The Danish Startup Ecosystem Guide - Magasin - Side 9
From student to startup
Universities are becoming an increasingly important
part of the startup-ecosystem. Not just as a
technology provider, but as a breeding ground for
new, innovative startups.
W
e love the tale of the lonely genius who drops out
of college to start a wildly
successful company. In
reality, however, a lot of successful startup-founders have a university degree
before starting their business.
Universities are home to some of
the world’s leading researchers and
thinkers, who have access to cutting-edge technology and infrastructure. This
provides a fertile ground for new ideas
and innovation, and many university
startups are founded on the back of research conducted at the universities.
University startups can be founded by
students, faculty members or alumni of
universities – or a mix of the three. They
are an important part of the innovation ecosystem, as universities provide
a unique environment for creativity,
collaboration, and access to resources
and funding.
In addition to access to research and
technology, universities also provide a
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supportive environment for entrepreneurship. Most of the higher education
institutions have included entrepreneurship and innovation in their curriculums, established entrepreneurship
centers, accelerators, and incubators
that provide mentorship, training, and
funding to student and staff entrepreneurs. The universities also have
technology transfer offices (TTO) that
connect research results with the industry by commercializing inventions,
facilitating collaborations and training
researchers to create spin-out companies. Most universities also offer students
to do an internship in their own startup,
train their entrepreneurial skills in a
case competition, or work with innovative companies in a thesis project.
Another key component of the university startup ecosystem is the student body. Many universities have a
large and diverse student population,
which provides a talent pool of future
employees, customers, and supporters
for university startups. Furthermore,
students are often eager to participate
in entrepreneurial activities and are
more likely to take risks and pursue unconventional career paths. Many of the
student entrepreneurship initiatives in
the Danish startup ecosystem are also
run by passionate students.
Surrounding ecosystem
One of the biggest challenges for university startups is the limited experience of
the founding team, who may not have
the same level of business acumen and
industry knowledge as experienced entrepreneurs or industry veterans setting
out to start their own business.
A common student founder mistake
is to get too caught up in developing the
product instead of selling it. This can be
particularly true, when your product relies
intensively on research as is often the case
with startups founded at universities.
However, a lot of initiatives spanning
across universities, like Open Entrepreneurship, is set into place to encourage the commercialization of research
opportunities.
The university ecosystem also provides
access to funding through various sources
such as grants, pitch competitions with
prize money, investment vehicles, and
networking events with angel investors
and venture capitalists like Antler. These
investors are often attracted to university
startups due to the unique combination
of intellectual property, technology, and
talent that they bring to the table.
As an established company you can
gain access to new knowledge from the
universities through collaboration with
students and researchers e.g. internship,
research and development project, hire an
professional ph.d, or license new technology via the TTO.
Danish universities
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8 universities
165.000+ students
2.000+ startups and pre-startups each year
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