DTU Skylab - The journey of an innovation hub by DTUdk

DTU Skylab

T HE JOURNE Y OF A N INNOVAT ION HUB

Photo by Kaare Smith

This is the story of DTU Skylab’s journey from basement project to international innovation hub. In this book, we cover the three generations of DTU Skylab through the people who have used, and still are using, DTU Skylab as a step on the way to realizing their ambitions and ideas. This includes students, start-ups, researchers, external businesses, and organizations. To everybody who contributed along the way, we say:

This place is yours. And so is this story. Enjoy.

Illustration by Helene Aamand Pedersen

Introduction to DTU Skylab

Ambitions are sky-high

2013 -2014: DTU Skylab 1.0

Start-up: EUPRY

Start-up: SHAPE ROBOTICS

Course: X-TECH

2014 – 2020: DTU Skylab 2.0

Start-up: INNITI

Start-up: GROTESK

DANSTAR: Building a real rocket from scratch

Start-up: OBITAL

Start-up: RELIBOND

Start-up: MOLECULAR QUANTUM SOLUTION

Company collaboration: INNOVATING WITH STUDENTS

Start-up: INCEPT SUSTAINABILITY

Research in prototypes: Testing the house of the future

Start-up: TREBO

Student initiative: SDG Student Ambassadors

FOODLAB: Sustainable food systems

Start-up: CASJU

Start-up: SEASONY

Start-up: KITE-X

International reach: Enabling sustainability on a global scale

2020 - : DTU Skylab 3.0

Start-up: COPENHAGEN ATOMICS

Course: BIOMEDICAL PROTOTYPING

Start-up: DEFUDGER

Research collaboration: The digital technologies of tomorrow

102

Architecture: When a building creates identity

104

The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation: Supporting a genuinely Innovative space

108

Photo by Kaare Smith

DTU Skylab

Photo by Kaare Smith

AMBITIONS ARE SK Y-HIGH An extremely high level of activity and engagement has always been the hallmark of DTU Skylab MARIANNE THELLERSEN SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT

MIKKEL SØRENSEN HEAD OF DTU SKYLAB

ANDERS BJARKLEV DTU PRESIDENT

“Think big, fail fast, and then scale quicker.” This is the essence of DTU Skylab’s mission and part of its recipe for helping students develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And with the doubling or more of the Skylab facilities to a total of just over 5,000 square metres in 2020, the ambition is for far more researchers and industry to be invited to take part in innovation processes. “The development of DTU Skylab will strengthen the entire innovation environment both internally at DTU, and in our collaboration with private companies and other partners. Our new facilities are simply fantastic, and we’re extremely grateful,” says Marianne

“The development of DTU Skylab will strengthen the entire innovation environment both internally at DTU, and in our collaboration with private companies and other partners. Our new facilities are simply fantastic, and we’re extremely grateful.” MARIANNE THELLERSEN

Thellersen, Senior Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in the first interview to be conducted in the new complex, together with DTU President Anders Bjarklev and Head of DTU Skylab Mikkel Sørensen.

“DTU Skylab is a place where innovation can be nurtured on the users’ terms. Engaging in concrete projects, students, employees, and businesses can work together to create technology for people. And while we’re appreciative of the possibilities offered by our new and larger facilities, we’re very aware that innovation is not just a question of having the necessary space. Innovation is a team sport, and to excel at it you have to be open, invite the outside world inside, and create a critical mass of activity. One of our biggest concerns has actually been whether we‘ll be able to sustain the extremely high level of activity and engagement that has always been the hallmark of DTU Skylab,” she says.

Buzzing with activity DTU Skylab is known as a place buzzing with activity day and night. Since the start in 2013, students and researchers have come along with their innovation projects, used the workshops, and participated in courses and hackathons. And together with the DTU Skylab staff, they have defined the content and shifted the boundaries of what an innovation hub is.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

For all the ideas you can (and can’t) think of.

‘For all the ideas you can (and can’t) think of’ is another catchphrase embodying the DTU Skylab values. And according to DTU President Anders Bjarklev, it is important that DTU—as a technical university—should make space for working with new ideas, ranging from eye-tracking technology for smartphones to help people with physical disabilities open doors to kites for harvesting energy like wind turbines in the air. “It’s absolutely essential for DTU as an elite technical university that all our students and researchers contribute to developing new solutions and technologies that can contribute to the sustainable development of society. Research and innovation must go hand in hand, which is why we on the management team have made it clear from the outset that it is both okay and necessary to spend time testing ideas. We did this by establishing the innovation hub in 2013, we’ve done so with the expansion of DTU Skylab in 2020, and DTU Skylab management does so every day by spending time in the workshops and mingling with users rather than entrenching themselves in their own of fices,” says Anders Bjarklev.

Innovation myths He is pleased that there is enough space in the new building to invite researchers in. The strong academic environments at DTU have an obligation both within their own disciplines and across professional boundaries.

“It’s a myth that innovation steals time and therefore results in less and poorer research or lower teaching standards.” ANDERS BJARKLEV

“It’s a myth that innovation steals time and therefore results in less and poorer research or lower teaching standards. That’s not the case at all. On the contrary, research and education get better. Because by being part of an innovation process, you’re also creating new knowledge, perhaps even new knowledge in completely new fields. And that comes with a huge potential for professional development and the creation of new products and start-ups,” says Anders Bjarklev.

Edge and wildness At DTU Skylab, developments over the past eight years have led to new concepts for competitions, courses, and coaching becoming an established part of the innovation hub’s offerings. But Head of DTU Skylab Mikkel Sørensen

does not think that any of the concepts are more deserving of mention than the others. “DTU Skylab’s success comes from our focus on building a culture based on some of the values we believe are particularly important for entrepreneurship: We believe in openness. We believe entrepreneurship should have a bit of edge and wildness. We believe in being ambitious. So when we do a hackathon or an acceleration programme— like hundreds of others do—we try to think about these values,” he says. Mikkel Sørensen points out that the development of DTU Skylab has sprung from a wish to create facilities which will be supportive of Skylab’s culture.

Photo by Kaare Smith

“There’s a reason for the high ceilings and the gold-coloured panels up high. We wanted a bit of ‘schwung’, and we wanted a bit of rawness with the concrete elements. That’s the sort of edge and wildness that you should get a sense of when you’re here. If everything is perfectly perfect and polished, people are going to be afraid to leave fingermarks on the surfaces, and probably likely to not dare to fail either. So we hope the building and everything that goes on in it reflect the values we believe in,” he says. Activity levels at DTU Skylab indicate that the culture is alive and well. In 2019, the innovation hub held 102 events. 127 DTU start-ups or pre-startups were offered coaching, and 143 delegations visited.

Collaboration with private companies There is a lot of goodwill towards DTU Skylab among private companies, both when it comes to active collaboration on the development of new technologies in competitions such as Open Innovation X and financial support for the

“We wanted a bit of ‘schwung’, and we wanted a bit of rawness with the concrete elements. That’s the sort of edge and wildness that you should get a sense of when you’re here.” MIKKEL SØRENSEN

further development of student projects. In 2015, the first private companies started providing financial support through Skylab grants, and in 2019 this resulted in DKK 1.6 million for start-up projects. “This is a good example of the way in which the outside world is helping to create value for our users. We would not be able to raise support at DTU for the students to the same extent, and there is no way that we could have built this building without the donation of DKK 80 million from The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation. So many of Skylab’s activities rely on close interaction with ex-

ternal stakeholders. This also goes for the mentors who willingly share their industry or business experience,” says Mikkel Sørensen.

International ambitions Collaboration with international partners and product development for an international market are high priorities in DTU Skylab’s world. Marianne Thellersen points out that DTU is part of an increasing number of international projects and helps students to get their ideas out to a wider audience as well. “Innovation in Denmark is not cut off from the rest of the world. That’s why we’re strongly committed to our partnerships with, for example, the Eurotech Alliance and Scale-up Champions with a number of European players. Also, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are key elements in all projects undertaken at DTU Skylab. We have a strong focus on sustainability, and digital technologies are being used as active tools. On the whole, DTU Skylab feeds very actively into DTU’s strategy of developing technology for people,” says Marianne Thellersen.

DTU Sk ylab 1.0

Photo by DTU

2013 -2014

DTU Sk ylab 1.0 T HE PROTOT Y PE

LEARNING #1

Test small scale, fail fast, adapt when necessary.

DTU Skylab was born in run-down basement premises in 2013. The vision was to create a melting pot for student innovation and entrepreneurship. But funds were scarce, and it was initially a short-term pilot project, as the building was to be demolished 18 months later. It was therefore crucial to get the project off the ground straight away and to gather as much experience as possible. The premises received minimum renovation (literally only the lower part of the walls was painted, as this was the fastest and cheapest solution), most of the furniture was found throughout DTU’s basements, and the first workshop equipment consisted primarily of donated second-hand machines. This made it possible to get started quickly and cheaply. The limited resources obviously created some challenges. There was considerable time pressure and the finances only permitted the appointment of a couple of employees as well as very small in-

vestments in activities and equipment. But, retrospectively, it also gave some great advantages to be a small initiative flying under the radar: there was a very broad mandate allowing an explorative approach to the establishment of the house, and—above all—it gave room to make mistakes. Many different elements such as coaching formats, event portfolio, opening hours, and much more were tried out. Sometimes these elements worked well—often those proposed by the users of the house—and they were then further developed into concepts. Often, however, the ideas failed to hit the target. We then had to learn from this and try something else. When you visit DTU Skylab today, you primarily see some of the concepts that survived. However, the truth is that a large number of more or less unsuccessful ideas, concepts, and initiatives created a foundation, and that we were paving the road as we drove it.

“I remember that—right at the beginning—a student proposed holding Arduino workshops in the evening, and I predicted that it wasn’t very likely that people would show up. But we tried it out, and it resulted in a long series of fully booked events. The students’ suggestions were often the best—after all, they had first-hand knowledge of what was needed.” MIKKEL SØRENSEN HEAD OF DTU SKYLAB

Photos by DTU

EUPRY

Photo by Kaare Smith

JK AJ

Photo by Kaare Smitha

“Our mantra is to create innovation that frees up resources.” EUPRY

MAKING IT E A SIER TO S TAY COOL Eupry began as a philanthropic BSc project. Today, it’s an innovative company which saves time and work for laboratories worldwide.

EUPRY ADAM HARTMANN CO-FOUNDER - HEAD OF MARKETING

In the beginning, Adam Hartmann was— in his own words—prowling DTU’s hallways in search of something ‘wild’ that he could turn into his BSc project.

thing with their hands”—made prototypes. However, they had poor knowledge of law and marketing, but DTU Skylab helped them get a handle on this. This included drawing up a contract under which Eupry’s many founders could buy each other out without any fuss when it became time for them to go their separate ways.

JAKOB KONRADSEN CO-FOUNDER – HEAD OF QUALITY AND PRODUCTION

SOFIA ERIKSEN SUPPORT ASSISTANT

SOFUS ADDINGTON DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

ANJA JACOBSEN QUALITY ASSISTANT

His search led him into the office of an associate professor who told him about a developing country project. Shortly afterwards, Adam Hartmann and a fellow student started building temperature sensors connected to an alarm system. They then travelled to Ethiopia with Unicef to secure stable refrigeration of medicines in a country in which power outages are a daily occurrence. Eupry’s development history does not follow a linear model. Along the way, main and secondary characters have joined and left the entrepreneurial project. The focus has also shifted from philanthropy in Africa to being a commercial sensor company with customers such as Novo Nordisk, Carlsberg, and hospitals in Denmark and the UK. Eupry used DTU Skylab’s Rapid Prototyping Workshop as the base during the start-up phase. This was where Adam Hartmann and the seven other co-founders—who “could all do some-

“It was vital for us to have an environment in which we could develop. There were intellectual resources, something as banal as space, and other students with other projects that could keep us on our toes,” recalls Adam Hartman, who is now Eupry’s Head of Marketing and Business Development. Eupry is not the only one on the market to make moisture and temperature sensors. But the company stands out by offering a 3-in-1 solution. In addition to measuring equipment, Eupry has created an effective calibration laboratory that helps customers meet specific documentation requirements that apply to the pharmaceutical industry. “Our mantra is to create innovation that rees up resources. It’s better that nurses and laboratory managers can focus their time on what they’re passionate about instead of having to struggle with refrigeration of medicine,” says Adam Hartmann.

Text by Mette Dahlgaard

Photo by Kaare Smith DJC

“At the beginning of 2013, we used DTU Skylab 1.0, which was actually called Fablab back then, to build our prototypes. It was important for us to have access to the machinery, prototyping labs, and technicians DTU Skylab could provide back then. As Skylab grew, we grew with them for a while, as we needed more stuff that they could provide.” SHAPE ROBOTICS

BUILDING ROBOT S FOR EDUC ATION

SHAPE ROBOTICS DAVID JOHAN CHRISTENSEN CEO & FOUNDER

MOISES PACHECO CTO & FOUNDER

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

At Shape Robotics we make robots for educational purposes and we have recently launched a new product, which is a telepresence robot.

We were listed on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market on 25 June 2020 and we are scaling up fast. Our product is sold in 25 countries and we have production facilities in Denmark, Slovakia, and Thailand.

“I want them to actually be able to start up a business” THOMAS HOWARD

Photo by Kaare Smith

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

TOMORROW ’S TECH TALENT S X-Tech Entrepreneurship course

“Our MSc students are truly impressive, and their capabilities never fail to amaze me. They’re put into mixed disciplinary teams and fulfil their roles as competent and creative engineers in their various disciplines,” says Associate Professor Thomas Howard from DTU Entrepreneurship. Each year, he forms teams out of a total of 200 DTU and Copenhagen Business School students, who join DTU’s X-Tech Entrepreneurship course. The course is a semester-long, technology-based course incubator at DTU Skylab, aiming to match teams of MSc in Engineering students from a variety of different backgrounds with technologies, inventions, patents, and the needs of companies.

“The variety of projects they take on is impressive, from new payloads for drones which can measure river depths, to new nutritional supplements made from algae.” THOMAS HOWARD

“DTU is a top-flight technical university, so we have interesting projects, good technology, and good scientists involved in the cases. If we assign MSc students to an audio-related project, you can bet your life by the end of the course they will actually have produced some kind of working speaker with a distinct value proposition. The variety of projects they take on is impressive, from new payloads for drones which

can measure river depths, to new nutritional supplements made from algae, like the two start-up projects Caelimetrics and Nordic Algae. They don’t just deliver an idea, sketch, or a PowerPoint presentation. They actually get their hands dirty and develop their products and markets like real tech start-ups with the skills, capabilities, and motivation to get it done,” says Thomas Howard. X-Tech Entrepreneurship is split into thematic focus areas like life science-tech, ehealth-tech, water-tech, food and agriculture-tech, audio-tech, clean-tech, and so on. The tracks are sponsored by companies, whose involvement includes setting specific projects as well as providing technical and commercial mentoring. “I want them to actually be able to start up a business. Either they do it now, or they’ll be able to do it in the future. We take them as far as we can through the process, so they know how to do it. We run the course like a professional incubator, similar to the Danish Tech Challenge. It’s a great learning experience, and every year around 25 per cent of the projects either get funding or want to carry on towards a start-up company after the course,” says Thomas Howard.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

DTU Sk ylab 2.0

Photo by Kaare Smith

2014 – 2020

DTU Sk ylab 2.0 A HOUSE FOR S T UDEN T INNOVATION & EN TREPRENEUR SHIP

LEARNING #2

Engage users, build a community, be part of an eco-system.

Despite far from all aspects of the pilot version of DTU Skylab being successful and even though it took time for users to embrace the house, a high-potential innovation environment began to take shape after about a year. Therefore, it was decided to renovate a building of just over 1,500 square metres and establish a permanent DTU Skylab on these premises. Based on the pilot project experience, three design parameters were identified that were to permeate the new house: Transparency — to ensure openness and facilitate the meeting between different people Flexibility — as needs and context are constantly changing, the house should be seen more as an adaptable organism than a static building Edge — the comfort of the permanent house was to be higher than in the pilot version (which had lousy acoustics, terrible indoor climate, etc). However, it was important to maintain a rawness and wildness that would support people in daring to think big, but also daring to fail.

One of the biggest threats in the establishment of the permanent and much larger DTU Skylab was the risk that there would not be sufficient activities, and that it would appear as a place running at half speed. It was clear that there was a need to boost the activity level significantly to achieve the desired density and intensity in the environment. Therefore, it was vital to mobilize internal and external partners as well as users of the house in establishing the activity contents. This approach entails a risk that you will lose control of the activity contents, and that you might end up with events that do not match the core activities of the house. This did, in fact, happen occasionally. But the advantage is that more people pull together, that you can draw on external competences, and—not least—that the users become engaged in building up the environment. To highlight this, a giant sticker was placed on the floor with the text: ‘Welcome – this place is yours’.

“For DTU Skylab, it was crucial during this stage to create a dense environment with a high activity level—even if, at times, the price was that an event didn’t have a perfect strategic fit.” MIKKEL SØRENSEN HEAD OF DTU SKYLAB

Photos by DTU

Photo by Kaare Smith MM

“DTU Skylab gave us the opportunity to share valuable knowledge with other tech start-ups facing the same challenges as we did, many of which we stay in touch with.” INNITI

SOF T WARE FOR SMARTER L ABS

INNITI MALTHE MUFF CEO

ANDERS LUND CTO

MATTEO FUMAGALLI

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We connect laboratory equipment to our software, so laboratories can automate experiments and quality control, thereby increasing efficiency significantly.

We are nine people working in the company and got investments for DKK 6.5 million in 2019. We are currently focusing a lot on sales and scaling the business.

COO (NOT PRESENT)

GROTESK

Photo by Kaare Smith

Photo by Kaare Smith LKS

KUK

”Compostable materials can be used as a sustainable alternative for various applications in the construction industry” GROTESK

DSJ

MUSHROOMS TURN WA S TE INTO BUILDING M ATERIAL S GROTESK DAN SKOVGAARD JENSEN M.SC. STUD. DESIGN OG INNOVATION

KRISTIAN ULLUM KRISTENSEN M.SC. STUD. DESIGN OG INNOVATION

LASSE KOEFOED SUDERGAARD M.SC. STUD. DESIGN OG INNOVATION

Building materials based on industrial waste and roots of edible mushrooms might become a tender for sustainable building materials.

als or be composted right back into nature,” says Dan Skovgaard Jensen, who studies Design and Innovation at DTU Management.

either be moulded into various forms or pressed into boards. One week later, the materials are dried out and the materials are ready for use.

Three MSc students from DTU have developed a method to grow building materials that show surprisingly good fire-retardant properties and which may, for example, replace wooden boards.

Dan Skovgaard Jensen has developed the compostable building materials and run the Grotesk Innovation startup with Kristian Ullum Kristensen and Lasse Koefoed Sudergaard, who are also MSc students at DTU Management.

“The materials are mainly grown on industrial waste from agriculture, but we also grow materials on other more exotic types of industrial waste such as hemp shives, seagrass, and cotton. And since our materials are grown together, from roots of edible mushrooms, it takes very little embedded energy to produce the materials. And when the materials are no longer needed, they can either be recycled into new materi-

Made from industrial waste The mushroom building materials are produced at DTU Skylab where mushrooms spores, nutrients, and water are added to industrial waste. Subsequently, the mixture is poured into special bags that ensure optimal growth conditions for the mushroom. The mushroom then shoots its white roots through the industrial waste, binding the waste together, and forming a structure that can

As hard as a particle board The acoustic panels are as light as flamingo, and the boards are hard as particle boards. Both materials have shown good fire-retardant properties in fire screenings at DTU Civil Engineering. Unlike wood products, the roots of mushroom help inhibit the ignition of the compostable building materials. Dan Skovgaard Jensen, Kristian Ullum Kristensen, and Lasse Koefoed Sudergaard believe that the compostable materials can be used as a sustainable alternative for various applications within the construction industry, such as wooden boards or acoustic panels.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

Photo by Danstar

Photo by Sebastian Stigsby for Digital Hub Denmark

Photo by Simon Klein-Knudsen

Photo by Danstar

BUILDING A RE AL ROCKE T FROM SCR ATCH Interview with Rasmus Arndt Pedersen, Chairman of Danstar.

Danstar: student-driven, rocket building project

The project is part of DTU’s Blue Dot projects, which the University supports to accelerate student learning in real-world projects.

How do you build a rocket engine? “You build a rocket engine by sitting down with a piece of paper and trying to figure out what you want this rocket engine to do. If the objective is to put something in orbit, this gives some very specific challenges. If it is just to build a working rocket engine to show to people, this removes some of the challenges, but introduces new challenges. In our case, we want to fly a rocket to a height of 9 kilometres, which poses a new set of challenges. We need a specific amount of thrust, a specific burn duration, and a specific weight. From this basis, you then start reading the available literature to find out how this engine should look in order to perform.” What is important, apart from engineering skills? “Cross-disciplinarity. Rocket science is an umbrella term for lots of different disciplines working together. So on a team like Danstar, we need people from all over DTU to work together. This could be mechanical engineers, chemical engineers, software engineers, and electrical engineers, just to give some examples. We all need to work together in unison to build this rocket. You need different skillsets that you can only find in highly specialized departments, but

you need to try and unite them all at the same time to move forward. Because of this, team dynamics is also a huge part of what we do. You have so many different people coming from different places, both in life and academically. To make the team work, you really need to make sure that people understand what they are working on, and that you are talking to the right people in the right way to move forward. And this skill is something you simply cannot learn only from a book, you have to teach it to yourself while doing it.” Why join a project like this? “I would absolutely encourage everyone to work on a project like this. The things you learn here are things you simply cannot learn in the auditorium listening to your professor. You can learn a lot of valuable stuff there, but actually having to apply the stuff you learn there to a real-life project is just so giving. And you also get to work with engineers. This is a project where all of the students working on it are highly motivated, highly ambitious, and want this thing to work, which makes it an incredible atmosphere to work in.”

O B I TA L

FØN

Photo by Oscar Scott Carl / Ritzau Scanpix

ELP

Photo by Mikal Schlosser

”We’re no longer interested in building apps. We’re interested in building basic technology.” OBITAL

LE T TING THE E YES DO THE TALKING Obital began as a BSc project aimed at helping persons with physical disabilities. The start-up now creates basic technology in which large companies are interested.

O B I TA L FREDERIK ØSTERGAARD NEBLE FOUNDER AND CEO

ELIAS LUNDGAARD PEDERSEN FOUNDER AND CTO

Imagine that the screen on your phone acts like a switch that turns the lights on and off in your living room. If you look at the top of the screen, the lights will be switched on. If you look at the bottom of the screen, you switch them off. The idea of controlling the lights, turning on the water, and opening windows with your eyes via an app was both simple and brilliant when Frederik Østergaard Neble and Elias Lundgaard Pedersen submitted their BSc project at DTU in 2017. Since then, the study project— originally intended for persons with physical disabilities—has developed into an advanced tool. Obital can now follow the gaze of the eyes on the screen in such a detailed and close manner that large international companies are tripping to be allowed to use the tool for their own products: “We’re no longer interested in building apps. We’re interested in building basic technology. In five to ten years, other companies will be using our technology to build their own eye tracking

products,” explains Obital CEO Frederik Østergaard Neble. Especially during the start-up phase, DTU Skylab provided important support. In the shared office space of Skylab Incubator, Obital became sharper at defining its business model, and Skylab also opened the doors to international entrepreneurial programmes like the European Venture Programme. Obital has developed at lightening speed, and the originators of idea have faced dilemma-filled choices during the process: Is it, for example, OK to drop out of your studies because your business requires all your time and attention? And how does the company ensure that the technology is not used for illegal surveillance? When Frederik Østergaard Neble is to describe DTU Skylab’s contribution to the company’s development and success, he talks about courage: “Skylab’s entrepreneurial programmes have had a big influence on how we took the first steps as a start-up, and have connected us with persons with the same entrepreneurial spirit. They strengthened our courage to bet on our business.”

Text by Mette Dahlgaard

Photos by Mikkel Bendix

The metal, welding, and wood workshops in DTU Skylab are equipped with advanced machinery and specialists ready to assist and challenge students and start-ups when they are manufacturing prototypes.

Photos by Uffe Frandsen

Photos by Mikkel Bendix

Photo by Kaare Smith CM

Relibond at DTU Link in Roskilde, which is also part of DTU Skylab.

“We used Skylab in the very early stage in 2015. We networked with other start-ups and had close contact to the University. We then moved to DTU Link in mid-2019. They offer similar facilities as Skylab, however, with no workshop assistance, but the location is better for us. We now have a permanent testing lab/demonstration setup, production assembly station, space for inventory, development facilities, and a small office space.” RELIBOND

CONNEC TING THE WORLD OF HIGH VOLTAGE P OWER C ABLES

RELIBOND CHRISTIAN MICHELSEN CO-FOUNDER & LEAD BUSINESS DEVELOPER

SØREN ISAKSEN CEO

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

An automatic solution for electrical termination and connection of highvoltage power cables. Reducing time consumption by a factor of 20, increasing repeatability, lowering failure rates, removing dependency of skilled technicians, and improving the working environment.

We have sold our first systems to customers in Europe and Asia. We are about to intensify our sales activities, and we will continue to introduce new, groundbreaking solutions to the industry.

Photo by Kaare Smith ŁR

MNJ

“As PhD graduates from DTU, we wanted a quick crash course in starting up a company. The Ignite programme helped us to develop a strategy, prepare a value proposition, and write our first application to the Innofounder Graduate programme funded by Innovation Fund Denmark. Our application was successful and you can say that Skylab Ignite was definitely the match needed to ignite our rocket.” MOLECULAR QUANTUM SOLUTIONS

DIGITALIZING CHEMIS TRY WITH M ACHINE LE ARNING

MOLECULAR QUANTUM SOLUTIONS ŁUKASZ RUSZCZYNSKI CTO

ONUR AY COO

MARK NICHOLAS JONES CEO

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We provide a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution for the pharma, biotech, and chemical industries. Our software predicts the properties of chemicals by combining quantum chemistry with machine learning algorithms. Our tool drastically reduces the experimental R&D time for new products.

We are about to launch our MVP (Minimum Viable Product). We have built up a team of co-founders with both technical and business knowledge, full-stack programmers, and UX/UI developers. We have some initial traction with around three companies, not as customers, but as collaborators in funding projects and use-case implementations. As soon as our MVP has been launched, the companies will be on-boarded to our software for a licence fee.

DTU Skylab has several initiatives matching projects from students, start-ups, and researchers with external businesses and organizations to collaborate on developing solutions to real-world problems

“The Danish Cancer Society have had great value from parti cipating in the Digital Health Bootcamp and working together with talented DTU students—not only because of their digital mindsets, but also because they bring in innovative and creative perspectives on how data and digital solutions can help prevent more cancer cases. Preventive action in cancer is relevant from an early stage in life. The students excel at developing ideas that reaches out to young target groups (including themselves), and they also bring new perspectives forward regarding the future of health technology.” MARTHA LOUISE KJÆRBYE Special Consultant, Danish Cancer Society

“In Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark (DPOD), we believe that with the right options available, everyone can contribute. By cooperating strategically in the project ‘Technology leaving no one behind’, we work with visionary students to develop new opportunities within universal design for the benefit of everyone.” Photo by Kaare Smith

SIF HOLST Vice Chairman, Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark

“I was impressed to see how the students worked across academic disciplines”

Photo by Kaare Smith

INGRID SOFIE HARBOE

SURPRISING PATHS TO INNOVATION

Innovating with students

“We have many years of experience in running clinical studies, but we’re still surprised when students come up with new technologies...” INGRID SOFIE HARBOE VP OF BIOMETRICS, LUNDBECK

In a packed hall in DTU Skylab in 2019, Paragit Solutions received first prize in Open Innovation X (Oi-X) for developing a sleeve to diagnose patients with Parkinson’s disease in early stages of the disease. Oi-X is a DTU Skylab initiative which partners projects from DTU with challenges from external companies and organizations. In the judging panel was Ingrid Sofie Harboe, VP of Biometrics at Lundbeck, and she was impressed by the commitment and creativity the students delivered in the company’s challenge about Parkinson’s disease. “I was impressed to see how the students worked across academic disci plines and to experience how fast they were at coming up with technologies they could bring into play in the competition. We have many years of experience in running clinical studies, but we’re still surprised when students come up with

new technologies and challenge us by suggesting, for example, that forks can monitor shaking movements of the hands,” says Ingrid Sofie Harboe. Several of our employees from Lundbeck were involved in the process, and they got a lot of inspiration from the students’ wealth of ideas and from experiencing the DTU Skylab environment. Lundbeck did not go into further development with the winning project after the competition, but in February 2020, Paragit Solutions joined the Bio innovation Institute’s Business Acceleration Academy programme. The latest status in August 2020 was that the team is ready with the technology, and once the pandemic situation allows it, they will provide sleeves to pharma companies for clinical trials.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

PARAGIT SOLUTIONS

Photo by Kaare Smith

Oi-X participants 2018 DTU Student Start-up of the year 2019

Thank you for making DTU Skylab possible

Photo by Kaare Smith KJJ

AJPE

SBA

“We won the digital track of DTU Skylab Ignite in spring 2019 and were part of the incubator from 2019-2020. At DTU Skylab, we really got started testing our idea and got lots of input from other people and start-ups on how to develop our product. We also got a push to start talking to lots of companies.” INCEPT SUSTAINABILITY

M AKING BUSINESSES SUS TAINABLE THROUGH DIGITAL LE ARNING

INCEPT S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y KATHRINE JERL JENSEN CO-FOUNDER

SOFIE BERGLYKKE AAGAARD

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We have developed a digital learning and analytics tool for companies that want to be more sustainable.

At the moment, we are ready to go to market and start selling our product through a consultancy.

CO-FOUNDER

ALECHANDRINA J PEREIRA ESPINOZA CO-FOUNDER

Photo by Peter Aagaard Brixen

“By testing new constructions in prototypes at DTU Skylab, the researchers have control over their own data.” CHRISTIAN NEYRA RØNNE ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

TES TING THE HOUSE OF THE FUTURE

Aurora: DTU’s project for the 2021 Solar Decathlon

Solar Decathlon project, the world’s largest international building competition.

Prototypes for an innovative new house are being examined at DTU Skylab, where researchers are testing new components in the expanded workshops and laboratory facilities. The building components are part of the Solar Decathlon project, the world’s largest international building competition, which has given competing students hands-on experience and unique training since 2002, preparing them to enter the clean energy workforce. DTU’s project for the 2021 Solar Decathlon in China is called Aurora. Designed as a house for northern latitudes that can be lived in all year round, the building concept makes use of the latest technologies and materials in energy-efficient design, clean energy technologies, smart home solutions, water conservation measures, electric vehicles, and high-performance buildings.

ship of data from testing the new constructions, which can be used in future research projects or commercially,” says Associate Professor Christian Neyra Rønne from DTU Civil Engineering. The Aurora project spans three semesters and includes around 100 students, 35 of whom will participate in the construction of the competition house in the Chinese host city of Zhangjiakou. After the competition, data from the project will be examined in new research projects. Aurora will remain in Zhangjiakou and provide accommodation for athletes in the 2022 Winter Olympics in China, while logging energy and indoor climate data for DTU. The previous houses from the 2012 and 2014 Solar Decathlons are located at Grundfos in Ikast and in the Danfoss Universe Science Park on Als, where schoolchildren and visiting groups can learn about energy efficiency.

“By testing new constructions in prototypes at DTU Skylab, the researchers have control over their own data, and thus the development of new building components. This speeds up the process, and the researchers gain owner-

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

TREBO

Photo by Kaare Smith

ALB

Photo by Bax Lindhardt

“Our dream is to go global by expanding steadily into Europe, the United States, China, and Japan.” TREBO

E X TENDING THE LIFE OF PL A S TIC TREBO THOMAS TREBBIEN CTO

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD CSO

ANDREAS LETH BOCKHOFF CEO

Two engineering students decided to address the world’s plastic waste problems and developed a pioneering new technique for plastic waste sorting. During Thomas Trebbien’s mechanical engineering studies at DTU, he had an experience which proved decisive for the path he has since chosen. He was at an event on plastic materials in the sea, and—in his own words—he was speechless when he realized the scale of the problem. “I thought: We have to do something about this,” says Thomas Trebbien, who—with his then fellow student and current partner Andreas Leth Bockhoff—decided to do something about the problem. “The quantities that end up in the sea, in landfills, and for incineration are a huge sign that the infrastructure for plastic waste management doesn’t work. Less

than 10 per cent of all plastic ever produced has been recycled,” says Thomas Trebbien. He says that although plastic has acquired a bad environmental reputation, the material is extremely suitable for recycling because it can be reused many times and still maintain its properties. However, this requires the plastic to be sorted for it to be as clean as possible.” As part of their studies, the two youngsters therefore started building a machine that could recognize the fluid mechanical properties of different types of plastic. The result was a groundbreaking new technology that sorts plastic with a precision of more than 99 per cent. From there, things really took off. The two engineering students became part of Skylab Ignite—a 10-week accelerator programme—where, for example, they learned how to build up a business and compose a team.

“There, we got our first knowledge of all the commercial aspects, and the importance of being able to pitch your idea in one minute. In fact, we were used to going into the minutest of details,” says Thomas Trebbien. Trebo, as they named their business, also received DKK 140,000 from DTU Skylab Funding, allowing them to build an even bigger and better prototype. Since then, Trebo has won and been in the final of several start-up competitions. And today— two years after Thomas Trebbien and Andreas Leth Bockhoff submitted their MSc thesis—they have a business that sorts 5-10 tonnes of plastic a month. However, they are aiming much higher: “Our dream is to go global by expanding steadily into Europe, the United States, China, and Japan,” says Thomas Trebbien.

Text by Julie Hjerl Hansen

CHANNELING S TUDENT ENGAGEMENT SDG Student Ambassadors is a student initiative founded at DTU in 2017 with the vision to engage, motivate, and educate the changemakers of tomorrow. The initiative is based at DTU Skylab with students from different universities in Denmark joining as student ambassadors. They take action in changing today’s agenda by collaborating with other students, organizations, and companies on hosting events, influencing

the political agenda, case competitions, sharing knowledge, and creating awareness of the SDGs. The SDG Student Ambassadors have a strong social and interdisciplinary community providing students with the tools they need to act on their hopes, worries, and ideas on how to work towards the SDGs – within and beyond their academic careers.

ENGAGE

SPREAD AWARENESS

EMPOWER

SDG Student Ambassadors gives students the opportunity to interact with external stakeholders, enhance their sustainability knowledge, and push the importance of the SDGs into the community. All our events are run by our student ambassadors, who all meet-up monthly to plan and collaborate on current projects.

SDG Student Ambassadors brings the message with us where we go! We seek to spread awareness of sustainability and the SDGs at universities, and we are still growing. The purpose is to share and develop ways to bring sustainability into our everyday, student and professional life.

SDG Student Ambassadors collaborate with professors and companies working on state-of-the-art projects. Our ambassadors thus get the chance to deep-dive into the technical aspects of implementing the SDGs in various fields of expertise. Sometimes, they’re even invited to help out with the implementation.

Student initiative: SDG Student Ambassadors

Photo by SDG Student Ambassadors

Photo by Mikkel Bendix

Photo by Roberto Flore

Photo by Mikal Schlosser

A SCENT OF FOOD INNOVATION In 2020, FoodLab participated with activities in more than ten DTU courses, with a total number of 240 long-term users and 62 different projects. Collaborations go beyond Denmark: FoodLab hosts an international internship programme and collaborates with MIT and TEC of Monterrey, among others.

DTU Skylab Foodlab is a space for prototypes, workshops, and events covering the whole spectrum of the food system. DTU students and young entrepreneurs address issues such as climate changes’ impact on food systems, hunger, and biodiversity loss. Projects range across water and soil management in arid regions, the utilization of invasive marine species like oysters as food, urban vertical farming, smoke-free and charcoal-free cooking technologies, and insect farming, to name a few.

sizes that DTU Skylab Foodlab is complementary to the events – covering and laboratory facilities at the departments at DTU. “DTU Skylab houses technologies across subject areas, which allows rapid prototyping and testing just by going through a door from Foodlab to the chemistry lab, to the metal working lab, or the electronics lab, etc. So it’s easy for students to make prototypes that require technology from multiple disciplines,” says Timothy Hobley.

DTU Skylab Foodlab is headed by Roberto Flore and was made possible by a generous donation from the Ellab Foundation.

He finds that DTU has a high level of activity on all agendas within food and agriculture.

One of the many users of DTU Skylab Foodlab is Timothy Hobley, Associate Professor from DTU Food. He empha

“Sustainability is one of the biggest drivers of projects, but it also applies to agendas such as new foods, water recy-

cling, local food production, and the use of digital technologies in food production,” says Timothy Hobley. One of the regular courses in DTU Skylab Foodlab is the Blue Dot project Ecotrophelia. Here students develop a project from idea to edible prototype and demonstrate how it can be a commercial success by developing the business case. In recent years, it has led to an ice cream including ingredients such as seaweed, and a vegan desert developed using waste from the processing of chickpeas. The winning project each year continues in the European Ecotrophelia competition, where new opportunities open up for incubation processes and funding.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

CASJU

Photo by Kaare Smith

Photo by Marianne Dujim

”I’m trying to spread the knowledge that the cashew fruit can become the new mango.” CASJU

FROM FOOD WA S TE TO VALUABLE INGREDIENT

CASJU MARIANNE DUIJM FOUNDER

Casju wants to help African farmers and reduce food waste by making the cashew fruit a popular food ingredient in Europe.

also helping African farmers improve their living conditions, if they could make the cashew fruit interesting on the European market.

When you eat a cashew nut, a fruit that is five to ten times bigger has typically gone to waste. The cashew apple—as the fruit is called—is regarded by African farmers as a waste product and is left on the ground to rot.

In Skylab FoodLab’s industrial kitchen, the two students set about experimenting with juicers and dehydrators and arrived at a tasty fruit paste.

Marianne Duijm—founder of the start-up Casju—thinks that this is a shame. The cashew fruit has a wide range of good qualities and contains, for example, five times as much vitamin C as an orange. And—according to Marianne Duijm—it also tastes good: Exotic and with notes of pineapple and mango. “It’s difficult for a cashew farmer to live off his cashew plantation. It shouldn’t be like that, seeing that it’s a high-value nut,” says Marianne Duijm. As part of her MSc thesis at DTU, she and a fellow student mapped the social and environmental challenges of the cashew nut value chain. They quickly came up with the idea that it had to be possible to reduce food waste, while

“You can very easily get help to develop something in FoodLab’s kitchen, so this has been a go-to for us,” says Marianne Duijm. She then came up with the idea of cho colate-coating cashew fruit caramels made from the fruit paste, and—following collaboration with various chocolate and ice cream producers—Casju will now soon be ready to initiate a Coop crowdfunding campaign to launch its first plant-based cashew fruit caramels. “I’m trying to spread the knowledge that the cashew fruit can become the new mango or one of the other fruits that have emerged in recent years,” says Marianne Duijm.

Text by Julie Hjerl Hansen

Workshop as part of ‘Technology leaving no one Behind’, an initiative which couples innovation with research. The initiative focuses on inclusion and accessibility in both educational and entrepreneurial activities, and has researchers assigned from DTU Management and DTU Skylab. ´Technology leaving no one Behind’ is a partnership between DTU, The Bevica Foundation and The Disabled People’s Organisations Denmark.

Photos by Kaare Smith

Photo by Kaare Smith ETT

CWT

“We were in DTU Skylab from 2017-2019. It was important for us to test and fail early with our prototypes in Skylab. We used rapid prototyping, the metal workshop, and FoodLab. We also got a lot of help from the staff and an important network.” SEASONY

ROBOT S FOR VERTIC AL FARMING

SEASONY SERVET COSKUN CTO

CHRISTOPHER WEIS THOMASEN

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We’re a deep-tech/agro-tech robotic start-up building robots for vertical farming.

At the moment, we’re preparing for our first pilot with our vertical farming robot.

CEO

ERKAN TOSTI TASKIRAN COO

Photo by Kaare Smith

The rapid prototyping workshop in DTU Skylab is accessible 24/7

SERVED ON SALT Winners of the start-up accelerator programme DTU Skylab Ignite, Autumn 2019

Photo by Kaare Smith

K I T E -X

Photo by Michael Schlosser

Photo by Michael Schlosser AO

”...the kites can replace diesel-powered generators or be connected to a generator system with very low initial costs.” KITE-X

HARVES TING WIND ENERGY WITH KITES

K I T E -X ANDREAS OKHOLM FOUNDER AND CEO

MATHIAS NEUENSCHWANDER AEROSPACE AND DEVELOPMENT ENGINEER

Wind energy produced by a kite. It sounds like a childhood dream come true, but with both feet and a power cable firmly planted on the ground, the two former DTU students Andreas Okholm and Mathias Neuenschwander have shown that their KiteX kite, tethered to an 80-metre cable, can produce enough energy to cover the daily electricity consumption of an entire household.

By doubling the number of kites on the cable, KiteX is able to quadruple its energy production.

As a team in DTU Skylabs Incubator, KiteX in 2019 developed their next generation prototype with the ability to generate power and transmit it to the ground through their custom cable. After several test flights during fall in 2019, they finally managed to solve all challenges with the flight control software, power electronics, and aerodynamics, resulting in the first successful loops.

“Kite energy is a supplement to wind energy. It may, for example, be an advantage to use the kite concept in ar eas without electricity, where the kites can replace diesel-powered generators or be connected to a generator system with very low initial costs.

Supplement to wind energy Andreas Okholm and Mathias Neuenschwander are currently working on developing a full-scale model of KiteX. The model contains a reinterpretation of the kite concept, where two kites with a three-metre wingspan and a total weight of 16 kg circulate on the same cable.

The kites are designed to be able to produce four kW, which corresponds to the consumption of five Danish households. Yet the market for kite energy is primarily found in developing countries, says Andreas Okholm.

Another market may be to install kite wind turbines on existing wind turbines and harvest energy at higher altitudes, or to anchor the kites in a foundation from a former wind turbine and thereby extend the use of foundations and cabling from scrapped wind turbines.” After starting out at the DTU Skylab main building in Lyngby, KiteX are now staying at DTU Skylab’s department in Roskilde, DTU Link.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

Photo by P4G Summit

The sustainability agenda generates strong engagement and attracts talent from across the globe. Sustainability leader Gro Harlem Brundtland (former Prime Minister of Norway and UN Special Envoy on Climate Change) speaks with young innovators Hanny Mulugeta Semere (Co-Fouder, Epov) and Samuel Rigu (CEO, SAFI Organics), participating through the DTU Skylab Next Generation track at the 2018 P4G Copenhagen Summit.

Photo by Kaist

In May 2019, about 40 students from Denmark and South Korea took part in a innovation event at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), developed in collaboration with DTU Skylab. Here, they competed to develop innovative sustainability concepts for VELUX, Hempel, and the Korean company SK Energy. The event was the result of a collaboration between KAIST, DTU, and Innovation Centre Denmark.

Photo by Kaare Smith

Young entrepreneurs showcasing and pitching in DTU Skylab. As part of the 2018 P4G Summit, early stage tech start-ups from P4G countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe participated in the DTU Skylab Next Generation track. By pitching their start-ups and interacting with existing partnerships and sector experts, entrepreneurs gained valuable feedback on how public-private partnerships could contribute to developing and scaling their solutions.

100 young professionals from Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, South Korea, and Denmark shared their bold solutions, current research and innovation accelerating the two thematic areas for the 2019 programme – Next Generation buildings and carbon-free streets – at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark.

ENABLING SUS TAINABILIT Y ON A GLOBAL SC ALE “The entire experience was much more than I hoped for, I will definitely keep in contact with the others from the Next Generation track (…) I got in contact with the Heads of State of Ethiopia and industrial leaders and will meet with them to discuss further how governments can work with social entrepreneurship and young people to engage in implementing the SDGs. I especially liked to engage with real people at the City Hall Square.” HANNY SEMERE, Social Enterpreneur and founder of Enpov. Involved as young influencer joining Next Generation P4G 2018.

“Innovation Sprint was a great event. It was an exciting experience to collaborate with Korean students across educational programmes. Personally, I am proud of my team’s product, but also of the collaborative spirit demonstrated by the teams. I am not just taking away the experience of developing and pitching an idea, I have also made new friends that I can meet up with during my exchange stay.” NICOLAI ALEXANDER THORBALL, an MSc student in Environmental Engineeing at DTU, was on the winning team who, in collaboration with the Hempel company, came up with a solution to make paint (products) more sustainable.

“To stand and represent our start-up at the Tech Bazar was very valu able, and we were able to gather a lot of contacts; for example, one of companies we are talking with now is Continental.” FEDERICO RESTREPO, Energía Vectorial, Entrepreneur Colombia. Involved as young entrepreneur – joining as start-up as part of Next Generation City Action 2019.

“DTU Skylab FoodLab offered me the possibility to join the Shanghai food waste challenge. It was not only an amazing opportunity and completely unforgettable experience, but it also has highlighted how important it is for me as co-founder of a start-up to keep addressing food waste, while also providing me with a great network for future collaborations.” ANDREA DONAU, Student and start-up co-founder.

DTU Sk ylab 3.0

Photo by Kaare Smith

2020 -

DTU Sk ylab 3.0 A TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION HUB

LEARNING #3

Focus on people, mindset, and building a culture

After the second generation of DTU Skylab had been established, interest in the place continued to grow. But not only the students were active—researchers and external companies also showed an interest in being part of the innovation environment. After three years, we started talking about the possibilities of a significant extension of DTU Skylab to fulfil this potential and transform the house into an internationally leading hub for technology-based innovation and entrepreneurship. These options and thoughts were discussed with The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation, which—through a generous donation of DKK 80 million—made the expansion of DTU Skylab possible. The aim was to increase DTU Skylab’s innovation capacity in general. In addition, the new DTU Skylab was to strengthen the focus on research-based start-ups, expand the collaboration with established companies, and create further interdisciplinarity and technology convergence—including through the establishment of laboratory facilities.

The journey from a small basement-based pilot project to an innovation hub at international level bears witness to the huge development DTU Skylab has undergone. There is an inherent challenge in the underlying organizational professionalization which this development has required. At the end of the day, DTU Skylab is about creating an innovation and learning culture. For a small entrepreneurial initiative, this often happens quite naturally, but—for a large and professionalized organization—it requires conscious focus. Therefore, it has been essential to work with the values on which DTU Skylab is based. So when we talk about openness, start-ups in DTU Skylab are also meant to share knowledge and facilities in open environments. Therefore, all employees sit in the same open areas as users of the house. And when a start-up is allocated a place in our incubator, they sign a contract describing how they will contribute to the environment.

“We’ve repeatedly thought that the key to the success of an initiative was to acquire a new robot arm, create a new website, or the like. But time and again, the culture—and thus the people in the buildings—has turned out to be the decisive factor.” MIKKEL SØRENSEN HEAD OF DTU SKYLAB

Photos by Kaare Smith

Photo by Kaare Smith TJP

“As a new start-up, we wouldn’t have been able to build and test our first prototypes without DTU Skylab. We built the prototypes in the DTU Skylab workshops and are still involved in collaboration with DTU Skylab and the rest of DTU.” COPENHAGEN ATOMICS

GREEN ENERGY WITH A THORIUM RE AC TOR

COPENHAGEN AT O M I C S THOMAS JAM PEDERSEN CO-FOUNDER

THOMAS STEENBERG CEO AND CO-FOUNDER

PRODUCT

WHERE WE ARE NOW

We’re developing a thorium reactor for mass production. A thorium reactor is basically a small, safe nuclear reactor with no hazardous waste.

At the moment, we’re building the prototype for our first thorium reactor, which is due to be tested in 2025.

“I’m not saying how I want it. I’m just saying that I want it to work.”

Photo by Kaare Smith

EMIL BOYE KROMANN

BIOMEDIC AL PROTOT YPING Biomedical Prototyping course

“...all courses should result in students leaving with a new set of skills and a new way of thinking.” EMIL BOYE KROMANN ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR DTU DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TECHNOLOGY

How do you encourage students to develop new technology and build an innovative mindset while doing their best to deliver on their syllabus requirements? That question was asked by Emil Boye Kromann three years ago when he invited students into the first course of biomedical prototyping. Today, the course at DTU Health Tech has become a regular part of DTU Skylab’s autumn programme, where 30 students meet every Tuesday for 13 weeks and develop biomedical equipment. Biomedical prototyping will be further developed in 2020 on the basis of a grant of DKK 13 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s New Exploratory Research and Discovery programme, NERD. The grant is for the dual purpose of linking research into instrument development – specifically microscopes – with teaching. And in line with the ideals of being fearless and innova-

tive, Emil Boye Kromann will involve 30 students in developing a new type of hardware, geared for fast imaging of complex biological samples. The project must provide a platform for pre-graduate learning. ”I will use my recurring fall-semester course to engage my 30 BSc level students in purpose-driven scientific work. As my course is instrument-oriented, I envision that my students can work together to prototype an isolated functional component for the proposed instrument, for example a complementary imaging mode or an advanced sample incubator. Thus, the proposed project can synergize with pre-graduate learning in a way that benefits everyone while boosting project progression,” says Emil Boye Kromann.

“Innovation requires that students develop some skills and that they build an ability to steer projects in desired directions. I’m not saying how I want it. I’m just saying that I want it to work. They have a lot of freedom as long as they work purposefully on providing a solution that works. The fearlessness that can come from it is clearly something society needs: that students are able to understand how they will solve problems when they meet them. It is a very important mindset to create. And in fact, all courses should result in students leaving the course with a new set of skills and a new way of thinking,” says Emil Boye Kromann.

He explains that throughout the course the students will develop their ability to take control of and try out new solutions.

Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

Photo by Uffe Frandsen

The GMO Lab and Multilab provide a unique opportunity to delve into topics within, e.g., molecular biology, biotechnology, and chemistry and combine them with other engineering disciplines in a cross-disciplinary space. The Multilab is a well-equipped laboratory for analysis, and the GMO Lab has various equipment for working with mammalian cells and bacteria, cloning, and expression.

Photo by Uffe Frandsen

Photo by Mikkel Bendix

DEFUDGER

Photos by Kaare Smith

Photo by Kaare Smith KS

DMK

”...So we’re consequently idealistically driven to develop a tool that can help protect democracy.” DEFUDGER

100

FIGHTING DEEPFAKES WITH AI DEFUDGER DOMINIK MATE KOVACS COO AND CO FOUNDER

ZOLTAN KOVACS CTO AND CO FOUNDER

BERCI KOVACS MACHINE LEARNING DEVELOPER

KUBA REHA MACHINE LEARNING DEVELOPER

KRISTOF SZABO CEO AND CO FOUNDER

Using advanced algorithms, Defudger is taking up the fight against fake photos and videos online. The aim is to increase confidence in the information we come across on the Internet. Online photos and videos can no longer be taken at face value. Photo material can be manipulated and the result is often so convincing that we have no chance of distinguishing between real and fake. This means that the person you see and hear on the screen is potentially a digital mirage. Defudger is a kind of bullshit detector developed to scrutinize photo material closely. The authors are Hungarians Dominik Kovacs, Zoltan Kovacs, and Kristof Szabo, who met at DTU Skylab Digital—a kind of artificial intelligence laboratory—in 2018. Here they came up with the idea for a tool that—using various algorithms—scrutinizes suspicious photo material for irregular pixelations and colour changes, etc.

Defudger sees itself as an international start-up, but the authors have no doubt that it is rooted in DTU Skylab’s premises in Kongens Lyngby. Here they were offered sparring and access to powerful computers, allowing them to develop their idea further. In addition, DKK 150,000 received via DTU Skylab Funding enabled them to test Defudger together with German news media. The authors behind Defudger are well aware that the company is facing a real Sisyphean task. Because you will always be one step behind those who control the development of deepfakes. But that does not mean that you are only fighting a losing battle. The big goal is to develop a tool that validates material across all channels, ranging right from Zoom calls via YouTube videos to material on social networks. “We’re relevant to different industries such as insurance companies and Facebook. We’re already in a dialogue with the latter,” says Kristof Szabo.

The Hungarian trio grew up in a society with political propaganda and widespread mistrust between state and people, so perhaps it is no wonder that they ended up creating Defudger, says CEO Kristof Szabo: “We’ve seen what propaganda can do. So we’re consequently idealistically driven to develop a tool that can help protect democracy.”

Text by Mette Dahlgaard

101

Photo by Kaare Smith

102

“Skylab is a makerspace which buzzes with activities and where diversity thrives. I would very much like to see that energy transferred to more research partnerships in the future.” JAN MADSEN DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND PROFESSOR

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES OF TOMORROW

Research collaboration on the digital technologies of tomorrow

In 2019, CBS, the Department of Computer Science at UCPH, ITU, and DTU entered into a partnership to achieve a stronger position in pioneering digital technologies. At the partners’ request, the centre of these activities became the open environment at DTU Skylab, where DTU Skylab Digital today provides the setting for a digital makerspace and research collaboration between all these universities. The collaboration deals mainly with cutting-edge digital technologies such as machine learning,, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Blockchain. For one of the initiators of the partnership—Deputy Director and Professor Jan Madsen from DTU Compute—it was natural to have DTU Skylab as the centre for the collaboration: ”We want to inject the Skylab energy and vibe into the collaboration (...) If you dare leave your comfort zone and think in new ways, you can get loads of inspiration for your research and not least for how it can be applied and eventually commercialized”, he says.

As part of the collaboration, DTU Skylab has attached 12 postdocs from the four universities who spend 20 per cent of their time at DTU Skylab. Accommodating makerspace The open environment in DTU Skylab also meant that the other universities were curious and showed great interest in locating the collaboration there. According to Jan Madsen, it was crucial that the spirit at DTU Skylab is like a makerspace that accommodates anyone who has the desire to create: “Skylab is a makerspace which buzzes with activities and where diversity thrives. I would very much like to see that energy transferred to more research partnerships in the future”, says Jan Madsen. To him, it is important that the collaboration at DTU Skylab has made the universities in the Copenhagen area more aware of the possibility of joining forces. This has raised the level of ambition for more future partnerships in the digital field, both in Denmark and internationally.

Text by Uffe Frandsen

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Photos by Niels Nygaard

The new building is 2,800 square metres. The heart of the building is a large project hall with a floor-to-ceiling height of 13 metres, making it possible, for example, to create largescale prototypes. A GMO laboratory and multilab, 3D printing lab, and workshops are located around the project hall, and throughout the building there are different types of offices and work areas, meeting places, a café, and an outdoor roof terrace ‘Skybar’. A hybrid between auditorium and event area, the large Arena provides the setting for teaching and DTU Skylab’s many externally-oriented activities.

WHEN A BUILDING CRE ATES IDENTIT Y The large hall at the heart of the new building extends up through the floors towards the open view of the sky through skylights, and signals inclusivity, courage, and star-reaching ambition. And this is no coincidence. For Skylab’s identity and energy must be felt in its architecture. When architect Nina Tolstrup took up the reins as project manager responsible for realizing the new building for DTU Skylab’s activities, she was conscious that she would be building on a success story. On Skylab’s success as a student innovation hub, but also as a building success. The converted research hall—which DTU Skylab moved into in 2014—had become a strong image of DTU Skylab with its raw workshop look, hyperflexible room layout, and yellow floating meeting box.

One of the building’s gold-clad boxes leads to ‘Skybar’, a roof terrace of 180 square metres.

“We had succeeded in providing Skylab with fantastically inspiring settings, and when we spoke with various stakeholders in the initial process of the new building and asked them what DTU Skylab was best known for, the building was mentioned in most of the answers. So the task was primarily about creating an equally strong architectural concept—well, actually something even better—with new types of workshops and laboratories that could fulfil DTU Skylab’s dream of being able to expand to other areas of technology-based innovation.”

“It’s very much a building that has been created in close collaboration with DTU Skylab itself, which has contributed on all parameters. The user process has provided incredibly great value. It has been particularly inspiring to work with DTU Skylab’s management and get an insight into their ambitions for activity and functionality, and not just to look at aesthetics. It has been rewarding for the further work on the composition of the building”, says Nina Tholstrup.

The result has been a composition of stacked boxes around a large project hall and with visual contact between all floors and functions, so that—no matter where you are in the building—you can sense the energy and openness that characterize DTU Skylab.

The façades are clad with perforated aluminium plates—each in a different colour—inspired by DTU’s original building colours, yellow tiles, and black facades.

The converted research hall, which has housed DTU Skylab since 2014, with the floating yellow meeting room, Skybox.

Text by Line Juul Greisen

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New facility

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Photos by Sebastian Stigsby for Digital Hub Denmark

A GENUINELY INNOVATIVE SPACE

Innovation is often seen as a natural part of the activities of a university, but in fact, students only recently came to play a role in Danish innovation history. So says Henrik Tvarnø, a historian and former director of The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation, which was behind a DKK 80 million donation for the new DTU Skylab. In 2013, DTU was the first Danish university to create an environment for student innovation.

to mix with researchers or other stakeholders from industry and develop new businesses. The idea of creating a platform for student innovation was first realized in the Nordic region at Aalto University in Finland, and in 2013 DTU embraced the idea and started gaining initial experience with an innovation environment for students.

“The innovation environments in Denmark have come about because industry, the government, and Danish universities have acknowledged the need for a platform for bringing people together. Meeting in person is important. It’s easier for people who do not know each other to learn from each other if they meet in person,” says Henrik Tvarnø.

“Aalto University created a convincing physical environment where focus is on the students, and where students can work on their own terms based on the belief that young people come with lots of innovative power and without being burdened by habitual thinking. Young people can do surprisingly radical things because they are not hampered by how we usually do things,” says Henrik Tvarnø.

Innovation has been a key part of the engineering profession for almost 200 years, but it was not until the 1980s that the first science parks were established in Denmark. Here, researchers from universities or colleges were able

Since the official opening of DTU Skylab in 2013, the original facilities have grown exponentially and been developed into what is now an innovation workshop across three floors covering 5,000 square metres. Henrik Tvarnø is

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Text by Peter Aagaard Brixen

Photo by Peter Aagaard Brixen

“Innovation comes from within, that’s the point. You mustn’t try to control it,” says historian Henrik Tvarnø.

HENRIK TVARNØ HISTORIAN AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF THE A.P. MØLLER RELIEF FOUNDATION

excited about the architecture of the new DTU Skylab and the way in which the old building has been combined with new elements. “Put slightly primitively, you could say that the architect has succeeded in preserving the rawness, while accommodating all the different functions fulfilled by Skylab. Students and researchers must be able to work with machines and materials, they must be able to spend time on computers, they need meeting rooms, and they need space to erect models. Knowing how happy the students were with the original build-

Photo by Kaare Smith

Visiting the 2020 expansion of DTU Skylab: Ane Mærsk Mc-Kinney Uggla, Johan Pedersson Uggla, and Claus Valentin Hemmingsen, representing the board of The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation. The expansion was made possible by a generous donation from the foundation. The board members were joined by Mads Lebech, Director of The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation.

ing, I’m convinced that they will absolutely love the new one,” says Henrik Tvarnø. He is also pleased that so many Danish companies can see the potential in student innovation. “Companies have a clear presence here and are keen to get to know the students, perhaps with a view to recruiting some of them for future projects. For them, it’s an exceptionally good way of drawing attention to themselves and testing the students. Direct collaboration with individual students obviously

provides a much better basis for recruiting new employees than working with large groups. So it’s very much a winwin situation,” says Henrik Tvarnø. The A.P. Møller Relief Foundation has in recent years made several donations to projects aimed at developing new environments for student innovation at the University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University, and Aarhus University, the University of Copenhagen, and RUC are thinking about establishing similar environments. Henrik Tvarnø believes that the competition between the many innovation hubs will provide

an additional incentive for users of DTU Skylab to stay curious and creative. “If I were to offer some advice to DTU, it would be to make sure that DTU Skylab continues to be run on the students’ terms. Innovation comes from within, that’s the point. You mustn’t try to control it. All sorts of people—internal and external—may be keen to engage with the students, but try to make sure that Skylab remains a genuinely innovative space for students keen to unleash their innovative energies. I’m sure that’s the best recipe for continued success”, he says.

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Photo by Kaare Smith

© 2021 DTU – Technical University of Denmark Editors: Uffe Frandsen, Peter Munkebo Hussmann, Peter Aagaard Brixen Design: We Are Popular v/Christian Ramsø Printing: Narayana Press ISBN: 978-87-87335-59-1

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