Innovation

In Skive, students learn about innovation

17 students visited GreenLab industrial park this July to learn more about how to create more sustainable businesses through industrial symbiosis.

This summer, BEng students from DTU learned about innovation at GreenLab industrial park. Photo: GreenLab A/S.

Thursday 25 September 2025

Linnea Lundberg

Innovation. A concept that has never been more relevant. And it was precisely innovation that was the focus when 17 students from DTU visited GreenLab industrial park in Skive this summer.

The three-day course is an optional module that Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) students can choose to take during the Innovation Pilot course, and Lars D. Christoffersen, Dean of Studies and Student Affairs at DTU, encourages engineering students to take advantage of it.

“Being good at innovation is one of the core competencies of an engineer, but it is not something that comes naturally. It is a skill that must be trained, which is why the Innovation Pilot course is so important. It gives our students a good foundation for later excelling in the labour market,” he explains and continues:

“The students' visit to GreenLab is also a concrete example of how DTU collaborates with companies to give our students the best possible opportunities to learn to think innovatively and find better solutions to current problems.”

GreenLab is known for what is called industrial symbiosis, which means that two or more companies help each other by passing on their waste or surplus production to the other so that it can be reused. In other words, they enter a symbiosis with each other.

“Think of industrial symbiosis as an apartment complex where you can send your hot water to your neighbour if you've boiled too much water in your kettle,” explains Mathias Damgaard Mørch, Educational Manager at GreenLab and responsible for the content of the teaching that students receive during their three-day visit to GreenLab.

After the visit, when the students are back on campus in Lyngby and Ballerup, they will also be examined on the material they have learned.

"The students' visit to GreenLab is also a concrete example of how DTU collaborates with companies to give our students the best possible opportunities to learn to think innovatively"
Lars D. christoffersen Dean of Studies and student affairs at dtu

Using games as a teaching method

One of the students who visited GreenLab during her summer holiday is Mariam Khalid Jumaa Nasir, who is studying for a BEng in Chemical Engineering and International Business. She is enthusiastic about both the teaching methods and the content itself, which includes a simulation card game where the students have to create their own industrial park from scratch.

“It's really cool to participate in the teaching because Mathias is so good at involving us and asking us questions as if we were already engineers and not just students. And his simulation game about industrial symbiosis works really well. I've actually thought about asking him if I can borrow it,” she says.

If you ask the inventor of the game, Mathias Damgaard Mørch, he knows exactly how the students can contribute during their visit:

“Industrial symbiosis is smart because it reduces waste and thus also expenses. It is therefore both sustainable and cheaper for companies that choose to enter a symbiosis with each other. But it is still a relatively new concept with a lot of untapped potential, so we can really use the students' ideas on how to put together an industrial park. Maybe they have an idea that some of our companies will end up using. It would be a huge success if that happened,” he says.

Mariam Khalid Jumaa Nasir is one of the students who visited GreenLab during her summer holiday. Photo: DTU.

Interdisciplinary teamwork

It was a diverse group of BEng students who travelled to Skive in mid-July. They come from many different educational backgrounds, which provided excellent opportunities to leverage each other's different subject-specific strengths. The ability to work across disciplines is also an important skill for an engineer.

Peter Naur Klint, for example, is in his seventh semester of the BEng programme in Mechanical Engineering, and he has already gained a lot from the visit on the second day.

“It's cool when you mix students from different fields of study in a course. I've learned a ton from brainstorming with the others in my group, who are all studying different things, and at the same time, there have also been some with the same background as me, with whom I've had some really subject-specific and nerdy conversations. It's a perfect combination,” he says.

When the three days were over, the students went home, wiser about innovation, but also about each other. There was also time for a barbecue at the local campsite along the way. And next year, DTU and GreenLab will repeat the success again.

Peter Naur Klint, who also spent three days in Skive this summer, is currently in his seventh semester of the BEng programme in Mechanical Engineering. Photo: DTU.

Contact

Lars Dyreborg Christoffersen

Lars Dyreborg Christoffersen Senior Vice President and Dean of Studies and Student Affairs Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs Phone: +45 45251009

Leon Aahave Uhd

Leon Aahave Uhd Senior Executive Officer, Energy Sector Office for Research, Advice and Innovation