Since 2005 NTNU Department of Marine Technology and SINTEF Ocean have run a University Technology Centre (UTC) together with Rolls-Royce Marine and subsequently Kongsberg Maritime. This is industrial research were the company own the results. 

UTC is originally a concept developed by the aero-engine producer Rolls-Royce Plc to structure their long-term collaborations with British universities. After acquiring maritime businesses in Scandinavia, Rolls-Royce Marine wanted to implement the same model with leading Norwegian and Swedish universities.

The UTC with the title ‘Performance in a Seaway’ was opened in 2005 and did research on azimuth propulsors, power consumption and speed loss in waves plus hydrodynamic aspects in low-speed manoeuvre and course-keeping performance.

There were many failures on azimuth propulsors involving gear wheels and shaft bearings, which caused dissatisfied customers and legal disputes. Extensive simulations and model testing carried out at NTNU and SINTEF Ocean led to that the causes were better understood – and the problems solved. 

In 2014 the UTC was taken over by Kongsberg Maritime when they bought Rolls-Royce Marine. 

In 2018 the UTC was expanded by adding a digital section represented by the Department of Engineering Cybernetics at NTNU. The name was changed to ‘Ship Performance and Cyber-Physical Systems’.  

NTNU is doing the most basic research, done by academic staff, students, PhD students and post docs. SINTEF Ocean is doing the more applied research, including software development. 

One of the success stories highlighted during the 20^th anniversary is the ROV Revolution project, which investigated the feasibility of an autonomous ROV operation ship. The outcome of the project was further developed and was realized as Reach Remote.