Oslo: DNV and Simula have signed a cooperation agreement which entails a strong focus on research and the education of PhD students in the fields of safety analysis and the testing of components in advanced IT systems.
Both the maritime industry and energy market are becoming increasingly dependent on reliable and integrated software systems. The development of such systems (software engineering) is an area that is facing great scientific challenges. DNV established a new business area, DNV IT Global Services, in 2006 in order to prioritise the work on safety and the integration of complicated IT systems.
DNV is now going to start cooperating with Simula and will initially spend NOK 10 million in the form of investments and its own efforts over a period of two years. DNV will make efforts to identify other business partners that can contribute expertise and additional financing. This is the beginning of a long-term investment on DNV’s part, initiated by a growing need to ensure reliable IT systems in several of the industries in which DNV operates.
“We want to ensure better and more stable software systems. In order to strengthen our expertise in integration and testing, we are entering into this collaboration with Simula, which has world-leading researchers in this field,” says Henrik O. Madsen, the CEO of DNV.
He continues: “We are spending NOK 5 million this year and a further NOK 5 million next year, so this is a real investment at a time when money is extremely hard to come by. In these times, it is more important than ever to maintain a focus on the long-term development of the specialist expertise that Norway will have to make a living from in the future. IT and software are an integral part of everything we surround ourselves with. It’s important that we understand this risk better and become able to handle it in the best possible manner. In that way, we will build a safer, better society.”
He also emphasises the value of Simula being an international research institution which can thus draw on and attract expertise worldwide. Professor Aslak Tveito, Simula’s CEO, is very enthusiastic about the collaboration with DNV.
“This gives us a unique opportunity to develop scientifically assured methods for establishing and testing good, reliable IT systems,” he says. “Collaboration with industry is the only way we can ensure that the methods we develop are relevant and will be used in commercial operations.”
This is an important milestone for Simula. The company already cooperates with several large industrial players, including Telenor and StatoilHydro.
Contact person in Simula:
Aslak Tveito, CEO of Simula Research Laboratory AS, Tel: +47 906 87 348 / 47 67 82 82 82, e-mail: aslak@simula.no
About Simula
Simula was established in 2001, based on research activities at the Department of Informatics (Ifi) at the University of Oslo (UiO). The centre carries out research at a high international level, educates students in informatics in cooperation with Ifi/UiO and finds ways to apply the research work carried out at the centre. Around 120 people are employed by the centre, which is organised and managed as a private limited company in which the Norwegian state is the largest owner. The other owners of Simula or its subsidiaries are Sintef, Norwegian Computing Centre, StatoilHydro, Telenor and Bærum Municipality. The research work is organised in large, focused projects in three informatics areas: communication technology, scientific computing and software development. The resources are focused on research areas where the opportunity to utilise the results is particularly great. The centre has been awarded several prestigious projects by the Research Council of Norway, including two Outstanding Young Researcher (YFF) projects and one Centres of Excellence (SFF) project, and it has an extensive research collaboration with StatoilHydro. Over the past two years, the centre has recruited internationally recognised researchers for all its three focus areas. The Simula centre is headed by Professor Aslak Tveito.
Education
Since its formation in 2001, 38 students have taken their doctoral degree at Simula (through a collaboration with UiO, which is the institution that awards the degree). In 2007, Simula established its own researcher school, the Simula School of Research and Innovation, which is responsible for the education activities at the centre. This school is owned by Simula (57%) and other partners; StatoilHydro (21 %), Bærum Municipality (14%), Telenor (7%), SINTEF (1%) and Norwegian Computing Centre (1%). There are currently more than 30 PhD students and 13 post-doctoral research fellows at the school.
Innovation
Simula has collaborated with StatoilHydro (Hydro) since 2005. The extent of this collaboration has increased since then and Simula now cooperates with this company on education, research and commercialisation – to a value of around MNOK 12 in 2009. Simula is in the process of entering into a new agreement with StatoilHydro relating to the Simula School of Research and Innovation as part of StatoilHydro’s Akademia programme. Simula also works closely with several other industrial partners.
Date: 23 April 2009