Fred Kavli (foreground), with Norwegian Minister of Education and Research Øystein Djupedal (centre) and NTNU Rector Torbjørn Digernes (left) establishing the institute.
The centre, which has built up an international reputation for its work in neural mapping will now be able to devote more resources to developing new experimental and analytic methods for studying how the brain functions.
Kavli, an NTNU alumnus, will make an annual donation of US$1.125 million.
After graduating in physics from Trondheim, Kavli emigrated to North America with $300 in his pocket, sailing on the SS Stavangerfjord to Nova Scotia in Canada in 1955.
After selling his holdings in his company, Kavlico, in 2000 Kavli established The Kavli Foundation to support scientific research that aims to improving the quality of life for people around the world. The Foundation has established research institutes at leading universities worldwide in research focusing on cosmology, neuroscience and nanoscience.
In the past few years, 14 Kavli Institutes have been established at universities including Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, Yale and MIT.
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.