See the highlights from today's meeting between Education and Research Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen and Rector Svein Stølen (in Norwegian).
The Government will grant NOK 50 million for the new life science building from the 2018 national budget. The total price tag for the building is expected to lie in the region of NOK 6.8 billion.
Norway's largest research and education building
The life science building at the University of Oslo will be Norway's largest research and education building. Here researchers will work together across traditional disciplinary borders on some of the health and environmental challenges facing society. UiO researchers will also work more closely with health enterprises, local government and the private sector in order to achieve a higher degree of innovation from research that will benefit patients and society.
Both Education and Research Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen and UiO's Rector, Svein Stølen, emphasised that it is not just the building which is important – its content and the meeting places which it will facilitate are equally important.
The delighted Rector said: "We will create meeting places on two levels – facilitating collaboration between different academic disciplines and between the University and society at large."
This will be our livelihood once our oil runs out
Mr. Isaksen has great expectations about what this building will mean for Norway.
“This will be our livelihood once our oil runs out, and we will start doing this a long time before that happens. UiO’s job is to ensure that this will be an investment for the kingdom of Norway," he said.
"This is one of the biggest investments ever made in respect of higher education in Norway. This building will provide students with better opportunities and there will be closer links with their future workplaces.
The result of longstanding work
It has been the Government's aim to develop a life science building in line with its Long-term plan for research and higher education.Thanks to this grant construction will now be able to commence in a couple of years' time.
University Director Gunn-Elin Aa. Bjørneboe took advantage of the opportunity to praise everyone who had been working painstakingly for such a long time to ensure that the project could progress to its current stage.
See also
- aftenposten.no: Green light for UiO's giant initiative: Will be Norway's largest university building (in Norwegian)
Facts
Some of the areas which will benefit from new insight resulting from life sciences research and innovation:
- preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases, e.g. neurological disorders, cancer, dementia, infectious diseases and immune-mediated diseases
- dealing with resistance to antibiotics
- managing natural resources, e.g. fish stocks
- the health services, health industry, marine industries, agriculture and green industries