Norway’s Maritime Knowledge Hub initiative sets sail
Norway’s largest ever private investment in maritime knowledge development was launched with the full support of public and private leaders in Oslo on 16 June 2008.
The ministers of Research and Higher Education and Trade and Industry expressed their support for the effort, and China’s ambassador to Norway was in the audience in honor of a professorship dedicated to Norwegian-Chinese business studies.
Roughly NOK 100 million will be put up by private sponsors to fund maritime professorships at selected universities around Norway. Other fields of study range from High North Logistics and Arctic Technology, to Ship Design and Environmentally Friendly Shipping. Sponsors include such maritime flagships as DNV/Det Norske Veritas, Wilhelmsen, Kongsberg Maritime and Leif Höegh. Sponsorships run for five years, after which time the Norwegian government will assume responsibility for funding of the chairs.