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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 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 Local Government and Modernisation 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. 

In 2021, the museum had 105,929 visitors at the museum, 1,464 visitors at external venues and 2,965 participants in digital education, a total of 110,358. The visit corresponds to the visit in 2020, but represents a decrease of 56.4 percent from 2019. The decrease in visits is due to the Covid19 pandemic, which has, among other things, resulted in the museum being closed in the period 01.01.2021-28.05.2021 and has had reduced offerings in the fall of 2021. The visit to the museum is registered in the museum's checkout system.  

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology er i særstilling blant museene i Norge når det gjelder besøk av barn og unge. I alt besøkte 54 074 personer under 18 år museet i 2021, noe som tilsvarer 51 prosent av det totale besøket. Museet ble besøkt av 19 195 skoleelever og lærere. Det er 4 764 flere enn i 2020, men betydelig under skolebesøk i årene før pandemien. Dette skyldes blant annet reiserestriksjoner i skolen under pandemien. Skoleelever utgjør 36 prosent av andelen barn og unge som besøker museet. Museet vil i tiden fremover jobbe for å videreutvikle nåværende drift og besøkstall. 

Mediation

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology satser bredt på formidling gjennom å produsere nye utstillinger og ha en omfattende skolevirksomhet, et bredt aktivitetsprogram og arrangement rettet mot spesielle målgrupper. Museets hovedsatsning i 2021 har vært den nye faste utstillingen om medisin – «Liv og død». I tråd med museets strategi, har museet arbeidet med fornying av en basisutstilling om IKT – «I/O», med planlagt åpning i 2022. I samarbeid med Nasjonalmuseet har museet vist utstillingene «Sand i maskineriet» og «Gerhard Munthe – Eventyrlige interiører». 

Administration

Museets samlinger består av om lag 91.800 gjenstander, 2,67 millioner fotografier, 1.670 hyllemeter arkiv og mer enn 140.000 bøker. Det ble katalogisert 23 712 fotografier og registrert 291 gjenstander i 2021. 

Research

In addition to working on exhibitions and several book projects, three employees are in the process of obtaining a doctorate; 

Doktorgradsprosjektet Museums potential in childrens learning ble innledet høsten 2016 og utføres ved School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester. Prosjektet skal utforske hvordan museene kan være en aktiv del av barn og unges læringsverden.  

Doktorgradsprosjektet Hofgaard-maskinen – en tidlig norsk datamaskin? ble innledet ved Institutt for historiske studier ved NTNU i 2019. Prosjektet tar utgangspunkt i en gjenstand i museets samling, som kan kaste nytt lys over tidlig datahistorie.  

Doktorgradsprosjekt Muliggjørende teknologier for norsk øleksport fra 1860-1900 ble innledet høsten 2019, og utføres ved Institutt for historiske studier ved NTNU. Prosjektet tar utgangspunkt i museets historiske arkiv etter Frydenlund og Ringnes Bryggeri. 

The research project "The Museums' Knowledge Topography" (2018 – 2020) was initiated by The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology and is carried out in collaboration with Østfold Museums, Malmö Museums, Gothenburg City Museum and the Technical Museum. The project is supported by the Arts 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 coordinating and developing the Medical History Museum Network and the Network for Technology and Industrial History. In addition, the museum participates in the Network for Science Centers, the Network for Workers' Culture, theNetwork for Photography and the Network for Music and Musical Instruments. 

The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology 's Friends

Foreningen The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technologys venner er formelt uavhengig av Stiftelsen The Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology, og fører eget regnskap. Femti prosent av innbetalt medlemskontingent tilfaller museet, noe som utgjorde kr 174 042 i 2021. Venneforeningen har bidratt med frivillig arbeid for å restaurere en industrimodell fra 1954. Venneforeningens medlemmer har gratis inngang i museet. Den personlige medlemsmassen i foreningen var 549 i 2021 og antall bedriftsmedlemmer var 5.  

Organization, construction and health, environment and safety

Frode Meinich is the museum director. The museum employed a total of 91 people and 64.2 man-years of work were performed in 2021. No occupational accidents were registered in 2021. Sickness absence was 6.0 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 more than 35 years of wear and tear. Expenses for operation and necessary maintenance of the museum buildings in 2021 were NOK 9,998,758, which is 17.6 percent above budget.  

Measures against discrimination and for accessibility

Det legges vekt på likestilling i museet, og det er lik lønn for likt arbeid. 51 av de ansatte var kvinner og 40 var menn. Museet har to ansatte med etnisk minoritetsbakgrunn. Museet har i sitt formidlingsarbeid et særlig fokus på tilgjengelighet. I 2021 har museet blant annet videreført et prosjekt med formidling rettet mot personer med demens, utenom museets ordinære åpningstid. Utstillingslokalene er delvis tilrettelagt for personer med nedsatt funksjonsevne. Det vises for øvrig til eget kapittel om museets mangfoldsarbeid i museets årsrapport for 2021. 

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 13,706,576, in addition to bank deposits. In November 2021, the museum paid off the remaining loan on the warehouse building in Gjerdrum. The 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 is responsible for basic financing of the operation with NOK 34,105,000. The Ministry of Health and Care Services, 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 NOK 8,400,000 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 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 allocated to 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 operations are financed by entrance fees, sales in the museum shop and other own income. 

Samlede driftsinntekter i 2021 var kr 93 674 398. Dette er kr 6 670 398 over budsjett. Resultatet for 2021 viser et underskudd på kr 3 995 489. Underskuddet skyldes planlagt bruk av opparbeidede- likvide midler til realisering av nye basisutstillinger innen medisin og IKT. Stiftelseskapitalen og øvrig egenkapital anses som forsvarlig for fortsatt drift. Regnskapet bygger på prinsippet om fortsatt drift, da grunnlaget for dette er til stede. Styret mener regnskapet, sammen med styrets beretning gir en rettvisende oversikt over utvikling og resultatet av museets virksomhet og økonomiske stilling. Det er tegnet ansvarsforsikring for styret. 

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 (1.varamedlem) 
Jonny Edvardsen Nils Marstein, (2nd deputy member)

Ellen W. Lange (2. varamedlem) 
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.