Further to the MOU signed between the vice chancellors of the University of Jaffna and Western Norway University of Applied Sciences in March 2017, an Institutional  Technical Assistance Contract on Capacity Building and Establishment of a Research Consortium in Nanomaterials for Clean Energy Technologies was signed by the project coordinators Prof.P.Ravirajan, and Prof.V.Dhayalan, at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo in the presence of the Norwegian Ambassador, His Excellency Thorbjørn Gaustadsæther on 07.07.2017 . This collaborative initiative will be funded by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway as part of its development cooperation programme and the total grant is 6.2 million Norwegian Kroners (LKR 112 million) to be disbursed over a period of three years (2017-2019).