Trondheim's tech ecosystem

The Trondheim Fjord is more than a view. It is where the future of the ocean is put to the test. The world’s first test area for autonomous ships gave researchers and companies a place to move ideas out of simulation and into open water. Zeabuz is teaching city ferries to navigate themselves, while Maritime Robotics sends uncrewed vessels into waters too remote, dangerous or demanding for traditional operations. Blueye Robotics brings the ocean floor into view through compact underwater drones, and Eelume is developing snake-like robots designed to live and work beneath the surface for months at a time. That expertise extends across aquaculture and fisheries through the Ocean Autonomy Cluster and NCE Aquatech Cluster, then draws the global industry to Trondheim for Aqua Nor and Nor-Fishing, two of the world’s leading technology exhibitions for aquaculture and fisheries.

Producing cleaner energy is only the beginning. The harder task is redesigning the grids, buildings, batteries and industries that have to carry, store and use it. Trondheim is working across all of them. Volue gives energy markets and power grids the intelligence to balance supply and demand. Aneo is scaling renewable energy and electrification across transport and industry, while Entro helps buildings use far less. Around them, NTNU, SINTEF, Enova and RENERGY connect research, investment and industry across hydrogen, carbon capture, energy storage and zero-emission production.

Trondheim is building the invisible systems modern life runs on. Nordic Semiconductor connects products around the world through low-power wireless technology, Signicat makes digital identity safer across borders, and MazeMap turns complex buildings into spaces people can navigate with ease. At NTNU, the Norwegian Open AI Lab and NorwAI bring researchers and industry together to move artificial intelligence, language models and data science out of theory and into the tools and services used every day.

Some of Trondheim’s most influential technology is almost impossible to see. Nordic Semiconductor’s ultra-low-power chips connect products across the world, while Microchip’s Trondheim teams work across the entire lifecycle of semiconductor technology, from design and development to testing. NOVELDA’s radar sensors can detect movements as subtle as human breathing, and SentiSystems helps robots and autonomous machines understand precisely where they are. Built on decades of research at NTNU and SINTEF, this is technology created in Trondheim, embedded into products and systems used around the world.

Trondheim helped uncover the brain’s internal GPS. At the Kavli Institute, Nobel laureates May-Britt and Edvard Moser continue to push the boundaries of how we understand navigation, memory and the mind. That same meeting of science and technology runs through the city’s health sector. Vitalthings uses radar to follow breathing and sleep without touching the patient, Picterus turns a smartphone into a screening tool for newborn jaundice, and Cimon Medical monitors blood flow in vulnerable infants in real time. From decoding the brain to sensing the body without a touch, Trondheim is turning breakthrough science into care that sees more, sooner.

Trondheim’s autonomy expertise has become something the world comes to study. Built through decades of cybernetics, robotics and materials research at NTNU and SINTEF, it now moves through a much wider field of companies turning difficult environments into proving grounds. ScoutDI and Saro Robotics take inspection into spaces that are dangerous, inaccessible or built to resist human entry. SentiSystems keeps machines precisely oriented when GPS falls away, while Cybernetica gives industrial systems the intelligence to anticipate change rather than simply react to it. Trondheim is engineering systems built to go further, think faster and take on the work that pushes both machines and people to their limits.

Modern salmon farming began off the coast of Hitra, when one bold experiment helped launch an industry now feeding the world. More than fifty years later, the Trondheim region is working at aquaculture’s biological frontier. AquaGen uses advanced genomics to breed healthier, more resilient salmon. CFEED has transformed the microscopic copepod into live starter feed for hatcheries, while Seaweed Solutions is developing the seedstock behind a new generation of ocean farming. Connected by NTNU, SINTEF and the full-scale aquaculture environments of Hitra and Frøya, the region is taking marine innovation from genetic code to open sea.

Trondheim’s ocean-autonomy environment has become a test bed for technologies that are changing how we move, monitor, and operate at sea. The cluster brings together companies, researchers, and public actors working across autonomous vessels, marine robotics, remote operations, testing, commercialisation, and international markets. Managed by Fremtidens Industri.

RENERGY connects companies across the renewable-energy value chain to develop, test, and scale new technologies and business models. With more than 100 members and project partners, the cluster works across renewable power, zero-emission solutions, energy systems, project development, funding, and international growth. Managed by Fremtidens Industri.

Agritech Cluster brings technology into the agricultural value chain, with a focus on making food production more efficient, resilient, and climate-adapted. Its members work across precision agriculture, resource use, operational optimisation, new products, and collaborative projects designed to strengthen the competitiveness of Norwegian agriculture. Managed by Fremtidens Industri.

NORDSEC connects industry, technology, research, and public-sector actors around defence, security, preparedness, and resilience. Its members work across fields including autonomy, AI, cyber security, electronics, logistics, monitoring systems, and dual-use technologies with both civilian and defence applications. Managed by Fremtidens Industri.

BEAT brings together companies working across construction, infrastructure, and real estate to push the sector toward more circular, digital, and collaborative ways of working. Its focus includes reuse, smarter contracts, AI, data-driven operations, and new technologies that can move more quickly from testing into everyday industry use. Managed by Fremtidens Industri.

Norway Health Tech is Norway’s leading health-tech cluster, bringing together more than 350 companies, investors, healthcare providers, municipalities, research institutions, and academic environments. Trondheim TechPort serves as its regional node in Central Norway, giving Trondheim-based companies and researchers access to a broader national network, testing opportunities, market access, funding support, and international connections.