The agreement was signed during a ceremony at Fornebu by Hilde M. Tonne, Executive Vice President and Head of Group Industrial Development and Ole Petter Ottersen, Rector of the University of Oslo (UiO).
Telenor and UiO have enjoyed good working relationships over a number of years as Telenor has supported the University through commissioned research as well as by helping fund doctoral degrees.
Closer collaboration
Building on this, the University and Telenor now take their collaboration to a new level. Through this new agreement both parties will commit themselves to provide necessary resources for mutual learning and development. Research will be done on internet economy and digital music habits.
Internet economy
Internet is often referred to as a global marketplace. The research wants to look closer on how value, power and innovations are actually made and distributed within what might be called the internet economy.
Digital music habits
One of the other projects included in the research programme is Clouds and Concerts at UiO’s Department of Media and Communication. The aim of this project is to provide better understanding of how recent years’ technological shifts have impacted music distribution and the way people listen to music.
Open innovation
“Telenor has an open innovation approach, which means that we do research and innovations together with customers, industrial partners and research institutions worldwide to ensure access to cutting-edge knowledge. Our agreement announced yesterday is an example of such open innovation. We certainly look forward to take part in this mutually binding cooperation that we have established with the University of Oslo, Norway's largest research institution,” said Hilde Tonne, Executive Vice President and Head of Group Industrial Development.
“This agreement is very important. It will lead to competence building both at our University as well as in Telenor, and it will enrich both our research and our education as such. Internationalisation is high on our agenda and we are particularly looking for international partners within industry and commerce. In a Norwegian context, Telenor holds a unique position with its large international footprint. It is great to partner with an international player like Telenor,” said Ole Petter Ottersen, Rector of the University of Oslo.
The programme is scheduled to run for three years and is funded by Telenor with up to NOK 2 million per year, i.e. a total of NOK 6 million. Cooperation has already started and includes research projects at UiO’s Department of Media and Communication, Department of Informatics and Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK).