Improvement in SINTEF’s results for 2005

Gross operating revenues came to MNOK 1785, and the profit on operations was MNOK 24, as against MNOK -30 in 2004.

“We have made good progress with regard to our result in 2005. Turnover has increased and we have adopted significant cost-reduction measures. SINTEF is developing in a satisfactory direction, but it is still essential to pay careful attention to good operation,” says SINTEF President Unni Steinsmo.

Good operation gives SINTEF new possibilities for investing in the future. SINTEF invest its surplus in generating new knowledge, and gives high priority to the further development of a national laboratory infrastructure.

• SINTEF SeaLab was opened in Trondheim last summer. The laboratory complex give SINTEF new potential for the development of fisheries and aquaculture technology.

Fifteen percent of the SINTEF Group’s turnover in 2005 came from international contracts, 42% from contracts for Norwegian business and industry and 16% from the public sector. A total of 20% came from the Research Council of Norway in the form of basic grants, strategic programmes and project funding.

Principal financial figures for the SINTEF Group

Business development

SINTEF’s aims include increasing customer satisfaction. We intend to grow both nationally and internationally, and to be a leader in innovation and commercialisation. SINTEF’s turnover grew by five percent in 2005.

The international market for research and development is increasingly competitive, and it is a matter of strategic importance for SINTEF to occupy a strong international position in this market. Since 2003, the SINTEF Group has seen its international activity grow by nine percent.

A growing proportion of SINTEF’s long-term competence development is being financed via EU projects. SINTEF is the Norwegian institution with the largest portfolio of projects financed by the EU’s research programmes. In 2005, our contacts with the EU have been intensified in anticipation of the launch of the 7th Framework Programme for 2007 - 2013.

• In 2005, the EU launched NextGenBioWaste, its biggest ever research project in the field of bioenergy, and awarded SINTEF the role of project manager.

If it is to be capable of positioning itself in an international market, SINTEF needs to be able to offer international leading-edge research capability within certain subjects and to profile product areas that span the whole Group. Examples of such areas include pipeline technology and maritime logistics. In the course of the next three years, MNOK 42 will be invested in pipeline technology.

SINTEF also wishes to make an active contribution to regional development in Norway.

Scientific quality

SINTEF’s ambitions include maintaining a high level of scientific quality and being at  the leading edge in global terms with in selected fields of science and technology. Our results demonstrate that we are capable of doing so:

• SINTEF is one of the world’s leading centres of expertise in CO₂ management, as is project manager in Dynamis, the first phase of development of Europe’s first large-scale thermal power station to feature CO₂ capture and storage.
• SINTEF has succeeded in developing a process for large-scale production of carbon nanotubes. This “supermaterial” is one tenth of the weight of steel, but is several times as strong.
• SINTEF has contributed to the development of the world’s first vaccine for treating cancer of the uterus, a treatment that appeared in 2005.
• A SINTEF scientist is chairman of the government’s Hydrogen Commission.
• SINTEF’s subsidiary RTIM in Raufoss was awarded the status of “Norwegian Centre of Expertise” in 2005.

We place high priority on our alliance with NTNU, and we are also actively developing our cooperation with the University of Oslo and other Norwegian centres of learning.

Health, safety and the environment

In SINTEF, the safety of our staff is the only thing that is more important than our relationship with our clients. The work environment surveys that we carry out every other year show that our employees regard their work environment as good.

In 2005, sick-leave in the SINTEF Group as a whole remained low and stable at 3.4 percent. However, we experienced an increase in the number of personal injuries suffered in 2005 in comparison with previous years. Our H1 value (number of injuries resulting in absence from work, per million working hours) rose from 1.0 in 2004 to 2.0 in 2005.

Group governance

SINTEF wishes to sharpen its focus on the future development of the Group, and is actively engaged on several aspects of its corporate governance processes. We wish to see a closer integration and more unified management of SINTEF’s activities as a whole. Our aim is to achieve better coordination of SINTEF’s resources at Group level.

• We are actively striving to improve our corporate culture in several areas, and are currently making our ethical guidelines clearer and more visible.
• SINTEF and the Norwegian Building Research Institute foundation decided to merge in autumn 2005. SINTEF Building and Infrastructure AS will be one of Europe’s largest building research institutes. The merger is expected to be finally approved in the first half of 2006.
• SINTEF will chair the boards of all the companies in which we have majority holdings.
  

Prospects for the future

Norwegian industry is enjoying a period of economic growth, and new opportunities are appearing as a result of national plans for investment in Arctic development. With its broad knowledge base, SINTEF is in a good position to help to realise the government’s ambitions in this region, and we intend to give the Arctic high priority in the future.

The public sector is increasing its investment in research and development at national and international level. The aim here is to generate knowledge that will enable us to improve competitiveness, quality of life and sustainable development. Norway possesses important natural advantages, good research groups, and expertise and technological strengths that have been developed in our institutions and companies, well-established markets and international networks. SINTEF wishes to be a driving force in the development of a Norwegian knowledge economy.

Trondheim, April 21, 2006

Contacts:

• Unni Steinsmo, President of SINTEF, tel: +47 930 59 380
• Reidar Bye, Vice-president, tel: +47 970 74 306

Facts about SINTEF

The SINTEF Group is the fourth-largest independent research organisation in Europe, and the largest in Scandinavia. Around 1800 employees generate new knowledge and new solutions for Norwegian and overseas clients, based on research and development in technology, the natural sciences, medicine and the social sciences.

SINTEF’s vision is “Technology for a better society.”. We aim to contribute to increased value creation, a better quality of life and sustainable development.

Our turnover in 2005 was NOK 1. 8 billion, of which 15% was derived from our international activities.

The SINTEF Group comprises the following divisions: SINTEF Health Research, SINTEF Technology and Society, SINTEF ICT, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry, SINTEF Marine, SINTEF Petroleum and Energy and SINTEF Building and Infrastructure. In the legal sphere, the divisions are organised as a foundation and five wholly or partly owned limited companies.

SINTEF has established SINTEF Holding in order to separate our activity in the commercial sector from our core scientific activities. SINTEF Holding is a tax-paying entity, which comprises a strategic ownership portfolio and a number of recently established companies. SINTEF regards it as an important part of its role in society to help to establish the formation of more companies and jobs in the wake of the wide range of research activities performed by the company.