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Njord - The Autonomous Ship Challenge is a unique, international student competition, where participants are tasked with designing and building an autonomous ship. Teams are then invited to bring their vessels to the Trondheimsfjord, where they will compete in a series of challenges and events.


The competition is held by and for the students, where our goal is to inspire innovation and smart solutions within marine autonomy, as well as creating a platform for personal development and networking.

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In 2022, teams will be able to enter a physical competition as well as a digital one. You can read more about the rules and technical specifications here.
The competition aims to become an international arena for students to explore new ideas and concepts connected to the autonomous shipping industry. Students will face real life problems currently experienced by the marine industry, giving them genuine experience with teamwork, prototyping, problem solving and innovation.
The competition in August 2021 will be the first time Njord - The Autonomous Ship Challenge is hosted. Because of the circumstances, we have had to do some changes to our originally planned version of the challenge. As mentioned, the competition will be fully digital, which enables the possibility to participate without being physically present in Trondheim. However, if the circumstances allow for cross-border traveling again, we hope that the participating teams want to come to Trondheim for some interesting and exciting days. This will allow you and us to meet other teams, discuss problems, and also meet a world-leading industry within autonomous shipping.
We understand and are aware of that a digital competition can not replace the competition that we had in mind. However, we love making the best out of every situation and believe that the challenge is something you will regret to miss! And don't you worry; we are already making plans for the competition of 2022 where we can all meet in person and compete with the boat designed and built by you and your team.
The digital challenge will be a part of the competition in future editions. It will therefore be a great advantage to have started on this, which is yet another good reason for participating in this year's challenge.

Why Norway?

In Norway we believe we are in a unique position to push the boundaries of autonomous shipping, further marking ourselves as a world leading maritime country.

Why Trondheim?

Trondheimsfjorden is currently the world’s first technological playground for autonomous vessels, both traveling above, on and under the water surface.  

Find us here