Innovation and entrepreneurship

DTU has one of the most well-developed ecosystems for innovation and entrepreneurship among technical universities in Europe. This ecosystem helps bringing new ideas and inventions from the classrooms and research laboratories into the real world, where they can create new jobs and address challenges in society.

Innovation at DTU comprises four pillars, each with its own specific focus: student innovation, business collaboration, start-ups, and commercialization.

Student innovation

At DTU Innovation and entrepreneurship are integrated into our Study Programmes, mandatory courses, and electives. Through projects, events, internships, and student jobs, students gain experience and contacts within the business community, which ensures that students develop entrepreneurial competences and that, in turn, companies benefit from innovative inputs from the students.

Business collaboration

DTU has a strong tradition for working with companies and has a wide range of collaborations regarding strategic research collaborations, continuing education, student projects, conferences, etc. The interaction between the University and the business community enables that theory is put into practice and that research is based on real-world issues.

In 2019 DTU had 1,670 collaborative research projects with companies.

Start-ups

The growth of start-ups at DTU shows that both students and employees increasingly manage to translate ideas into solutions that benefit society. This growth is supported by DTU’s establishment of prototype workshops, funding opportunities, and research environments—together they provide a unique environment centred on entrepreneurship.

In 2019, 76 start-ups were launched; 44 by students and 32 by researchers.

Commercialization

Research at DTU often leads to inventions considered to have commercial value.

In 2019, a total of 54 inventions were commercialized, both for DTU start-ups and for established companies. And 58 sales, licence, and option agreements were concluded in relation to intellectual property rights. That is a 49% increase and the highest number in University history.

DTU Skylab

DTU Skylab is a hub for innovation where students and researchers together with external partners experiment with, modify, and test their ideas and products.

In 2019, the facilities were expanded with a new digital development laboratory, DTU Skylab Digital, which will advance digital technology to be exploited in projects and start-ups.

102 events were hosted in 2019. One of them was Next Generation City Action – during the C40 World Mayor’s Summit in Copenhagen – where 200 young people from all over the world came up with solutions to urban climate challenges.

Watch videos

Next Generation City Action

dtu.dk/profile18

This year’s student

start-up 2019 (Eng. subtitles) dtu.dk/profile19

Synklino, a research-based start-up

dtu.dk/profile21