Technology transfer offices at the Danish universities contribute to better commercialisation of research results. The technology transfer offices are organised in the National Network for Technology Transfer - techtrans.dk. Techtrans.dk is an open forum for public research institutions, private business and others looking for information about the innovative collaboration between researchers and companies. Techtrans.dk is operating the Patent Exchange, the only collected data base of published patents and patent applications from public Danish research institutions. The science parks and incubators at the Danish universities are organised in the association called FOIN (Forskerparker og Innovationsmiljøer i Danmark). Results of the commercialisation of public research results have been surveyed annually since 2004.
In 2010 a new initiative for the strengthening of entrepreneurial universities was launched. This initiative is supported by the Danish Growth Council, the Danish Enterprise and Construction Authority and DASTI. The promotion of entrepreneurial training at Danish universities is one of the priorities in this initiative.
The Danish Council for Technology and Innovation is responsible for the administration of a number of measures whose purpose is to promote innovation and dissemination of knowledge between knowledge institutions and enterprises. The high-tech networks focus on networking in certain R&D areas and there are several measures that have commercialisation and public-private partnerships in focus, like the Innovation Accelerating Research Platforms, the Innovation consortia or the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation.
The Growth Fund (Vaekstfonden) supports Danish firms which have difficulties obtaining finance from other sources. The scheme is administered by a private venture capital company, and has a capital base of €30m. The large capital base makes Vaekstfonden one of the largest Danish venture capital agencies.
Apart from making it a special responsibility of universities to cooperate with industry, Danish research and innovation policies include a large number of measures that are partly or wholly to stimulate public-private partnerships. The Following policy measures can be highlighted:
- Industrial PhDs: this programme supports the education of PhD candidates employed by Danish enterprises. The programme was launched already in 1970 and has been very successful. It has also contributed to the development of personal networks between companies and Danish universities.
- Regional innovation agents: Three of the five Danish regions have established in cooperation with other parts of the innovation support system an experimental project where innovation agents from the GTS-network offer an innovation check to SMEs of the region in question. The rationale is to strengthen innovation in SMEs, to create links between enterprises with little or no contact to research organisations and institutionalised knowledge, and to establish an access point for SMEs to the research system.
- GTS Advanced Technology Group: The GTS network is a grouping of independent Danish research and technology organisations. The institutes develop and offer state-of-the-art technological services within respective specialist fields. Customers are private businesses as well as public authorities on national and international levels. A GTS institute is a non-profit organisation that has been authorized by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
- Knowledge pilots: a grant can be given to SMEs with limited experiences in hiring highly educated work force to cover some of the salary of a new employee with a higher education who is to execute a development or innovation project in the enterprise.
- Innovation consortia: The aim is to strengthen co-operation between companies, public research institutions and technological service to develop new generic technology platforms for the coming 5-10 years product and service development in Denmark.
- Regional technology centres: Regional Technology Centres focus on regional competencies and act as intermediaries between regional research and SMEs. The main objective is to strengthen knowledge based growth and development in the regions outside of the larger cities.
