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Organization

Organization

Photo: Lars Opstad

Visitor numbers

For the first time since before the pandemic, the museum has come through a normal year in terms of visits and had 236,856 visitors in 2023. The summer offered high visitor numbers, while the rest of the year has been variable. We have also been able to bring back the school classes in full, and in 2023 we have had visits from 46,835 pupils and teachers.

In addition to the number of visitors to the museum, 16,071 visitors have been registered at external venues. These are external teaching and courses at the Oslo creator festival, the World's Coolest Day, external soap bubble and science shows, Talent Hubs, teacher courses, visits to Bergen Radio, Rundemanen and in the museum's exhibition in Lødingen.

Key figures for visits

number of visits graph

Visit Total Adults  in% Children & young people in% Of which school visits in%
2012 257 209 114 921 45 % 142 288 55 % 55 950 22 %
2013 248 914 115 100 46 % 133 814 54 % 49 460 20 %
2014 262 604 121 552 46 % 141 052 54 % 52 890 20 %
2015 247 607 112 999 46 % 134 608 54 % 48 577 20 %
2016 288 121 135 745 47 % 152 376 53 % 52 256 18 %
2017 254 921 120 433 47 % 134 488 53 % 47 466 19 %
2018 214 372 100 244 47 % 114 028 53 % 44 265 21 %
2019 252 984 120 033 47 % 132 951 53 % 45 882 18 %
2020 108 373 53 948 50 % 54 425 50 % 15 638 14 %
2021 107 443 52 444 49 % 54 999 51 % 19 195 18 %
2022 235 157 109 943 47 % 125 214 53 % 47 410 20 %
2023 236 856 105 015 44 % 131 841 56 % 46 835 20 %
Visit Total visits Of which physical meetings at external arenas
2023 236 856 16 071*

* Oslo maker festival, World's Coolest Day, science show and soap bubble show, talent center branches, teacher's course and Rundemanen.

Business operations

Business operations

Visitor figures and income associated with this are beginning to normalize and stabilize after the pandemic and we see good figures for the museum shop and for the cafe. As a family museum, we are vulnerable to people's financial priorities when the overall cost of living increases. In the budget process for 2023, account was taken of high and still rising expenses and a cautious budget was set, which has turned out to be going as expected.

Income from ticket sales

The number of visitors and ticket revenue from this constitutes the museum's largest source of own earnings. Ticket revenue for 2023 was NOK 16,451,246 against the budgeted NOK 15,720,000.

Shop and reception

The museum shop's profile and selection of products is linked to the concept of Learning through Play and has a wide selection of toys, games and books for children and adults. The museum shop had a turnover of NOK 5,457,920 in 2023. The museum shop must signal communication with the public around products and themes relevant to the museum's content, and highlight the connection between the public reception, the museum shop and the museum itself.

Techno cafe

Tekno Kafé AS has since 2007 run the 480 m² museum cafe which follows the museum's opening hours. Owners are Anna Kokolis and Ioannis Moutafis. The rental income from the cafe amounted to NOK 1,163,605 in 2023

A table set for dinner with flowers
Photo: Cathrine Heiberg

Rental business for events and companies

In 2023, several large conferences, professional days, family days, kick-offs, companies and many smaller meetings were organized in the museum's premises for both the public sector and private business. The museum is also used as a dialogue arena for many of our major sponsors and partners. Many of our rental customers choose our dissemination activities such as Rocket Launch, Vinyl Printing and BitBotBattle as part of their own team building and culture building.  

The main focus in 2023, in addition to bringing in new customers, has been to streamline and improve the implementation of rental arrangements at the museum. Event activities make a positive contribution to achieving the museum's financial goals and objectives regarding the dissemination of knowledge in technology, industry, medicine and natural sciences. In 2023, the rental business had a turnover of NOK 2,292,903.

Working environment and HSE

  • The museum's working environment committee has held four meetings in 2023.
  • The museum has aimed to reduce sickness absence, and managers have worked actively with measures. The target of not exceeding 4 per cent was met when the sickness absence percentage landed at 3.6 per cent.
  • An internal audit has been carried out with the aim of further improving internal routines and a risk mapping with an action plan from the management group has been drawn up, and reviewed with the safety representative and committee.
  • The museum has had extensive collaboration with the occupational health service Avonova. Occupational health examinations were carried out in the winter of 2022/2023. Employees have also been offered and had an ergonomic survey of the workplace carried out. Reports have been drawn up from Avonova following these investigations and a cooperation plan has been entered into in line with the occupational health service .
  • ROS analysis for chemical use and handling was carried out in September 2023. New internal routines have been established, which include good cooperation across departments and work areas.
  • museum conducts employee surveys every other year and did this again in the spring of 2023. The results show an improvement in well-being and work quality among employees in all areas, and the museum continues its efforts to focus on measures to develop and improve everyday working life.
  • The implementation of regular general meetings, interdisciplinary presentations under Kaffe & Kunnskap, and use of a new intranet called Innsiden has improved internal communication and facilitated more transparency in museum operations. The aim of strategic internal communication is to support the foundation's strategy and long-term goals, to contribute to creating a desired organizational culture with motivated employees who are moving in the same direction. Employees therefore have several platforms where information is given and shared across all departments.
  • The social committee is breaking new ground and has recruited members from all departments. The focus is to set up social gatherings that are interesting for all employees, at least once a month.  

Work to promote equality and prevent discrimination

Staffing

In 2023, the museum had 98 employees who performed 68 man-years. During the year, 5 employees were appointed in three permanent and two temporary positions. Two employees have left the museum. At the end of the year, the museum had 76 permanent employees. 56 per cent of the employees were women and 44 per cent of the employees were men.   

Equal pay 

In 2023, the museum has carried out a survey of equal pay at the museum. The mapping shows that there is equal pay for equal work at the museum. Salary level for the various job categories is linked, among other things, to seniority and level of education. There will therefore be some differences in salary levels among employees in the same job category that are not linked to gender. Equal pay is ensured through the museum's salary and seniority system. Salary placement of new employees is linked to job category, education and professional experience.  

2023

Gender balance 

Payment 

Women 

Men 

Total 

Women (%) 

Men (%) 

Total this year 

55 

43

98 

 54

 46

Last year 

53

42

95

 54

 46

Leader this year 

0 

1 

1 

0 

100 

Last year 

0 

1 

1 

0 

100 

Middle manager this year 

7

5 

12 

57 

43 

Last year 

6

 6

12

 49

 51

Conservator this year 

6

5 

11

51 

49 

Last year 

7

5

12

54

46

Teacher this year 

8

7 

15 

53 

47 

Last year 

7

6

13

 55

 45

Other professional positions this year 

8

5

13 

62 

38

Last year 

6

5

12

58

 42

Administrative positions this year 

3 

0 

3 

100 

0 

Last year 

3

0 

3 

100 

0 

Operating and technician positions this year 

0 

8

8

0 

100 

Last year 

0 

8 

8 

0 

100 

Supervisor/receptionist this year 

23

12

35 

68 

32 

Last year 

24

 11

35

 68

 32

The museum has also mapped the status with regard to part-time work, sick leave, leave and personnel policy measures based on gender: 

2023

Women 

Men

Part time 

 19

13

Temporary positions 

14

8

Absence 

 3.8 percent

 3.4 percent

Parental leave 

1

 0

Personnel policy measures: 

Further education 

3

3

Personnel policy measures: 

Senior measures 

3 

2 

Part-time work at the museum is mainly linked to the fact that the museum has 7-day operations and has employed several younger employees who only work at weekends and holidays. These employees are often full-time students alongside their work at the museum. The museum also has a number of on-call guards, which are categorized here under temporary positions. The on-call guards work in the event of sickness absence, holiday completion or other short-term need for staffing. Other temporary work is mainly linked to the implementation of projects with external funding for a limited period. The museum has had an employee on parental leave in 2023.   

The museum's measures for greater diversity and against discrimination

The museum wants greater diversity among its employees. There is an ambition to increase diversity through new recruitment, but so far it has often proved challenging to get qualified applicants with a different ethnic background or a disability. All job advertisements must contain a diversity statement. Through collaboration with the district of Grorud, the museum has recruited on-call guards with an ethnic minority background to work at the museum.   

Both with regard to promotions and development opportunities among the employees, this is assessed regardless of gender, ethnicity and disability. The museum's management is gender-balanced, and both the museum's management and board have employees with an ethnic minority background.   

The museum has a major focus on increasing the skills and further education of its employees. In 2023, two employees are completing doctoral studies and four employees are completing university and college studies at lower level.  

Through employee surveys carried out at the museum in 2019, 2021 and 2023, cases of bullying and harassment, especially between colleagues, have been uncovered. The museum, especially through work in AMU, has discussed possible measures to reduce the incidence of bullying and harassment. The museum's employees are encouraged to use notification procedures if they experience or observe bullying and harassment. It is the work of raising awareness among employees and managers and clarifying responsibility. There have been cases of bullying/harassment from the public against museum staff based on their ethnic background and gender. In such cases, the public must be expelled from the museum.  

CARRYING POWER

Miljøfyrtårn

In 2023, the museum has implemented several major sustainable measures. In order to deliver on our obligations as an environmental beacon-certified company, we have prioritized the areas of the building that particularly affect our climate footprint. Our goals were particularly related to the reduction of energy consumption, source sorting plan, and the purchase of goods and services has been initiated as part of the museum's routines.   

The museum has carried out several public procurements linked to framework agreements, exhibition projects and ENØK measures in 2023. In this process, great emphasis has been placed on the providers' environmental work to ensure that the work that is done and the materials that are used are sustainable. In order to be assessed as a current collaboration partner for the museum, the supplier must meet environmental requirements and account for due diligence assessments for all environmentally relevant factors in accordance with The Transparency Act.

For the sake of the environmental policy, all employees are obliged to have a conscious relationship with these guidelines in their work. This applies, among other things, to the acquisition of new partnerships and new suppliers who have a requirement to offer eco-labelled goods and services.

The museum is in the process of implementing ENØK measures in the form of replacement of the plumbing system, which in the long term is a far more environmentally friendly source of heating for the museum. The aim is to continue to reduce energy consumption, as well as to modernize the building in a sustainable way.

In addition to reducing our impact on the external environment, we also want to develop our role as a contributor to the environmental discourse. We will also continue through 2023 to collaborate with national and international networks to investigate, develop and increase understanding of the climate discourse:

  • REDUCE, an interdisciplinary collaboration between researchers who will look at plastics from a systems perspective and examine how we can reduce the consumption of plastic products in everyday life.
  • Sustainable energy narratives, a collaborative project between museums, which examines how museums' historical and contemporary mandate can be used critically to develop new stories about energy and industry. The aim is to increase understanding of how energy and industry have been organised, communicated and made public knowledge through the museums' narratives.

Communication and market

Communication and market

The goal in the communication and marketing work is to safeguard and further develop the most important value driver, the museum's reputation, to welcome even more visitors and to find new exciting partners. This happens primarily through making the museum, exhibitions and activities known to the general population and to specific target groups. Communication mainly takes place in six arenas; own website, social media, paid marketing communications, editorial coverage in the media and to the public at the museum and at our external activities.

In the summer of 2023, we did a successful pilot with our newly purchased Promo-El cargo bike. It had its own branding, a skeleton in the till and an employee with little tricks up his sleeve. We cycled around places where there were many people, such as Frognerparken and in the center of Oslo.

Every year we carry out audience surveys to gain insight into the interests, preferences and wishes of our visitors to exhibitions, shops, reception, communication schemes and café offers. We are very satisfied with the result from 2023. It shows, among other things, that 84% think the museum experience was worth the money, 72% have visited the museum several times in the past and a whopping 95% would like to visit the museum again.

tekniskmuseum.no

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology got new websites in July 2023. The goal was to improve the digital user experience through a clear and recognizable profile, better reader-friendliness and easier navigation.

The work to move content from the old website has not yet been completed, and will continue into the first half of 2024. As part of this process, the museum is working to adapt the information to the requirements for universal design (WCAG standard), as well as optimizing the website for search engines.

During 2024, we will also lay down a long-term strategy for the website.

Web visits / Figures / Comment

 

Number of visits to the website 2023

Number of visits to the website 2022

January-March (Q1)

104 713

85 229

April-June (Q2)

89 722

91 183

July-Sep (Q3)

127 261

89 669

October-December (Q4)

92 521

82 079

Total unique visits

414 217

348 016

The biggest source of traffic to the website is search engines: 34.3% of visitors come from organic hits and 27.6% from paid ads (Google). Direct traffic accounts for 19.5% of the traffic.

The museum in the media

Culture Minister Lubna Jaffery (AP) and museum director Frode Meinich talk together and are photographed by two photographersMinister of Culture Lubna Jaffery and museum director Frode Meinich. Photo: Jill Bottolfsen The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology was mentioned in a total of 244 editorial stories, compared to 201 reports in 2022. Among the projects that aroused great interest and received a lot of press coverage were the museum's mention of the Royal Family getting rid of fossil cars and getting several new electric cars, that museums in Norway are struggling with maintenance and the museum's entry into the climate and energy debate with a new major exhibition, called ENERGY in the time of the climate crisis. Several articles in the local press also about the summer program, about a rare bowl that appeared and that the museum is looking for a sponsor and partner to establish a large planetarium at Kjelsås. Oslo Science Centre is also mentioned, in 9 stories in 2023.

Social Media

Social media is one of the museum's most important channels for communicating events, exhibitions and current topics. This also helps to make the museum's content available to a wider audience than physical visitors.

In 2023, the museum has increased its activity on Instagram and Facebook. There has been a particular focus on the production of short videos (stories) and posts. This has contributed to a strong increase in both engagement (likes, comments, shares and views) and clicks to the website.

Results 2023 / Comment

Several photos compiled from Facebook and Instagram stories

 

Facebook

Instagram

 

2023

Change (YoY)

2023

Change (YoY)

Followers

47 200

0%

5 800

+7%

Engagement

14 300

+62,7%

5 000

+100%

Range

749 000

-29,7%

75 100

+15,6%

Click to website

43 7000

+30,5%

400

+100%

Marketing communication

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology with the National Medical Museum and Oslo Science Centre is marketed through advertisements and promotional material for exhibitions, events and school programs online, in social media, newspapers, online newspapers, magazines, journals and through newsletters. The museum is marketed, among other things, through the regular advertisement under Museums in Oslo, which appears every week in the print and online editions of Aftenposten. The museum is a partner in Aktiv i Oslo and Visit Oslo and is visible in their publications: OsloPass, OsloKartet, What's On and OsloGuiden.

It also participates in selected fairs and conferences to promote the museum's offerings to the general public and to schools. In the summer of 2023, we also used an electric promo bike that our employees have ridden around Oslo, to promote Norway's funniest museum in a new way.

Marketing campaigns were carried out for the exhibitions Life and Death, I/O our telecommunications and computer exhibition, Royal cars, The limits of private life: New gatherings - new dividing lines, too SENT for those over 18, and the museum's weekend and holiday programme. In 2023, we have also put up posters in the museum's immediate environment and handed out small business cards at shopping centres, colleges and universities, shops and gathering places with our program offering to attract people in the local environment in a more active and slightly different way. Throughout the year in selected periods, it is marketed for school visits and our rental business for meetings, conferences, courses and parties. The main weight of the marketing in 2023 was on exhibitions and activities during weekends and holidays. Via the museum's paid advertising on Facebook and Instagram, 12 large campaigns have been run with a total of 4,028,051 exposures, seen by 477,063 people.

Useful links

Communication and market

Construction and safety

The museum's building stock consists of the museum building in Kjelsås, a magazine building in Gjerdrum municipality and a magazine in Fet municipality, totaling 29,792 m2, as well as two listed buildings connected to the Bergen Radio transmission station at Rundemanen. The museum owns all the buildings.

The building at Kjelsås is classified as a special fire object, which sets strict requirements for fire organisation, use of the premises and internal control. The museum building is directly connected with fire and theft alarms to the Oslo Fire and Rescue Service and the security company Avarn Securituy AS. A new widespread emergency plan has been drawn up in collaboration with Melfald Communications as part of the security plan 2023 – 2027.

  • The remote warehouses at Gjerdrum and in Fet are directly connected with fire and theft alarms to the Nedre Romerike fire and rescue service and the security company Avarn Security AS. 
  • The museum continues the work of implementing ENØK measures and has started with the replacement of three older ventilation units and the installation of an air/liquid heat pump solution which will become the main heating source for the museum. This is estimated to be completed by the summer of 2024, which means big power savings in the long term, as well as being much more environmentally friendly.
  • The museum received funding from the Culture Council in 2021 to install a new sprinkler system in the workshop building at Kjelsås, and the work was completed in the spring of 2023.
  • To increase fire safety, all manual fire detectors have been replaced in the museum building at Kjelsås. This measure has been carried out with the support of UNI.
  • The museum has received support from the cultural council to install new fire doors on all floors of the museum. This was completed in December 2023.  
  • The museum has run a tender for a framework agreement for electrician services that will come into force on 01.01.2024. In 2024, we are planning a tender for a framework agreement for plumbing services.

These investments are welcome measures which, in addition to being powerful energy-saving, can reduce expenses in the long term, regardless of high electricity costs.