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Nurturing the next generation

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 larger social responsibility. We have a particular focus on nurturing children’s and young people’s interests and skills in the natural sciences. Moreover, we invest in the local communities wherever we have a presence, and in our employees and their families by supporting sports, culture and social activities.

We support children and young people to raise interest in the natural sciences

The natural sciences are essential to solving some of the challenges 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 kindergarten to college.

We therefore support the science centre Kongsberg Vitensenter, which is free to schools and kindergartens. Children are introduced to the natural sciences through play and experiments, as well as teaching modules in subject areas such as energy, mechanics, mathematics, technology and animation with more for the older ones. We collaborate with a number of lower and upper 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 placement. We support selected student projects where the students wish to write their master’s degree in collaboration with KONGSBERG.

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KONGSBERG has a strong focus on vocational education and we offer, along with other companies in the town of Kongsberg, a unique training programme for apprentices through the K-Tech training centre. An apprenticeship certificate programme in polymer composites has also been established at the composite factory in Kongsberg.

KONGSBERG has collaborated with 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 set theory into practice. KONGSBERG has since 2014 been the main sponsor of Revolve NTNU. Every year a new team of students develops, designs and builds a racing car to compete with. Ascend is a project that participates in the annual International Aerial Robotics competition, where the goal is to push the limits of what autonomous drones are capable of doing.

In 2016, we opened the KONGSBERG Innovation Center, where our employees can bring their children and experiment with drones, robots and visualisation. The centre is also used in connection with visits from local school classes and educational institutions and students that we collaborate with.

From theory to practice – the summer job programme

Every year, KONGSBERG takes on a large number of students who work in different departments and 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 already in 2008. Through the summer jobs, students get to see what opportunities are available when they graduate, and we hope this will motivate them to study harder and complete their degrees.

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At the same time, it is 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.

Norway

In Norway we have concentrated on supporting organisations in the local communities where we are represented. KONGSBERG has chosen to support many different sports, especially for children and young people, and we always sponsor teams and not individuals. Our biggest cultural sponsorship are with Glogerfestpillene (classical music festival).