President of DTU, Lars Pallesen, looks far beyond Denmark’s borders in 2010

DTU is an essential contributor to the Danish welfare state, and we must look at the entire country – but also at the rest of the world – if we want to advance and improve the Danish educational sector, says President of DTU, Lars Pallesen, who offers the following views on the University's role in society and on the interaction between DTU and the Scion DTU science park.

What role do universities play in Danish society?
As Danes, we should not be telling ourselves that we are smarter or harder working than other nationalities, or that we are entitled to a higher standard of living than other people.

We take for granted our free access to healthcare, our safety net for society's weakest, and our superior and free educational system. We want it all, but unless we have an actual goldmine in our back garden or other natural resources that we can live off forever, then how do we finance our welfare society?

To pay for the standard of living that we take for granted in Denmark, we have to start with the universities, especially the technical universities.

Historically, it is empirically documented that the highest standards of living are found where universities are strongest.

The state of Massachusetts has always invested in its universities and research - e.g. at Harvard, MIT and Boston University. Today, it is one of the wealthiest states in the USA.

Singapore has no natural resources, and they even have to import water. They have, however, invested whole-heartedly in universities such as Nanyang Polytechnic, the National University of Singapore and Singapore Management University. Today, it is one of the wealthiest countries in the world.

In the 1950s, Korea had no more than 50 people studying at graduate level. Today, KAIST is one the world's leading technical universities.

We aren't necessarily lagging behind the rest of the world, but we're no longer far ahead of South Korea and Massachusetts. I'm afraid it won't be long before we're lagging far behind.

What are the advantages to having a science park of your own?
I look at it as a food chain, with science at the top, then basic research, applied research and development.

Development does not necessarily lie with the researchers, but rather with the science park people who want to develop the product and business plan and manage the production. The advantage of the science park being a subsidiary of DTU is that our researchers are not apprehensive of knowledge dissemination. They know that Scion DTU is part of the family and share the same objectives.

The people running DTU's science park are highly competent and dynamic, enabling us to develop the business and make the right decisions for the benefit of innovation in Denmark. Therefore, it is also imperative that the Scion DTU management should travel the world to gain inspiration on how we can improve innovation and entrepreneurship.

A university organisation like ours must be able to encompass the entire 'food chain' – including Scion DTU and DTU Symbion Innovation. And we must be capable of providing help where it is needed. DTU holds a key position in this food chain; some might even go so far as to say we’re the major player in Denmark.

Does DTU have any special wishes for 2010?
It is important for us to expand the science park concept to other parts of the country beyond just Hørsholm, Lyngby, and Copenhagen. We would like another site in order to cement our position as the Technical University of Denmark. There is a lot of valuable production generated in Jutland, and our knowledge and expertise might be useful in taking this even further.

I know that Scion DTU is working with Business Kolding on setting up a development park in Kolding. I would prefer to get past the point of no return on this project in 2010 and realize the decision.

As far as DTU is concerned, I would like us taking major steps towards expanding our international relations. In Europe we have strong and well-functioning collaboration agreements with the universities TU Munich and TU Eindhoven.

It would like to see us form a strong alliance outside Europe this year, and I am looking towards Asia. If in effect they are in the process of rapidly overtaking us then we won’t see it coming if we don’t have anyone manning our “watchtowers” in Asia.