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Engineering in rapid growth at AU

The curve is only heading in one direction for engineering at Aarhus University. In just two years, total revenue has more than doubled, external grants have increased by 17 per cent, and the number of engineering students has grown to more than 4000.

Photo: Anders Trærup

In January 2021, Aarhus University opened four new engineering departments. The aim was to strengthen research and education activities within engineering and bolster collaboration with companies.

And here we are, a year later, and the figures show that things are going really well for the university's engineering initiative. So says Eskild Holm Nielsen, dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences at Aarhus University, who is pleased with the development, which he expects will gather even more momentum in the coming years.

"We have great potential thanks to our very talented researchers from all over the world and some of Denmark's most talented students. The growth we’ve seen over the past two years is directly correlated with our increased collaboration with the outside world, and I consider that one of the faculty's most important achievements. We have a responsibility to generate the knowledge and technologies necessary to solve some of the major challenges society is facing, and we can only do so in collaboration with companies. It’s an interplay that is about more than commercialisation, productivity and economic growth," he says and continues:

“We want to create change that can positively impact our future, and we will do so by systematically combining the technological challenges faced by business and industry with our educational and research activities. We see many prospects for tech development in the future."

The four new engineering departments are:

A new magazine for business collaboration

The four new engineering departments have published a new joint profile magazine to inspire more companies to collaborate with Aarhus University on technology development.

In the magazine you can read about visions for a new circular bioeconomy where nothing is wasted, and how we no longer need to extract fossil fuels from the ground. You get input from companies on why collaboration is so important to keep Danish industry at the front, and you can read about examples of projects where companies, researchers and students jointly pool their knowledge and realize innovation leads, no one dared dream of a few years ago.

For example, you can read about experimental construction, ground-breaking plastics recycling, new surgical technology for heart disease and about how we solve the Gordian knot with the Internet of Skills of the future.

You will also find key figures showing the growth in engineering.

Click here to download the magazine: http://www.e-pages.dk/aarhusuniversitet/2562/

If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities for different types of business collaboration, you can find relevant contact information here: https://ingenioer.au.dk/en/collaboration


Contact

Jesper Bruun
Journalist
Mail: Bruun@au.dk
Tel.: 42404140