DTU has created one of the most well-developed innovation ecosystems among technical universities in Europe, which has led to the establishment of 2,200 new companies.
Decades of investment in entrepreneurship at DTU have created significant value in the form of new technology, jobs, and new businesses.
An analysis by the consultant company IRIS Group shows that DTU students, staff, and graduates in the past two decades have established more than two new companies a week.
All in all, since 1999 DTU has been behind approximately 2,200 new businesses which have generated over DKK 7 billion in turnover and more than 2,700 new jobs.
‘’It’s fantastic to see so many ideas being realized and that so many engineers from DTU have the expertise and the courage to start up new businesses. We’re proud of the results. And we’re particularly pleased that the results have been produced in collaboration with companies, foundations, and business policy players who believed in DTU’s vision of creating an attractive, research-based environment for innovation,’’ says DTU President Anders Bjarklev.
He is pleased that DTU has one of the largest and most well-developed ecosystems for entrepreneurship among technical universities in Europe, and that DTU has been named the most innovative university in the Nordics.
"It’s fantastic to see so many ideas being realized and that so many engineers from DTU have the expertise and the courage to start up new businesses. "
President Anders Bjarklev
IRIS Group’s analysis ‘’Entrepreneurship at DTU through two decade’’ is based on data extracted from a number of different registers, including the Entrepreneurship Database and the Register-based Labour Force Statistics.
The analysis shows that entrepreneurial companies from DTU significantly outperform similar businesses established outside DTU.
Approximately 75 per cent of companies are still in operation three years after their formation,which is significantly better than the average of all entrepreneurial companies in Denmark, as in recent years has been at 52-54 per cent.
In addition, the companies have created more jobs and greater turnovers compared with similar Danish entrepreneur companies in the same industry and period.
Typical entrepreneur is a student
The analysis identifies the typical entrepreneur as a student or a new graduate, and reveals that just over 40 per cent of all new start-ups are established within the business area of materials, robots, and sensors.
The second-most frequent business is started within life sciences and is based on the development of new medical technology, biotech, and advanced foods.
The entrepreneurs in the analysis have been asked to answer which different types of DTU activities have had the greatest impact on them in the start-up phase. Here, three out of four state that DTU has been instrumental and the majority state that, in particular, knowledge and technology developed at DTU have been important for them. Access to DTU’s facilities, the opportunity to start up at DTU and financial support are also stated to be of importance.
The analysis also reviews the overall infrastructure for innovation of DTU, which is composed of courses, competitions, sparring, funding, DTU Skylab, incubator arrangements, and much more. And finally, the results will be put into perspective with key figures from two strong ecosystems for innovation at the technical universities in Munich and Cambridge.