DNV proNavis was established in 2001 as a spin-off from the Trondheim R&D institution Marintek. The company is now wholly owned by DNV, which with about 8000 employees in 300 offices in more than 100 countries has a dominant position in global shipping.

The main focus is to develop new knowledge and tools to enable sustainable ship design in a fleet/value-chain perspective, with a particular focus on ensuring energy-efficient and environmentally sound transport solutions.

DNV proNavis is rapidly expanding, and numbers 11 full-time and 4 part-time employees (September 2008), most of them naval architects or industrial economists. The company shall, in collaboration with other parts of DNV, NTNU and other R&D institutions, provide innovation-based development of methodology and software applications.