Colourlab at NTNU in Gjøvik was founded in the spring of 2001, under the name The Norwegian Color Research Laboratory. The vision was to study colour as a light signal, to be captured and reproduced, without isolating it from its traditional context. It was at the time serving the rising needs for colour management solutions in the graphic arts industry.

We have played a key role in the studies offered at NTNU Gjøvik already from the beginning in 2001, with the master programme in “elektronisk publisering og multimedieteknikk” and in the graphical engineering degree. In 2008 the laboratory, as a part of four partners, in started an Erasmus Mundus master programme “Color in information and media technology”.

The laboratory has also over the years lead several research projects, such as the one on multispectral image capture and reproduction funded by the research council of Norway from 2003 to 2007. In 2007 to 2010 the group was a partner in the EU funded project Colour Research for European Advanced Technology Employment (CREATE), where we organized the final conference with more than 100 young researchers from all over the world visited Gjøvik. The laboratory also leads training and research project funded by Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN); Colour Printing 7.0: Next Generation Multi-Channel Printing (CP7.0). In 2013 another project from the research council of Norway started, HyPerCept – Color and Media Quality in higher dimensions, with the principal objective is push the scientific boundaries of colour and image quality within a broadly defined visual computing context. In 2019, EU funded two Colourlab cordinated projects within the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions frmework, namely CHANGE - Cultural Heritage Analysis for New GEnerations and ApPEARS - Appearance Printing European Advanced Research School.

Colourlab has since its foundation risen to become an internationally leading research- and educational institution on the area of colour imaging science, image- and video processing.