Greater Trondheim is an incubator for good ideas

There are 36,000 students, 5,000 researchers/academics and a Nobel Prize for medicine in Greater Trondheim. Nowhere else in Norway does society invest more per capita in research and new knowledge. With the help of its knowledge communities, Trondheim is leading the way into the future.

The place for sharp minds
The brain power concentrated at NTNU and Sintef creates growth, prosperity and exciting job opportunities. Since 2010, work carried out at NTNU and Sintef has given rise to 130 tech startups. 171 existing companies in greater Trondheim can trace their roots to our research communities. We are at the forefront in areas such as brain research, ultrasound technology and renewable energy.

Where the exciting jobs are
Trondheim is like a Silicon Valley in miniature. Companies like Microchips (formerly Atmel), ARM, Nordic Semiconductor, Q-Free and Zedge supply high-tech solutions to customers worldwide. The most sophisticated components in market-leading mobile phones are “Made in Trondheim”. A Trondheim-based company, Sportradar, is the world’s leading supplier of sports statistics, collaborating with the largest sports organisations and leagues around the globe. And these are just some of the ideas, creativity and career opportunities that you will find here.

About us

Trondheim | Big things are happening in this small city

See all videos

Q-Free | Mobility technology from Trondheim

Fewer fatalities, thanks to Q-Free. Q-Free provides better traffic flow, cleaner air and safer traffic, with fewer fatalities and accidents. You can find transponders from Trøndelag in cars all over the world. Our transponders eliminate traffic congestion, improve city air and save lives. Fewer people die in traffic, thanks to technology from Trondheim. Our adventure started on the brand new E6 motorway in 1988. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration dreamed of automatic toll stations where traffic could pass without slowing down or stopping. The sharp minds at ‘little’ Q-Free –originally called Micro Design – solved the task without the Norwegian Public Roads Administration having to look for suppliers abroad. At the Ranheim toll station, just outside of Trondheim, we made the leap from manual toll booths and coin-operated machines to lightning-fast radio signals. We had our international breakthrough in Portugal in 1991, and today, Q-free is a listed technology company headquartered in Trondheim, with 400 employees at branch offices in 16 countries. We have offices in the USA, Australia, Canada, Chile, Russia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom and a number of other countries. Our technology is used for much more than collecting road tolls from cars travelling at high speeds. Today, our focus can be summed up with the keywords Flow, Clean, Safe – in other words, better traffic flow, cleaner air and safer traffic, with fewer fatalities and accidents. Q-Free is a world-leader in mobility technology.

Trondheim – The city of geniuses

Borgar Ljosland and his fellow students from NTNU were sitting in a bar when they hit on a great idea, and the conversation went something like this: “Should we do it this way or that way? Which is best? This way? Yes! Write it down on the napkin, quick!” The friends had discovered that it was possible to significantly improve mobile phones. A formula on a piece of paper produces perfect display graphics with minimal use of power. Their recipe for a new processor was to be the best in the world. Shockingly ambitious, but it worked. Borgar conquered the world. Did you know that over 13,000 people in Trondheim work in the technology sector? The city is home to 750 technology companies and offers unprecedented opportunities for people who are looking for an exciting job or have their own ideas for a smart start-up.

Carbon capture and storage | The hunt for the dangerous gas

The evil ‘climate genie’ is threatening the world as we know it. Mona Jacobsen Mølnvik has to catch him before it’s too late. Sintef’s Research Director is heading up work on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Trondheim. The city is an international hub for efforts to develop a technology to “bottle” greenhouse gases. The EU has named Trondheim the CCS capital of Europe, which would appear logical since it was two researchers at none other than Sintef who came up with the idea of capturing CO2 and storing the gas deep under the seabed. More than 30 years later, in laboratories and research centres, a quiet but dramatic race against time is underway. Now it’s a question of making the method effective and cheap enough to roll out on a large scale, before climate change spirals dangerously out of control.