Supporting children, young people and the local community
KONGSBERG contributes to value creation and economic development in the communities where we operate. Being an international technology group means that KONGSBERG also has a wider social responsibility. In particular, we focus on nurturing children’s and young people’s interests and skills in the natural sciences. Moreover, we invest in local communities wherever we have a presence, and in our employees and their families by supporting sporting, cultural and social activities.
Supporting children and young people
We support children and young people to boost interest in the natural sciences. The natural sciences are essential to solving some of the challenges that the world is facing. Therefore, we want to motivate children and young people to study physics, maths and natural sciences, through a variety of measures, all the way from nursery to university. For example, we support the Kongsberg Vitensenter science centre, which is free to schools and nurseries. Children are introduced to the natural sciences through play and experiments, as well as taught modules in subject areas such as energy, mechanics, mathematics, technology and animation, plus more for older students. We collaborate with a number of secondary schools, colleges and universities in Norway. Here we hold motivational lectures, invite people to visit the company, participate in career days and take on students for work placements. We support selected student projects where the students wish to write their master’s degree in collaboration with KONGSBERG.
Link (Norwegian only): https://kongsbergvitensenter.no/
Higher Education
KONGSBERG has collaborated with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) to establish the world’s first professorship in Big Data Cybernetics, which combines the fields of chemometrics and cybernetics. The agreement involves a five-year endowed professorship sponsored by KONGSBERG.
KONGSBERG is the main sponsor for two multi-disciplinary student projects at NTNU where students get to put theory into practice. Since 2014, KONGSBERG has been the main sponsor of Revolve NTNU. Every year a new team of students develops, designs and builds a racing car to participate in an international challenge with numerous other racing cars. The Ascend project participates in the annual International Aerial Robotics competition, where the goal is to push the limits of autonomous drone capabilities.
KONGSBERG innovation Center
In 2016, we opened the KONGSBERG Innovation Centre, where our employees can bring their children and experiment with drones, robots and visualisation. The centre is also used by local school classes, educational institutions and students with whom we collaborate. The centre also serves as a test facility for prototyping and verification for the entire Kongsberg Gruppen.
Outside of KONGSBERG, we work closely with communities, to ensure that our relationships with them are mutually beneficial. And as we venture deeper into the oceans and space, we go to extreme lengths to guarantee the safety and security of everybody who works with us.
From theory to practice
The summer job programme: Every year, KONGSBERG takes on a large number of students who work in different departments on summer projects throughout the company.
The projects are very popular, and many have been extended for several years. The oldest project is “LocalHawk”, which started back in 2008. These summer jobs allow students to see what opportunities are available when they graduate, and we hope that this will motivate them to study harder and complete their degrees. It also provides a good recruitment arena for us, where we get to know the students better.
Contributions to sports, culture and social activities
KONGSBERG’s sponsor strategy focuses on activities and projects in Norway and internationally within the following areas:
- Sports – in particular local sports activities for young people in the local communities in which KONGSBERG operates.
- Culture – in particular local communities in which KONGSBERG operates.
- Social, humanitarian and/or environmental activities – locally, nationally and internationally – that focus on sustainability.
YOUR EXTREME
Since 2013, KONGSBERG has collaborated with NTNU to organise the YOUR EXTREME student competition. This is a 48-hour competition, where groups of 2–5 students work on solving a hypothetical future scenario where sustainability and technology are at the core of the problem.
The purpose of the competition is to motivate students to complete their degrees, due to the significant drop-out rates of first and second-year students in certain subjects, and to relate their theoretical knowledge to solving practical problems that they may encounter in working life.