About collaboration
NAV, HMN RHF and NTNU are joining forces to strengthen the labour and welfare services in Norway
The collaboration between NTNU and NAV is based on a long-term strategy to develop and strengthen research and expertise in areas where NAV has special knowledge needs and where NTNU has solid and robust academic environments. NAV's ambition for the agreement is to increase interest in NAV-relevant research at NTNU, build expertise on NAV at the university and ensure research that is of high relevance and great benefit to society in the field of work and welfare policy.
The collaboration also aims to contribute to ensuring more solid funding of NAV-relevant research by jointly seeking funding for projects both through the Research Council and European funding sources. This applies to research projects, innovation projects, and research-supported experiments. By partnering on such projects, we hope together to contribute to increasing the relevance, application, impact and scientific quality of research in the field.
Agreement on strategic cooperation between NAV, Helse Midt-Norge RHF and NTNU (PDF in norwegian)
NAV
This cooperation agreement with NTNU is rooted in NAV's business strategy, NAV's knowledge strategy and NAV's R&D plan. The knowledge strategy is based on NAV's role as a knowledge actor and administrative body for the labour and welfare services in Norway. The strategy states that the development of the areas nav manages should as far as possible be knowledge-based. NAV shall also apply reliable knowledge in its advice to policy makers and promote policy and regulatory proposals that are based on research and knowledge.
As a means of strengthening the knowledge base in key areas for NAV, NAV has decided to enter into strategic cooperation agreements with selected universities and university colleges. The collaboration will stimulate more research with higher quality in NAV-relevant areas. Collaboration with the university and university college sector is one of several contributions to strengthening knowledge-based practice, service development and digitalisation in NAV. The research that emerges from the collaboration shall also contribute to a better basis for decision-making in NAV and in the field of work and welfare policy
NTNU
Cooperation with society and working life is central to the social mission of universities and university colleges, and is legislated through the Act relating to universities and university colleges, cf. Section 1-3 Activities of the Institutions.
For NTNU, interaction with the public sector is important to ensure relevant and research-based education, as well as to meet the university's expectations as an important supplier of knowledge and competence for the development and restructuring of Norwegian working life and society. Innovation in the public sector is an important task in this context. For NTNU, the goal is for the parties to solve problems through the establishment of interdisciplinary teams and work for a good connection between research, education and innovation, so that the knowledge triangle works in practice.
Through the collaboration agreement, NTNU has assumed considerable responsibility for facilitating the collaboration of academic communities with sufficient academic breadth and level to deliver decision-relevant research.
The collaboration agreement shall create the basis for increased cooperation on work relevance in the education programmes, the parties shall promote good and successful cooperation between NAV, relevant academic environments at NTNU and students. The collaboration will also include work on models that exploit potential to develop educational programmes within EVU and a lifelong learning perspective