Paper and Fibre Research Institute

Last updated April 30, 2019

The Paper and Fibre Research Institute (PFI) (Norwegian : Papir- og fiberinstituttet AS (PFI)) is a centre of expertise for wood fibres, pulp and paper, new biobased materials and sustainable biorefining.

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties, and some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.

PFI was established in Kristiania in 1923 as the Norwegian Pulp and Paper Research Institute. PFI moved to Trondheim in 1997/98, and established a close cooperation with the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In 2004 PFI changed name to the Paper and Fibre Research Institute and became a subsidiary of Innventia in Stockholm, Sweden.

Oslo is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. Founded in the year 1040 as Ánslo, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814 reduced its influence. After being destroyed by a fire in 1624, during the reign of King Christian IV, a new city was built closer to Akershus Fortress and named Christiania in the king's honour. It was established as a municipality (formannskapsdistrikt) on 1 January 1838. The city functioned as a co-official capital during the 1814 to 1905 Union between Sweden and Norway. In 1877, the city's name was respelled Kristiania in accordance with an offical spelling reform – a change that was taken over by the municipal authorities only in 1897. In 1925 the city, after incorporating the village retaining its former name, was renamed Oslo.

Trondheim is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It has a population of 193,501, and is the third-most populous municipality in Norway, although the fourth largest urban area. Trondheim lies on the south shore of Trondheim Fjord at the mouth of the River Nidelva. The city is dominated by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), the Foundation for Scientific and Industrial Research (SINTEF), St. Olavs University Hospital and other technology-oriented institutions.

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology is a public research university with campuses in the cities of Trondheim, Gjøvik, and Ålesund in Norway, and has become the largest university in Norway, following the university merger in 2016. NTNU has the main national responsibility for education and research in engineering and technology, originated from Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH). In addition to engineering and natural sciences, the university offers higher education in other academic disciplines ranging from social sciences, the arts, medical and life sciences, teacher education, architecture and fine art. NTNU is well known for its close collaboration with industry, and particularly with its R&D partner SINTEF, which provided it with the biggest industrial link among all the technical universities in the world.

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