“Hydro is enabling NTNU to establish these two professorships to safeguard the university's leading position in this area. This is not only good news for the university, but also for Hydro,” says Jan Arve Haugen, head of technology in Hydro's Aluminium Metal business area.

He adds that the company is dependent both on strong research clusters and recruiting the best and the brightest in order to stay ahead in the fast-developing aluminium sector.

The agreement will allow NTNU to establish new chairs within the upstream electrolysis field and in the downstream area of alloy development and materials technology in the second half of 2009. Hydro will fund both chairs for three years in the critical start-up phase, while NTNU is committed to continue the positions thereafter.

In addition to the two professorships, the Norwegian Research Council will provide funding for scholarships in connection with the two new professorships, giving Norwegian aluminium research a welcome boost.

Hydro already has an extensive list of cooperation programmes with NTNU, ranging from formability and metallurgy to extrusion technology and light metal surface science.