The Danish innovation system and the Industrial PhD Programme - a brief overview

Ministry of Science, Innovationand Higher Education

The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation

The Danish innovation systemand the Industrial PhD Programme

- a brief overview



The Danish innovation system – major funding bodies



The Danish Council of Technology and Innovation – focus areas



Main project funding programmes

Innovation voucher – subsidy for SME first time purchase of R&DInnovation consortia– large project collaborations between industry and

public sector knowledge institutionsInnovation assistant– subsidy for SME university graduate employmentIndustrial PhD



The Danish Industrial PhD Programme



The Danish Industrial PhD Programme

• An Industrial PhD is a three-year research project and PhD education with an industrial focus

• The Industrial PhD student is employed by a private sector company and enrolled at a university

• The student must be employed in a Danish company branch, but the university can be located anywhere in the world

• The student has two main supervisors – one at the university and one at the company



Aims of the Programme

• To educate PhDs within industrially applied research

• To further growth in the private sector by facilitating cooperation between enterprises and universities

• To further knowledge sharing between enterprises and universities



Subsidies

• The company receives a monthly wage subsidy of approximately half of the student’s salary

• The host university receives a subsidy to cover academic supervision and other expenses

• Subsidies are available for stays at non-Danish research institutions



• The student is only allowed to work on the project in the company

• The student must divide his/her time roughly equally between the company and university, working on the same project at both places

• The Industrial PhD education is a full-time job

• Company must pay back subsidies if it breaks off the project without due cause

Restrictions



Intellectual property rights

Commonly established guidelines and laws on IPR have been made part of the formal Guidelines for the Industrial PhD Programme:

• Act on employee inventions• Act on inventions at public research institutions

- PhD thesis must be public- Usual approach is to take out patents before thesis



• The programme is regulated by the Danish act on PhD education

• Industrial PhD projects must conform to regulations for normal PhD projects

• At graduation, the university issues a formal PhD degree

• The Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation also issues an Industrial PhD certificate

An Industrial PhD education is a formal PhD education



Company effects

• Independent impact analysis carried out in 2010

• Extensive data base for analysis possible due to long life of programme and high level of government surveillance in Denmark

• Internationally unmatched quality level of statistics











Project examples• Company: Arwos Forsyning

Project: Basins for reducing effects of rainwater conditioned emissions on recipients - processes, efficiency and method development

• Company: Orbicon A/SProject: Environmental Assessment of Sewage Sludge Management – Focusing on Sludge Treatment in Reed Bed Systems

• Company: Aquaporin A/SProject: Biomimetic polymeric membranes for water treatment



More information

www.erhvervsphd.dk www.industrialphd.dk

Contact: Head of Section Klaus Ammitzbøll at [email protected], tel. +45 7231 8418Assistant principal clerk Susanne Andersen at [email protected], tel. +45 7231 8420

Documents

The Danish innovation system and the Industrial PhD Programme - a brief overview