Collaboration
Perhaps the most important agreement I have signed as President
A new partnership between the Capital Region of Denmark and DTU aims to transform the health care system through education, innovation, research, and treatment. writes President Anders O. Bjarklev in this column.
It's in our DNA at DTU to go out to where people go about their work and help develop concrete solutions to the actual problems they experience.
Concrete solutions to actual problems
It's in our DNA at DTU to go out to where people go about their work and help develop concrete solutions to the actual problems they experience. In fact, at any given time, we have more than 1,600 collaborations with companies and public institutions throughout Denmark and the world. We work with anyone who can use our expertise to create technology that benefits people.
Therefore, there are already numerous projects where DTU collaborates with hospitals, but we need even more collaborations—and that's why we need to make it easy to work together across technologies and clinical settings.
For example, our researchers and students in various projects already become part of the daily lives of doctors and nurses in clinics throughout the country. The insight they gain into what goes on in these clinics provides knowledge that can be translated into solutions that can prevent disease from occurring and help when patients get sick.
In the same way, we want hospital employees to gain an insight into the expertise at DTU. Together, we want to create a framework where the engineering and medical professions are boosted, and new innovative solutions are devised.
Moving quickly from thought to action
The process of developing the framework for the partnership between DTU and the Capital Region of Denmark has been unusually swift. A mere 18 months after Rigshospitalet's Chief Executive Rasmus Møgelvang planted the idea during a meeting in my office, here we are with a solid, well-thought-out, signed agreement, ready to start the important work.
The quality and speed that has characterized the work that has gone into creating the framework for the collaboration is a testament to the enthusiasm of both parties. I am convinced that through this partnership, we can create the healthcare system of the future.