The Danish Startup Ecosystem Guide 2024 - Magazine - Page 10
STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP + UNIVERSITIES
Danish universities
8 universities
165,000+ students
2,000+ startups
and pre-startups
every year
The surrounding ecosystem
One of the biggest challenges for university startups is the limited business experience of the founding team. Although they
often have deep knowledge in a de昀椀ned
domain, they lack the business acumen
and industry knowledge of seasoned entrepreneurs or industry veterans.
A common mistake student founders
make is becoming too preoccupied with
developing the product instead of selling
it. This can be especially true when
the product is heavily dependent on
research, which is often the case with
start-ups founded at universities.
However, a lot of initiatives have been
launched across universities, such as
Open Entrepreneurship and Spin-Outs
Denmark, to promote the commercialization of research.
The university ecosystem also provides
access to funding through various sources such as grants, prize money pitch
competitions, investors and networking
events with angel investors and venture
capitalists. These investors are often attracted to university startups because of
the unique combination of rights to their
knowledge, technology and talent that
they bring to the table.
As an established company, you can
access new knowledge from universities
through collaborations with students
and researchers, such as internships,
research and development projects, funding a professional PhD or licensing new
technology via TTO.
10
More entrepreneurship from 2010 to 2023
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•
•
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Invention 昀椀lings: Increased from 250 to 300 per year.
Patents issued: Increased from 9 to 40 per year.
License, sales and option agreements: Increased from 100 to over 140 per year.
Spinouts: Increased from 7 to 24 per year.
The Guide