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2021

The board's annual report

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 company's overall goals, challenges and areas of focus follow the guidelines linked to the transfers from the Ministry of Culture, the Directorate of Health, the Ministry of Local Government and Modernization and the Ministry of Education, as well as the museum's statutes. The museum's main aim is to secure tangible and intangible cultural heritage from the past and present as an irreplaceable source of insight, identity and experience.  

In 2021, the museum had 105,929 visitors at the museum, 1,464 visitors at external arenas and 2,965 participants in digital teaching, a total of 110,358. The visit corresponds to the visit in 2020, but represents a decrease from 2019 of 56.4 per cent. The decrease in visits is due to the Covid19 pandemic, which has, among other things, meant that the museum has been closed in the period 01.01.2021-28.05.2021 and has had reduced offers in the autumn of 2021. The visit to the museum is registered in the museum's checkout 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.  In total, 54,074 people under the age of 18 visited the museum in 2021, which corresponds to 51 percent of the total visit. The museum was visited by 19,195 school pupils and teachers. That is 4,764 more than in 2020, but significantly below school visits in the years before the pandemic. This is due, among other things, to travel restrictions at school during the pandemic. School pupils make up 36 per cent of the proportion of children and young people who visit the museum. In the future, the museum will work to further develop current operations and visitor numbers. 

Mediation

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology focuses widely on communication through producing new exhibitions and having extensive school activities, a broad program of activities and events aimed at special target groups.  The museum's main investment in 20 2 1 has been the new permanent exhibition on medicine - "Life and death" . In line with the museum's strategy, the museum has worked on renewing a basic exhibition on ICT - "I/O" , with a planned opening in 2022 . In collaboration with the National Museum, the museum has shown the exhibitions "Sand in the machinery" and "Gerhard Munthe - Adventurous interiors".

Administration

of  approximately 91,800 objects , 2,67 million photographs, 1,670 shelf meters of archive and more than 140 . 000 books. 23,712 were cataloged and 291 objects registered 2 1 .

Research

In addition to work with exhibitions and several book projects, there are three employees who are in the process of obtaining a doctorate; 

The doctoral project Museums potential in children's learning was started in autumn 2016 and is carried out at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester.  The project will explore how museums can be an active part of children and young people's learning world.

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. 

Doctoral project Enabling technologies for Norwegian beer exports from 1860-1900 was started in autumn 2019, and is being carried out at the Department of Historical Studies at NTNU. The project is based on the museum's historical archive after Frydenlund and Ringnes Bryggeri. 

The research project "Museums' topography of knowledge" (2018 – 2020) was initiated by The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and is carried out in collaboration with the Østfold Museums, Malmö Museums, Gothenburg City Museum and Tekniska Museum. The project is supported by the Norwegian Culture Council's museum development program Research in museums. The project has been continued in 2021 and will be completed in 2022.  

National museum networks

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology is responsible for the coordination and development of the Medical History Museum Network and the Network for Technology and Industrial History. In addition, the museum participates in the Network for knowledge centres, the Network for worker culture, the  Network for photography and the Network for music and musical instruments.

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's Friends

The association The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's friends is formally independent from The The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology , and keeps its own accounts. Fifty percent of the membership fee paid goes to the museum, which amounted to NOK  174,042 in 20 2 1 . The Venneforeningen has contributed with voluntary work to restore an industrial model from 1954. The Venneforeningen's members have free entry to the museum. The number of personal members in the association was 549 in 20 2 1 and the number of company members was 5 .

Organization, construction and health, environment and safety

Frode Meinich is museum director. The museum employed a total of 91 people and 64.2 man-years were carried out in 2021. There were no registered occupational accidents in 2021. Sick leave was 6.0 per cent. The work with health, environment and safety has been carried out in line with plan and budget. The museum does not operate 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 stamp of more than 35 years of wear and tear. Expenditure for operation and necessary maintenance of the museum buildings in 2021 was NOK 9,998,758, which is 17.6 per cent over budget.   

Measures against discrimination and for accessibility

Emphasis is placed on equality in the museum, and there  is equal pay for equal work. 51 of the employees were women and 40 were men. The museum has two employees with an ethnic minority background. In its dissemination work, the museum has a particular focus on accessibility. In 20 2 1, the museum has, among other things, continued a project with dissemination aimed at people with dementia, outside the museum's normal opening hours. The exhibition premises are partially adapted for people with reduced functional abilities. Reference is also to a separate chapter on the museum's diversity work in the museum's annual report for 2021.

Economy

The museum's financial risk is considered to be limited. The museum has investments in mutual funds with a total market value of NOK 13,706,576, in addition to bank deposits. In November 2021, the museum has paid off the remaining loan on the magazine building in Gjerdrum. Interest cost for the loan in 2021 was NOK 262,266.  

The museum's equity amounts to NOK 42,098,341, of which the share capital amounts to NOK 18,125,792  

The museum has good management, financial control and liquidity. The Ministry of Culture provides basic funding for the operation with NOK 34,105,000. The Ministry of Health and Care, through the Directorate of Health, has contributed NOK 7,900,000 to the National Medical Museum. For the operation and development of the Science Centre, the museum received from the Science Center Committee, appointed by the Research Council of Norway on behalf of the Ministry of Health, NOK 8,400,000. For operating the telecommunications area, the museum received NOK 7,300,000 in grants from the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, of which NOK 500,000 is earmarked for regional measures. Of the regional grant, NOK 186,302 has been set aside for the establishment of sanitary facilities at the Bergen transmitter station, Rundemanen in 2022. The museum has received extraordinary grants from the Ministry of Culture with NOK 7,446,000 and the Science Center Committee with NOK 324,716 in extraordinary support in connection with the Covid19 pandemic. In addition, the museum's operation is financed by entrance fees, sales in the museum shop and other own income.  

Total operating income in 2021 was NOK 93,674,398. This is NOK 6,670,398 above budget. The result for 2021 shows a deficit of NOK 3,995,489 .  The deficit is due to the planned use of accrued liquid funds for the realization of new basic exhibitions in medicine and ICT. The foundation capital and other equity capital are considered sufficient for continued operations. The accounts are based on the going concern principle, as the basis for this is present. The board believes that the accounts, together with the board's report, provide a fair overview of the development and results of the museum's operations and financial position. Liability insurance has been taken out for the board.

Board composition 2021

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 :
Ingvild Myhre (chairman of the board) Trond Markussen Shahzia Vira
Ingunn Rotihaug Ragnar Skjærstad Arne B. Langleite
Rasmus Brodtkorb Anne Brit Thoresen (1st deputy member)

Thomas B. Fjærtoft  (1st deputy member) 
Jonny Edvardsen Nils Marstein, (2nd deputy member)

Ellen W. Lange  (2nd deputy member) 
Kristin Vinje    
Morten Lie (1st deputy member)    
Runa Haug Khoury, (2nd deputy member)    
The Ministry of Culture has appointed new members to the museum's board from 01.01.2022. The board members in 2022 are; chairman Dag Terje Andersen, board members Zaineb Al-Samarai, Arnfinn Bjerkestrand, Lise Lyngsnes Randeberg, Ingunn Rotihaug, Trond Markussen, Ragnar Skjærstad, Arne Bolstad Langleite and Shahzia Vira.