineering, materials technology and medical research. The research activities are carried out in collaboration with SINTEF.

SINTEF Energy Lab: Its energy laboratories provide important tools for development of energy solutions and power systems. It has a wide range of experimental facilities in different areas of Electric Power Engineering from High Voltage Technology to Power Electronics. The research activities are application-based and are carried out in close collaboration with NTNU.

The Gas Technology Centre: It works in the area of multidisciplinary research and the natural gas value chain. The centre is the largest natural gas research- and educational centre in Norway, located at NTNU.

Norwegian Fuel Cell Hydrogen Centre, a joint initiative taken by SINTEF, NTNU and Institute for Energy Technology (IFE).