The development of MBBR technology is attributed to Professor Hallvard Ødegaard and his colleagues at Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). This is traced back to the late 1970s to early 1980s. The first MBBR pilot plant was installed at NTNU in the early 1980s in which its success lead to the construction and start-up of the first full-scale MBBR plant in Norway in 1985. It was commercialized by Kaldnes Miljöteknologi (now called AnoxKaldnes and owned by Veolia Water Technologies). Since then, MBBR technology has been widely adopted throughout the world, mainly in Europe and Asia. Now, there are over 700 wastewater treatment systems (both municipal and industrial) installed in over 50 countries.