SINTEF is an independent non-profit research organisation and with approximately 2000 employees one of the largest in Northern Europe. SINTEF performs contract research and development for a wide range of both Norwegian and European industry customers and participates as a research partner in a multitude of publicly funded research projects, both at the national and at the European level. The Department of Biotechnology and Nanomedicine (BTN) has extensive experience in industrial biotechnology and the development of biotechnological processes within a wide spectrum of industrial market areas. Over the last decades, we have acquired comprehensive competence on bioprospecting, NP discovery and the systems biology of NP producers. BTN has also been active in the marine environment with decades of experience with marine biopolymer production and processing for food and pharmaceuticals. BTN also has a large marine actinobacteria collection (9000 strains, with 1200 genomes sequenced), which has yielded multiple novel compounds now on the roadmap to commercialisation.

Key technologies regularly applied include microbial strain development by genetic engineering and high throughput screening, systems-scale strain characterisation by omics technologies, and the development, optimization, and scale-up of fermentation processes.