Column by Marianne Thellersen, Senior Vice President - Innovation and Entrepreneurship, DTU, Mikkel Sørensen, Director, DTU Skylab, and Jes Broeng, Director, DTU Entrepreneurship. Published in JP Finans on 08.05.25.
As innovation leaders at DTU, we recently made an inspirational visit to Boston, the Silicon Valley of biotechnology. A Harvard professor came up with an apt description of the difference between American and European universities. He said:
In the US, people jump on stages and give their colleagues high fives when they’ve made a billion on a spinout. In Europe, we do everything we can to hide it.
It’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the point is important. Many European universities have done far too little to nurture and reward individual research talent for commercializing their research—and attract major investment. Meanwhile, the US has done the opposite.
The consequence is a European situation that is described as ‘critical’ in the ubiquitous 2024 Draghi report: The level of technological innovation is lagging behind as is our growth. And European competitiveness has been weakened.
In a world where fundamental trade conditions are changing and geopolitical relations are in turmoil, there is an urgent need for Europe to stand on its own two feet. Tech breakthroughs are key—both to creating growth and increasing competitiveness - but also to achieving global independence.
So simply having innovation on the agenda is not enough. Universities and politicians alike must commit themselves fully to changing Europe’s innovation approach - including setting much higher ambitions than at present.
Impactful measures
Fortunately, many European universities are already taking action. Based on our own experiences at DTU, we have had a long-standing and persistent focus on inviting investors and industry partners into the research environments.
For example, the venture house PSV - with two independent venture funds - has been established directly on Lyngby campus to build bridges between research and investment. This has given researchers and students a collective awareness that knowledge only creates real value when it is disseminated in society and makes a difference. That has boosted innovation, which is backed up by the numbers.
New figures from the European Patent Office show, among other things, that DTU is the only Danish university ever to rank among the top three in patent applications in Denmark - surpassed only by Vestas and Novozymes. At the same time, a new survey conducted by DTU shows that DTU-based start-ups in just five years have gone from raising DKK 700 million in capital to raising DKK 2.6 billion last year. Of this amount, DKK 1.8 billion comes from venture capital invested in Denmark, corresponding to 21 per cent of the total Danish venture market.
The developments at DTU are an example of how targeted, strategic, and concrete measures are required to integrate a more extrovert mindset and high-level investment into an European research culture otherwise known for being quite conservative and publication-oriented.
Inviting the industry inside and establishing close contact between researchers, companies, and investors increases the chance that commercial potential will be identified and realized. Even long before a technology is fully mature.
The next step is for politicians to take responsibility for ensuring that European innovation reaches cruising altitude. That can be achieved through increased public investment that promotes a culture of innovation, which again can be done by looking at the barriers currently holding us back.
Here in Denmark, for example, a start-up must pay market price to be on the university campus as soon as it receives a CVR number. This means that it must raise funds itself in order to remain in place, - or alternatively move to cheaper premises and lose expertise and advice. It slows down innovation and increases the risk of failure.
If you do manage to overcome the barrier, new obstacles arise when the start-up becomes a scale-up. Because when you are ready to scale up and open new branches or sell your goods across Europe, you encounter a jungle of rules that are difficult to navigate. In simple terms, there are as many legal rules for companies as there are EU countries. Added to this is the fact that a massive shortage of capital in Europe is hampering growth.
The consequence is that many are relocating or selling their businesses to the US. Here, growth capital is vast and the legal rules are the same across states. The US can laugh all the way to the bank, while Europe is left standing, watching itself being overtaken.
If we want to turn stagnation into innovation, barriers like these must be removed. The recognition that we are behind on points has prompted positive action at universities. The decisive factor now will be how quickly we can move - and whether the political system moves with us.
