The Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards are the "academy awards for science centers", and the Norwegian Museum of Science and Technology was one of two award winners in the category Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience for large science centres. The Association of Science and Technology-Centers' Annual conference took place in Fort Worth, Texas, USA October 31 to November 3, 2009.
This is the first time a European museum has received a Leading Edge Award. The Norwegian museum gets the award for their exhibition Climate X, focusing on climate change. The exhibition won the award because of "its unique application of new ideas and promising practices, demonstrating creativity and extraordinary performance" and for "its role in furthering the institution's mission by achieving a tangible impact or lasting effect on visitor experience- including, but not limited to, exhibitions, education programs, technology applications, theater and film programming, visitor services, research and evaluation."