By David Graff, AAU Communication & Public Affairs

Denmark has strong research environments, innovative companies and highly educated employees. Yet, new ideas and prototypes do not reach industrial use often enough - and thus we risk missing out on jobs, exports and strategically important production.

The common understanding, together with the desire to pave the way for new knowledge to become competitive production more quickly, formed the starting point for the conference From research to factory floor.

Research and industry must be thought of together

At the conference, researchers, companies, technology experts, organisations and politicians met to discuss how to shorten the distance between research and industrial application. 

Jesper Wengel, Prorector for Research at Aalborg University, pointed out that the ability to translate technology into production has become crucial:

"Global competition is no longer just about developing the best technology. It is also about who can test, scale up and translate it into competitive production the fastest," he explained, emphasizing: 

"If Denmark and Europe are to keep up, we need to strengthen the entire chain from research and competencies to testing, capital, scale-up and production." 

More than jobs

For Jesper Wengel, a strong Danish manufacturing industry is also about being able to deliver the solutions that society depends on:

"Strong production is also a prerequisite for security of supply, green transition and European resilience. Wind turbines, energy technology, medical equipment, defence technology and solutions for a circular economy must not only be invented. They must also be able to be manufactured, scaled, maintained and further developed," he said.

A key purpose of the conference was therefore also to raise production technology higher up on the political agenda, explained Kjeld Nielsen, vice-dean for research at the Faculty of Engineering and Science:

"The goal is nothing less than to strengthen Europe's competitiveness, self-sufficiency and resilience with companies at the forefront. Production technology has critical societal relevance, and therefore we as a university have a responsibility to both develop new knowledge and actively bring it into play with companies and decision-makers."

Today, Denmark prioritises a smaller share of public research funding for industrial production and technology than several comparable European countries. At the same time, public funding for the area has almost halved from 2012 to 2024, according to the report 'Political priorities in the public research budgets' (DEA, 2025).

Research must be closer to industry

At Aalborg University, researchers work closely with companies on robotics, advanced production processes, automation, digitalisation and circular production, among other things. 

The university's problem-based approach and tradition of business collaboration provide a strong starting point, but AAU also needs to do more.

"This includes involving companies and end-users earlier, developing technology and production solutions more in parallel, and recognising researchers who create innovation and documentable value in society," Jesper Wengel elaborated.

Ann-Louise Andersen, associate professor at the Department of Materials and Production, conducts research into sustainable production and production processes. At the conference, she highlighted that global competitors do not necessarily work under the same considerations as European companies:

"We need solutions now. Therefore, we must be better at getting research out of the laboratories and into the industry's practice, without sacrificing quality, safety or sustainability. This requires closer collaboration between researchers and companies and a long-term political prioritization of production technology."

Need for research funding

The overall message of the conference was therefore that Denmark must strengthen the research environments, competencies and facilities that link technological development with industrial production.

In the article 'Without more speed and prioritisation, Denmark loses the production race' in Børsen on 8 September, Pro-rector Jesper Wengel and Deputy Director General Mikkel Haarder from the Confederation of Danish Industry argued that production technology should be prioritised as a critical technology on a par with, for example, artificial intelligence and cyber security:

The development of production technology is not a narrow sector interest, but a prerequisite for Denmark and Europe to be able to translate new knowledge into jobs, green solutions, security of supply and increased resilience, they concluded.

As a concrete next step, a group of Danish universities, together with the Academy of Technical Sciences, the Confederation of Danish Industry, the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA, the GTS Association and the Danish Metal Workers' Association, are calling for the Danish Parliament to allocate DKK 200 million from the research reserve for 2027-2029 for research, development and implementation in robotics and production technology. 

The actors also recommend a separate Danish effort to increase the take-home of funds from Horizon Europe in the area – also with the participation of Danish SMEs.