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2024

The board's annual report

Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery with Director Frode Meinich and Chairman Dag Terje Andersen. Photo: Jill Bottolfsen

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology Foundation is one of Norway's largest contemporary and historical museums. The museum is the national museum for technology, natural sciences, industry and medicine and aims to visualize and spread knowledge about the interaction between these fields and society at large. The museum is housed in its own premises at Kjelsås in Oslo and is mainly financed through public funds. In addition, there is income from private actors, as well as own income.

The overall goals, challenges and areas of focus of the organization follow the guidelines related to the transfers from the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate of Health, the Ministry of Digitalization and Public Administration and the Ministry of Education, as well as the museum's statutes. The museum's main goal is to secure tangible and intangible cultural heritage from the past and present as an irreplaceable source of insight, identity and experience.

The museum is subject to the Openness Act. The museum explained its due diligence assessments in a separate report for 2024 that was published on the museum's website: https://www.tekniskmuseum.no/museumsinformasjon. The report for 2025 will be published by June 30, 2025 at the same location.

In 2024, the museum had 217,739 visitors at the museum and 14,664 visitors at external venues, for a total of 232,403 visitors. The number of visitors is slightly lower than in 2023, when the number of visitors was 236,856. The number of visitors at the museum is registered in the museum's cash register system.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology is in a unique position among museums in Norway when it comes to visits by children and young people. A total of 124,964 people under the age of 18 visited the museum in 2024, which corresponds to 53.8 percent of the visits. The museum was visited by 50,187 schoolchildren and teachers. This is 3,352 more than in 2023. Schoolchildren make up 40.2 percent of the proportion of children and young people who visit the museum. In the future, the museum will work to further develop its current operations and visitor numbers.

Mediation

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology focuses broadly on communication through producing new exhibitions and having an extensive school program, a broad activity program and events aimed at special target groups. The museum's main focus in 2024 has been the completion of the exhibition ENERGY in the Time of Climate Crisis , which opened in January 2024, and the temporary exhibition Models and Miniatures , which opened in November 2024.

Administration

The museum's collections consist of more than 91,000 objects, 2.9 million photographs, 1,700 metres of archive shelving and more than 140,000 books and journals. 2,054 photographs were catalogued and 403 objects were registered in 2024.

Research

The museum participates in several research projects led by various institutions, and itself leads a larger project supported by the Directorate of Culture.

The project Sustainable Energy Narratives. Industrial Museums Meet the Climate Crisis (2021-2025) is supported by the Directorate of Culture's Social Role Programme and led by The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology .

The project Active Collaboration for Sustainability Communication in Museums (2024-2027) is supported by the Directorate of Culture through the program Active Collaboration – Three-Year Projects and is led by the Museums of Akershus.

The museum has participated in the research project The boundaries of private life: sociality and belonging in digital everyday life (2020-2024), led by the Department of Social Anthropology at UiO and funded by the Research Council of Norway.

The book project Norwegian Photo History 1940 to 2011 is a collaboration with the Norwegian Folkemuseum, Preus Museum and the National Library, with support from the Norwegian Photographers' Association, which will result in a book published by Forlaget Press in 2025.

The research project Reduce – less plastic in everyday life is led by SIFO at OsloMet and is funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Two employees have been pursuing doctoral studies that are scheduled to be completed in 2025;

Doctoral project The Hofgaard machine – an early Norwegian computer? was initiated at the Department of Historical Studies at NTNU in 2019. The project is based on an item in the museum's collection, which can shed new light on early computer history.

The doctoral project The Creation of Modern Beer in Christiania in the Period 1860-1890 was also started at the Department of Historical Studies at NTNU in 2019. The project is based on the museum's historical archive of Ringnes Brewery.

National museum networks

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology is responsible for coordinating and developing the National Museum Network for the History of Health and Medicine and the Network for the History of Technology and Industry. In addition, the museum participates in the Network for Science Centres, the Network for Workers' Culture and Working Life History, the Network for Photography, the Network for Music and Musical Instruments, the Contemporary Network and the Network for Women's History.

International cooperation

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has been active in several international networks and collaborative projects. The museum is a member of Artefacts, an international museum network focusing on museum research in the history of technology and science. The museum participates in the European research project Museums and Industry: Long Histories of Collaboration, which started in 2023 and ends in 2025. The National Medical Museum is a member of the steering committee of the International Association of Medical Museums.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's Friends

The Friends of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology Association is formally independent of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology Foundation, and maintains its own accounts. Fifty percent of the paid membership fee goes to the museum, which amounted to NOK 385,000 in 2024. The Friends of the Association members have free admission to the museum. The personal membership of the association was 1,187 in 2024 and the number of corporate members was 6.

Organization, construction and health, environment and safety

Frode Meinich is the museum director. The museum employed a total of 107 people and 71.5 man-years of work were performed in 2024. One work accident resulting in minor injuries was registered in 2024. Sickness absence was 6.1 percent. Work on health, environment and safety has been carried out in line with plan and budget. The museum does not conduct activities that pollute the external environment beyond what is permitted by laws and regulations.

The museum building was built in 1985 and today bears the marks of 40 years of wear and tear. Expenses for operation and necessary maintenance of the museum buildings in 2024 were NOK 9,699,706, which is 21.9 percent below budget. The reason for this is lower electricity prices than budgeted. Other operation and maintenance costs are in line with budget.

With support from Enova, the museum has replaced three ventilation systems, installed a heat pump and switched to LED lighting in large parts of the museum building in 2024. Total investment costs for the measures have been NOK 9,890,461, of which NOK 3,255,387 has been financed with support from Enova.

Measures against discrimination and for accessibility

The museum emphasizes gender equality, and there is equal pay for equal work. 61 of the employees were women and 46 were men. The museum has eight employees with an ethnic minority background. In its outreach work, the museum has a particular focus on accessibility. In 2024, the museum has, among other things, continued a project with outreach aimed at people with dementia, outside the museum's regular opening hours. The exhibition spaces are in most areas satisfactorily adapted for people with disabilities. A report on the museum's report under the Equality and Discrimination Act can be found in the museum's annual report.

Economy

The museum's financial risk is considered to be limited. The museum has investments in securities funds with a total market value of NOK 15,705,470, in addition to bank deposits.  

The museum has good management, financial control and liquidity. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for basic financing of the operation with NOK 38,890,000. The Ministry of Health and Care Services, through the Directorate of Health, has contributed NOK 8,050,000 to the National Medical Museum. For the operation and development of the Science Centre, the museum received NOK 9,050,000 from the Science Centre Committee, appointed by the Research Council of Norway on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Research. For the operation of the telecommunications area, the museum received NOK 5,714,000 in grants from the Ministry of Digitalisation and Public Administration.

Of the funds received from private businesses, the museum has recorded NOK 10,312,068 in income as used funds. The largest private contributions are from Ferd with NOK 3,578,958 to The Talent Centre , Sparebankstiftelsen with NOK 2,843,483 to the projects Talentsenter Oslo øst, Kodekunst KI, Dextra, Super:bit 2.0 and digital creative power AI, Equinor with NOK 1,608,612 to the exhibition ENERGY in the time of the climate crisis , Tekna with NOK 1,072,966 for free admission and education for selected groups, Sat Sapienti with NOK 200,000 and the Bergesenstiftelsen with NOK 150,000 to the exhibition Models and miniatures . The Dam/Save the Children Foundation has contributed NOK 200,000 to the project digital time travel. The museum has received a number of smaller contributions totaling NOK 658,049. In addition, the museum's operations are financed by entrance fees, sales in the museum shop and other own income.

Total operating revenues in 2024 were NOK 101,408,466. This is NOK 6,220,685 below budget. This is due to lower revenues from private business, as well as lower ticket, shop and event revenues than budgeted. The result for 2024 shows a surplus of NOK 2,487,800 which is added to equity. The foundation capital and other equity are considered adequate for continued operation. The accounts are based on the principle of going concern, as the basis for this is present. The board believes that the accounts, together with the board's report, provide a true and fair view of the development and results of the museum's activities and financial position. Board liability insurance has been taken out.

Board of Trustees

The board of The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology has overall responsibility for the company's strategy, finances and development. Through close cooperation with management, the board ensures that the business is run in line with goals and values. Here is the composition of the board for 2024.

 

 

From left: Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg, Runa Haug Khoury, Trond Markussen, Arnfinn Bjerkestrand, Dag Terje Andersen (chairman), Ragnar Skjærstad, Sebastian Hungerer, Torhild Skåtun and Zaineb Al-Samarai. Photo: Håkon Bergseth

Board composition 2024

Appointed by the Ministry of Culture:
Chosen by the association
Friends of the Norwegian Technical Museum:
Chosen by and among the staff
at The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology :
Dag Terje Andersen (chairman of the board) Trond Markussen Torhild Skåtun
Zaineb Al-Samarai Ragnar Skjærstad Sebastian Hungerer
Arnfinn Bjerkestrand Anne Brit Thoresen
(1st deputy member)

Siri Hanna Svarthumle
(1st deputy member)

Lise L. Randeberg Nils Marstein
(2nd deputy member)

Endre Fodstad
(2nd deputy member)

Runa Haug Khoury    

Antonio Cataldo, (1st alternate member)

   

Rolf Yngve Uggen, (2nd deputy member)

   
Communication and market