Norwegian Computing Center (NR, in Norwegian: ''Norsk Regnesentral'') is a private, independent,

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

research foundation. NR carries out contract research and development in the areas of

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

and

quantitative method Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philosop ...

s for a broad range of industrial,

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

and

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

organizations in Norway and internationally. NR is one of Europe's largest research environments in applied

statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...

and its projects cover a large variety of applied and academic problems. NR's offices are located near the university campus Blindern in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, and adjacent to Oslo Science Park (Forskningsparken).

History

NR was established in 1952. Until 1970 an important part of the activity was to perform mathematical computations for other organizations. NR has worked with data communication since 1963. The Simula programming language was designed and built by

Ole-Johan Dahl Ole-Johan Dahl (12 October 1931 – 29 June 2002) was a Norwegian computer scientist. Dahl was a professor of computer science at the University of Oslo and is considered to be one of the fathers of Simula and object-oriented programming along wi ...

and

Kristen Nygaard Kristen Nygaard (27 August 1926 – 10 August 2002) was a Norwegian computer scientist, programming language pioneer, and politician. Internationally, Nygaard is acknowledged as the co-inventor of object-oriented programming and the programming ...

and their research group at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo between 1962 and 1967. After 1970 NR has been a methodological research institute. In 1985, NR became an independent institute and moved to its present location in 1988. It has worked with the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

since 1973, ICT security since 1988, multimedia since 1994, e-Inclusion since 2005. It started working with

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

in 1982,

geostatistics Geostatistics is a branch of statistics focusing on spatial or spatiotemporal datasets. Developed originally to predict probability distributions of ore grades for mining operations, it is currently applied in diverse disciplines including pet ...

and

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

in 1983, marine resources in 1988 and electricity prices and finance in 1994. NR employees Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard received the

Turing Award The ACM A. M. Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for contributions of lasting and major technical importance to computer science. It is generally recognized as the highest distinction in the fi ...

in 2001 and the 2002

IEEE John von Neumann Medal The IEEE John von Neumann Medal was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1990 and may be presented annually "for outstanding achievements in computer-related science and technology." The achievements may be theoretical, technological, or ...

for the introduction of the concepts underlying

object-oriented programming Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impl ...

through the design and implementation of

Simula Simula is the name of two simulation programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67, developed in the 1960s at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard. Syntactically, it is an approximate superset of AL ...

67. A book about the history of NR, ''Norsk Regnesentrals historie 1952 - 2002'' was published in 2002.Norsk Regnesentrals historie 1952 - 2002
Norsk regnesentral, retrieved 9 July 2013

Scientific departments

The Department of Applied Research in Information Technology (DART) works with project-oriented applied research within multimedia, information security,

information privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as dat ...

and risks, universal design, and e-inclusion. In addition to research, DART's work covers concept studies, analysis, consultancy, prototyping, training, development, and evaluation. The Department of Statistical Analysis, Image Analysis, and Pattern Recognition (SAMBA) works with project-oriented applied research in all areas of mathematical statistics. The main application areas are Statistics for Climate, Environment, Marine Resources and Health, Statistics for Finance, Insurance and Commodity Markets, Statistics for Technology, Industry and Administration, Earth Observation, and Image Analysis and Pattern Recognition. The Department of Statistical Analysis of Natural Resource Data (SAND) works with project-oriented applied research statistics related to the petroleum industry. The group is a significant international contributor to research and services within reservoir description, stochastic modeling and geostatistics for the petroleum industry. The primary goal is to use statistical methods to reduce and quantify risk and uncertainty. The main area is stochastic modeling of the geology in petroleum reservoirs including upscaling and history matching. There is also a significant activity on all kinds of risk quantification, primarily within the energy sector.

Centres for Research-based Innovation

NR was host to Statistics for Innovation in 2007-2014, and is host to BigInsight for the period 2015-2024. Statistics for Innovation and BigInsight are both Centres for Research-based Innovation and funded by the

Research Council of Norway The Research Council (also the Research Council of Norway; ) is a Norwegian government agency that funds research and innovation projects. On behalf of the Government, the Research Council invests NOK 11,7 billion (2022) annually. The Research ...

NR's Master's Prize

NR's Master’s Prize is awarded annually to master's theses submitted at the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Informatics at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

and at the Department of Mathematical Sciences and the Department of Computer Science at the

Norwegian University of Science and Technology The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU; ) is a public university, public research university in Norway and the largest in terms of enrollment. The university's headquarters is located in Trondheim (city), Trondheim, with region ...

. The award was first issued in 2009.

Previous winners

* 2022: Johannes Voll Kolstø, NTNU; Emil Haugen, UiO; Sarek Skotåm, UiO * 2021: Magnus Christie Ørke, NTNU; Ingrid Dæhlen, UiO * 2020: Maren Parnas Gulset, UiO; Simen Westby Moe, UiO; Amund Tenstad, NTNU; Henrik Syversveen-Lie, NTNU * 2019: Camilla Lingjærde, UiO; Camilla Tran, NTNU; Silius Mortensønn Vandeskog, NTNU * 2018: Bjørn Skauli, UiO; Joakim Skjelbred Misund, UiO; Yngvild Hamre, NTNU; Ulrich Johan Isachsen, NTNU * 2017: Martine Birketvedt Eklund, UiO; Seline Tomt, UiO; Jonas André Dalseth, NTNU; Erik Skrettingland, NTNU * 2016: Solveig Engebretsen, UiO; Aslak Wigdahl Bergersen, UiO; Bart Iver van Blokland, NTNU; Sondre Galtung, NTNU * 2015: Claus Børnich, UiO; Jonas Irgens Kylling, UiO; Benjamin Andreassen Bjørnseth, NTNU * 2014: Lars Simon, UiO; Kristoffer Varholm, NTNU * 2013: Martin Jullum, UiO; Stein-Olav Hagen Davidsen, NTNU * 2012: Kristina Rognlien Dahl, UiO; Eivind Stordal, UiO; Anne-Cecilie Haugstvedt, NTNU * 2011: Kristian Jonsson Moi, UiO; Geir-Arne Fuglstad, NTNU * 2010: Maren Feragen, UiO; Nina Øystad-Larsen; UiO, Lester Solbakken, NTNU * 2009: John Christian Ottem, UiO; Evgenij Thorstensen, UiO; Eivind Fonn, NTNU; Rune E. Jensen, NTNU

References

External links

BigInsight

Norsk Regnesentral / Norwegian Computing Center
(homepage)
Norwegian Computing Center's annual public reports

Tribute to Kristen Nygaard
Department of Informatics, UiO
Tribute to Ole Johan Dahl
Department of Informatics, UiO {{authority control Foundations based in Norway Computer science institutes in Norway Information technology research institutes