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Management
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Organisational structure
Her Majesty the Queen is patron of the Danish Technological Institute
Hans Kirk Chairman
Søren Stjernqvist President 2006 was the year the Institute
celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Such an anniversary provides an ideal opportunity to take stock – and this we have done by focusing on the role the Institute plays in the business community and in society in general. This role has been wonderfully documented in the book ‘100 Years of Innovation, the History of the Technological Institute 1906-2006’, put together by historians from the Centre for Industrial History at Copenhagen Business School, CBS.
If there is one word that sums up the Institute’s work it is the key concept of knowledge. We develop new knowledge, utilise new know- ledge by converting it into services which everyone can benefit from, and finally transfer this knowledge to both companies and society in the form of advice and training.
Throughout its 100 years of existence, a hallmark of the Danish Technological Institute has been the breadth and diversity of the projects we carry out. In order
to highlight this diversity, the following pages feature a number of examples of how the Institute works together with the business community and other knowledge institutes. The stories are meant as appetizers, and if you are interested in going into any of the individual cases in more depth, you can find further information via the links on the Institute’s homepage –
www.teknologisk.dk/beretning.
We hope you enjoy the read.
KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT
KNOWLEDGE UTILISATION
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER converted into a self-owned, non-
profit institute.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation acts as watchdog for the Institute’s activities, among other things by approving the Institute’s articles of association as well as develop- ment and strategy plans.
available to the Danish business community on a commercial basis.
Another characteristic of the Danish Technological Institute is that any profit made is used to help finance research and deve- lopment for the benefit of Danish industry – funds are not taken out
with the Danish Technological Institute.
Knowledge is one of Denmark’s most important resources and pro- vides the cornerstone for Danish commercial competitiveness in the global market. The Danish Technological Institute is a key player in the knowledge system.
KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPMENT
The Danish Technological Institute develops new knowledge through research and deve- lopment projects. This is done in close co-operation with both Danish and foreign research institutions. New knowledge is fundamental for all the Institute’s other services. Research results are passed on to companies, thereby giving the Institute the role of bridge-builder between research and business.
KNOWLEDGE UTILISATION
The new knowledge and research results provide the basis to enable the Institute to con- tinuously develop general technological services, like for example standards for laboratory testing, calibration and certification. These services form a solid ‘technological infrastruc- ture’ which matches customers needs.
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
Knowledge is a prerequisite for growth and development, and one of the Institute’s most important tasks is creating effective knowledge transfer. Through interaction with private companies, large as well as small and medium-sized, other organisations and public insti- tutions, knowledge is transferred through consultancy, training and networking activities.
The Institute’s knowledge transfer activities cover everything from training courses, secre- tariat services and operational services to unique and tailor-made consulting services for individual companies and organisations.
SOFT-ICE FROM
NATURAL REFRIGERATION
It is not difficult to construct well-functioning, low-energy glass buildings – it just requires a little thought. This is the provisional conclusion of a survey undertaken by the Danish Technological Institute focusing among other things on the energy consumption of glass buildings compared with more traditional buildings.
GLASS BUILDINGS
– EVEN IN THE FUTURE
Denmark is among the world’s elite when it comes to develo- ping new refrigeration techno- logy based on natural methods to replace the environmentally harmful CFC gases.
The Institute has set up the world’s largest testing facility for industrial refrigeration plants utilising CO2 refrigeration processes. Gram Equipment in Vojens is one com- pany at the cutting edge of developing CO2-based refrigeration plants, and the company’s new soft-ice machine was tested at the Danish Technological Institute.
Results showed that by using CO2 it is possible to double the machine’s production capacity without in any way compromising on the quality. The quality of soft- ice is measured on the size of the ice-crystals, and on the distribution of both air bubbles and fat glo- bules – and the new machine pro- duces ice-cream which fulfils all these quality criteria.
On 1st January 2006 the require- ments relating to a building’s total energy consumption were signifi- cantly tightened as a result of new building regulations. Now it is not only any heat loss from the buil- ding – for example through large expanses of glass – that must be taken into account, but also whether there is any need to cool the building if too much heat is generated through large glass facades. The regulations have led to a series of discussions in the construction industry about just how far glass is actually feasible as a building material in the office environment of the future. The Danish Technological Institute has taken measurements of existing buildings and used simulated
models to calculate energy needs under different sets of conditions.
The provisional results show that it is possible both to have a lot of light coming into the building while still being able to control heat loss or heat gain through the glass. But it does require the right type of glass. The Institute’s data collection and experience now allow building projects using large expanses of glass to be carried out on a more qualified basis.
BANKING
ON BIO-DIESEL
The Danish Technological Institute has joined forces with a number of other companies and the Danish Technical University in order to extract bio-diesel from waste material produced by, as a notable example, abattoirs. At Daka in Løsning near Horsens they are already in the process of setting up a plant which can convert bio- products – especially fat – from abattoirs into bio-diesel. And at the other end of the supply chain, the petrol company OK expects to be one of the first energy compa- nies in the country to be able to supply environmentally-friendly fuel in the form of bio-diesel, pri- marily to the transport sector.
It makes sound economic and environmental sense to develop fuels to replace fossil fuels, which are finite resources. One of the major advantages of developing and exploiting bio-diesel is that it can be used in existing vehicles without requiring any kind of alte- ration. On top of that diesel makes up 50% of the transport industry’s energy consumption and that consumption is rising all the time.
In 2006 the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation committed 1.4 million euro to support the project ‘From Waste to Value – 2nd generation bio-diesel for the transport sector’.
Will we be able to fill the car up with fuel extracted from the waste produced by meat processing, manufacturing industry and from our own household waste in a few years’ time?
GUIDING DAYLIGHT – INDOOR SUNSHINE
The Institute’s development work with solar cells was shown at the exhibition NEXT 2006 – Nordic Exceptional Trendshop at the IT University in December.
The efficiency of solar cells is being developed while prices are falling, which is paving the way for an increased use of solar cells.
Solar cells are however often large and clumsy and contribute very little to the aesthetic appearance of a building. This forms the background for the Institute’s work with building-integrated solar cells, named project Guiding Daylight, looking at the possibility that solar cells – apart from producing elec- tricity – can contribute to improved exploitation of daylight. When the sun’s rays hit a translucent solar panel, only part of the energy is converted into electricity. But the light coming through the solar cell can also be filtered through
coloured solar panels, thus creating a pleasant interior atmos- phere. In this way, solar cells are turned into active and attractive construction elements contributing to the building’s architectonic expression – and are not just ‘a necessary evil’.
BETTER MEDICAL TREATMENT WITH NEW PLASTIC MATERIALS
The Danish Technological Institute is heading a new project to develop materials which can replace skin, cartilage and bone.
In the future, cancer patients, and burns- and accident victims with extensive scarring will be able to benefit from new technology to regain use of their limbs. By developing three-dimensional structures in porous plastic, it is possible to get the body’s own cells to grow together with the artificial materials.
In this way a patient can avoid having to undergo skin or bone grafts from other parts of the body.
The project is a collaboration between several universities, GTS institutions and companies in both the bio-tech and medical equipment industries. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation is contributing funds for the project amounting to 1.7 million euro.
AND THE WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT
PRIZE 2006 GOES TO NCC’S BUILDING SITE AT BISPEBJERG BAKKE
This building site took part in the Build-Sun project, a project which aims to improve, renew and change working practices and health and safety conditions on Denmark’s building sites. Build-Sun is led by the Danish Technological Institute.
The building site at Bispebjerg Bakke is breaking new ground – both architectonically as a sculp- tured apartment complex, de- signed by Bjørn Nørgaard – and in terms of the working environment and health and safety. The Build- Sun project has led to more syste- matic working practices on build- ing sites in order to improve health and safety for all trades working on the site. There have been kick-off meetings arranged for everybody involved on the site, together with exercises to practice better co-operation in order to create the situation that everybody is pulling in the same direction.
Every other week, everyone on the building site assembles to discuss
the workplace environment, plan the coming period and thereby create a feeling of common responsibility for the project. And this work is bearing fruit. There has not been one serious accident on the building site, which has been rewarded with the Workplace Environment Prize in the category
‘Work-related accidents’. Build- Sun is responsible for Co-opera- tion and Training in Construction, which was an EU social funds pro- ject run between 2004 and 2006.
THE ROBOTS ARE COMING – ALSO TO THE DANISH TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
Experts at the Danish Technological Institute predict that robot technology will come to play a central role in Danish business life.
These robots will not though be of the large, traditional type of robots that carry out relatively simple manoeuvres and tend to be found in heavy manufacturing – some- thing that is not very prevalent in Denmark. Much more interesting for Danish industry however are the small, advanced and flexible robots which are predicted to play a prominent role in the future – especially in production compa- nies where they will be ideally suited for small production runs.
“The robots will also become commonplace in the service sector where many nursing and caring tasks can easily be carried out by robots,” the Institute’s robot expert Claus Risager predicts.
“And using the robots will give nursing staff more time to concen- trate on patient contact rather than on for example cleaning.”
The Danish Technological Institute has set up the Centre for Robot Technology in Odense, where the Institute has for a number of years now been working together with the growth initiative RoboCluster and the University of Southern Denmark. In addition, in 2006 the Institute won an undertaking to fund and support a series of pro- jects involving aspects of robotic technology.
THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED FLEXIBLE ROBOT IS TO BE DEVELOPED IN DENMARK
The Danish Technological Institute is collaborating in the project MoveBots, which will develop the flexible robots of the future, capable of recogni- zing, understanding, grasping or manipulating objects.
This is being done in partnership with both large and small companies and other knowledge institutions.
MoveBots pools national and inter- national knowledge in the field of robotics and automation in order to make it possible to develop a robot with a grasping arm that can recog- nize different objects in a box or on a conveyer-belt, pick them up and place them in a pile. But this is by no means a simple operation. Scape Technologies is a small, high-tech start-up company, which has a lot of expertise in for example camera technology, which will register and recognize the objects. “There are countless uses for a robot like that, not only in the production industry, but also in hospitals or agriculture,”
says Scape Technologies’ director Rune Larsen. MoveBots will stretch over three years, and in 2006 the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation granted 1.4 million euro to fund the project.
Creating an environmentally-friendly alternative to the polluting and noisy combustion engine is the challenge for the innovation con- sortium Fuel Cell Shaft Power Packs. Welding machine factory Migatronic in Fjerritslev are contributing to the development of the hydrogen-based fuel-cell technology of the future.
HYDROGEN – CLEAN ENERGY OF THE FUTURE
Migatronic is one of Europe’s lead- ing producers of high-tech weld- ing machines. More than 30 years of research and development has led to the company accumulating a mass of knowledge about both welding technology and advanced electronic machine-control systems. The electronic control units are vital components in all the company’s welding machines.
And they are ideally suited to con- trolling machines with extremely complex functions. The same con- trol units are also very well suited for use in equally complex fuel- cell systems. In this way the Fuel Cell Shaft Power Packs consor- tium is benefiting from having a reliable control component sup- plier for the small complete fuel- cell systems which in the future could replace the combustion
engine. And Migatronic is develop- ing its control unit further for the future fuel-cell market. The Danish Technological Institute is leading the three-year project, which is supported by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
CONCRETE ABSORBS CO2
So a large research project completed by the Institute in 2006 shows.
Concrete and cement production accounts for 3-5% of the world’s total CO2 emissions. But results from research show that it is not enough just to look at the produc- tion process in assessing the effect of concrete on the environment. This is because when concrete buildings are torn down, there are large gains to be had on the CO2 account as a significant proportion of the CO2 is reabsorbed. The results have aroused international interest and may become important for how the impact of concrete on the environ- ment is assessed, and how building materials will be chosen in the future based on environmental con- siderations. The research project is financed by the Nordic Innovation Centre and Nordic cement produ- cers and represents a joint initiative between several Nordic countries.
THE INSTITUTE ACQUIRES
DENMARK’S FIRST RAPID MANUFACTURING MACHINE FOR METAL
This will open up a whole new world of possibilities for Danish companies. The machine is to be installed at the beginning of 2007.
RAPID MANUFACTURING
Technology which is under rapid development and which offers exciting possibilities.
For several years, the Danish Technological Institute has been working on developing Rapid Manufacturing technology where, using a form of 3D printer, physi- cal objects can be produced - without tools - directly from a computer drawing. Rapid Manu- facturing works by melting to- gether plastic material in powder form – ‘sintering’ – in very thin layers using a laser beam, so that a three-dimensional form is gradually built up straight from the CAD drawing. The technology has mainly been used to produce prototypes which have only had to be used as one-off examples of an object. But the technology has now advanced so far that it can also be utilised in actual produc- tion, partly because the materials used in the ‘printing’ are
becoming stronger. Rapid Manu- facturing is especially cost- effective for producing small series runs and where each product has to be individually tailored so that it is slightly different from the other products in the series. Therefore more and more Danish companies are using the Institute’s equipment for the actual production of parts used in a wide variety of different products from hearing aids to wind-turbines. For example the Institute produces small battery modules for Vestas’ wind-turbines.
The battery modules form part of the wind-turbine’s control system.
Rapid Manufacturing in metal will mean that very complex and hard- wearing objects can be produced in metal. These could be for example moulds for plastic injection-moulding or tools and machine parts that can be used in the manufacturing process itself.
The advantage of using Rapid Manufacturing technology is that the production of individual units is far cheaper than using traditional production methods. However, the technology is so new that further research and development is necessary in order to produce demonstration models which can show companies the scope of the technology’s potential. And test models need to be made to test
strength and function. The work involved in developing Rapid Manufacturing technology in metal therefore forms part of the Institute’s three-year result target agreement with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Sense is a start-up company which is in the process of developing a blood pressure gauge which can be embedded in a sticking plaster using wireless sensor technology.
BLOOD PRESSURE GAUGE EMBEDDED IN A PLASTER
Experts in micro- and nano- technology at the Danish
Technological Institute are helping with the development of the blood pressure gauge. It consists of a plaster with an embedded, wire- less, passive sensor attached to the patient’s wrist which can monitor blood pressure 24 hours a day. Data from the sensor can then be picked up by a wireless reader or transceiver, which is small enough to fit in a shirt pocket or even inside a mobile telephone. The ‘transceiver’ relays information about the patient’s blood pressure to a doctor or to the hospital. One of the great advantages of this mobile blood pressure gauge is that it will be
able to read the blood pressure of a person over a long period with- out the person being incon- venienced by the gauge. It has been shown that the measure- ment of variations in blood pres- sure over the course of a 24-hour period can be of huge diagnostic value. The blood pressure gauge is as yet only at the developmental stage with the principle being demonstrated on a model wrist, but at the beginning of 2007 clini- cal trials are due to start with the device being tested on real patients. Also in 2007 the Institute is hosting an international con- ference on wireless sensor tech- nology with contributions from Nokia and VTT in Finland.
And we are still investing in
advanced equipment which puts the Institute among the global elite in the exploitation of nano-technology.
The Danish MicroFactory – as the name suggests, a micro-sized fac- tory – was expanded in 2006 with the introduction of a robot-controlled clean room plant which can surface- treat small items round the clock – completely automatically. The pro- duction area itself is less than 10 m2. Here, atomic and molecular coating is applied to the items using a so-called MVD process (Molecular Vapour Deposition). The plant is the first commercially accessible one of its kind in Europe. Danish compa- nies, for example from the medical equipment industry, can utilise the plant to surface-treat small compo- nents so that they become dirt-resi- stant or water-repellent. Actual pro- duction is due to commence in 2007.
’SENSI-COATING’
Hard-wearing, easy-to-clean and ‘intelligent’ surfaces for the food industry.
SENSORS IN FUEL CELLS
Intensive research and development work is being carried out to produce hydrogen-based fuel cells in the quest to find a replacement for fossil fuels. As a result, research and development environments are demanding more systemised know- ledge about the reactions and pro- cesses which take place inside the fuel cells. This is the reason behind the Institute’s participation in the SEMOS project, Surface Embedded Metal Oxide Sensors, which has been set up to develop sensors spe- cially designed to be placed inside working fuel cells. The project is being run jointly with Aalborg University and the Danish Technical University. The Institute’s tribology experts will produce the actual sen- sors and be in charge of embedding them into various surfaces.
Hydrogen experts at the Institute will carry out tests and demonstrations of the sensors developed.
The project received a grant from the Danish Research Council for Technology and Production Sciences in 2006, and will be run over three years.
The Institute has many years’
experience in designing and developing new surface coatings.
This experience provides the background for the Institute leading the research and develop- ment project Sensi-Coating, which is to develop new, hard-wearing, anti-corrosion, easy-to-clean and
‘intelligent’ surface coatings for, among other things, food process- ing equipment. Both the food industry and the health sector will benefit hugely from the surfaces which are self-lubricating and durable so as to avoid oil and metal contamination. Companies from right across the value chain in the food industry are taking part in the project, from raw material
suppliers to machine and plant manufacturers to food producers.
One of the new types of surface coatings to be developed is ‘dia- mond-like carbon’ – a material produced using nano-techno- logical methods which ‘blend’
graphite and diamond structures at a molecular level. Using this technique, it is possible to obtain a material that unites the best properties from graphite – low friction and unique self-lubricating properties – with a diamond structure’s hardness and dura- bility. The project will run for two years and is sponsored by the Directorate for Food, Fisheries and Agri Business.
UNIQUE
CONCRETE CONSTRUCTIONS
The Institute has developed an ‘intelligent’ sun screen which can also produce electricity.
POWERSHADES – SUN SCREEN AND SOLAR CELL IN ONE
The Institute is playing a cen- tral role in a new project to develop methods of producing unique concrete constructions.
The idea behind the development is among other things to construct a new kind of concrete form in altera- tive and more flexible materials, for example plastic and moulding sand, to be manufactured from digital drawings by robots. One of the main reasons for the Institute’s participation in the project is its development work with SCC, self- compacting concrete, which opens up a whole range of possibilities to produce new, complex forms. The University of Southern Denmark and the Aarhus School of
Architecture are jointly running the project together with a number of concrete-producing companies.
The Danish High Technology Fund has put 0.8 million euro into the project.
A solar cell typically consists of a metal plate or film which gene- rates electricity when it is hit by rays from the sun. The metal plate can be perforated so that the solar cell becomes transparent, but at the same time this leads to a reduction in its effectiveness. The Institute has developed a special method whereby instead of being holes the perforations take the form of tiny pipes. This means that you can have a lot of holes – thereby retaining the transparency – without reducing the total power- generating surface. And as a bonus the solar cell also functions as an extremely effective sun- screen because it is dependent on the sun’s angle on the pane.
When the sun is low in the sky, it provides only a little shade, and when the sun is high in the sky, it provides a lot of shade – exactly as required. Powershades is to be marketed by the Institute’s spin-off company PhotoSolar.
NEW HEAT PUMPS FEATURE SEVERAL ADVANTAGES
The Institute has developed a heat pump which is incredibly effective at the same time as being environmentally friendly.
Heat pumps extract heat in order to maintain a cold temperature level and give off heat at a temperature level high enough to be used for heating purposes. Heat pumps using traditional and often environ- mentally damaging cooling agents have been around for many years.
As a result of research and develop- ment work at the Danish
Technological Institute though, it is now possible to replace the traditio- nal coolant with CO2. This has a number of significant advantages.
Firstly, the new heat pump gives a return on the electrical energy input by a factor of up to four times because it gives off heat at a tempe- rature of over 80 degrees.
Traditional pumps cannot manage more than 60 degrees. Secondly, CO2 is a natural cooling agent and as such has absolutely no impact
on the environment. The heat pump has initially been developed for small, decentralised heating plants where it can lead to considerable cost savings. The heat pump can be used to recycle the heating plants’ waste gases to produce hot water which is then sent out to consumers via the district heating network. The heat pump is now going to undergo trials at two con- crete manufacturing plants so as to be able to document the heat pump’s effectiveness in practice and monitor how it performs together with the electricity system.
The development work is being carried out in co-operation with the Association of Danish Heating Plants, Naturgas Midt Nord and development company Advansor in Århus.
SPOTLIGHT ON DENMARK’S HIGH-GROWTH COMPANIES
What do high-growth compa- nies think about current issues? The Danish Technolo- gical Institute tests the waters.
In the autumn the Institute set up a panel consisting of 1,000 direc- tors from a geographically repre- sentative cross-section of the coun- try’s knowledge-intensive small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s). The panel was asked about attitudes relating to a range of current issues including globali- sation, economics and the appli- cation of new technology. The Institute analysed the answers and published the results. The results of the survey aroused widespread interest and led to a whole series of headlines, thereby putting the spotlight very much on the SME’s and the Danish Technological Institute.
BIOMED – HARMFUL BACTERIA ON MEDICAL EQUIPMENT
The joint research group BIOMED – who specialise in the diagnosis, prevention and combating of bio-film on medical equipment – is being led by the Danish Technological Institute.
Many of the Institute’s cutting- edge competences come into play in projects based in plastics technology and microbiology.
Together with the project’s busi- ness partners, experts at the Institute develop coatings for medical equipment which protects the patient against picking up bacterial infections from the equipment. But together with the project’s university partners, addi- tional and significant progress was made in 2006 in analysing just the kind of harmful bacteria that forms on the surfaces of medical equipment, and which can lead to infection. This involves new DNA-
based analysis methods to deter- mine exactly which bacteria are being formed. The methods are far safer than the traditional culture-growing methods and can now be carried out in the Institute’s new microbiological laboratory.
HOW ARE BONES AFFECTED IN SPACE?
An EU research project, partly financed by ESA, the European Space Agency, is analysing what happens to a person’s bones if they are out in space.
The Institute’s work with developing bone implants made out of ceramic and porous materials which allow human cells to grow around them has led to the Institute participating in the EU project. The Institute is involved in examining how these materials react under different conditions, for example weight- lessness in space. The insight gained from investigating these extreme conditions gives an indi- cation of how real bones would react, and that in turn can result in information which can be used under normal conditions, like for example in the treatment of osteo- porosis.
TREE PROTECTION FOR THE FUTURE
The Institute has established a new laboratory for testing new, environmentally-friendly forms of tree protection.
Traditional tree impregnation me- thods are under pressure these days because of the use of environmen- tally harmful bio-codes. As a result intensive work is currently being carried out to develop new products and methods with which to protect trees. These include oil treatment, heat treatment and chemical modi- fication of trees. In 2006 therefore the Institute had a totally new, spe- cially-designed, state-of-the-art impregnation plant installed, in order to be able to continue offering the best advice about and testing products and techniques for the protection of trees. The plant also offers greater opportunities for parti- cipating in international research projects in this particular field.
Wood-burning stoves are tested in conjunction with a voluntary certi- fication scheme set up by DAPO, the Danish Association of Pro- ducers of Wood-Burning Stoves and Fireplaces. The scheme is to ensure that wood-burning stoves do not cause unnecessary pollu- tion, for example through particle emissions. On 1 January 2007 the association introduced a new environmental label for wood- burning stoves, which covers new and tighter regulations relating to particle emissions. Peter Jessen Hansen, director of Morsø Iron Moulding and chairman of DAPO, explains: “Wood-burning stoves are an extremely environmentally-
friendly form of heating because firewood is CO2 neutral. The new label ensures that approved wood- burning stoves release fewer par- ticles out into the air than before – in fact the quantity of particles has been halved, compared to inter- national norms, from 10 grams to a maximum 5 grams per kilo of firewood burned.”
Wood-burning stoves are very popular in Danish homes, and both the number of stoves and the consumption of firewood are rising steadily. The Danish Technological Institute houses the only labora- tory in Denmark where accredited testing of wood-burning stoves and boilers is carried out.
WOOD-BURNING STOVES A ROARING SUCCESS
FUNGAL ATTACKS IN BUILDINGS
The Danish Technological Institute are specialists in advanced microbiological analysis. But though advanced, it need not be difficult to perform.
DO-IT-YOURSELF KIT
FOR MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSES
In 2006 the Danish
Technological Institute’s interior climate experts noticed a growing number of referrals where buildings were suspected of being attacked by mould fungus.
Mould grows on all damp sur- faces, both visible and hidden within a building. Experts know how to tackle the problem and what advice to give about both prevention and necessary assi- stance in cases of fungal attack.
One important question that has to be answered objectively is:
“What is the cause of the da- mage?” This is crucial both for an effective renovation job and also very often to determine who is going to end up footing the bill for the renovation work. Bad main- tenance and water damage are the classic causes of mould, but even completely new buildings can fall prey to the fungus. This happens if materials get wet during the building period, or if the building is not allowed to dry out properly before being used.
Both business-to-business cus- tomers and private people can send in material samples which can be examined in the fungal laboratory for signs of mould.
The Institute has developed the IQ Kit, a sampling kit which makes it easy for anybody to collect water samples for testing purposes. The samples are sent by post to the Institute, where experts use the latest DNA technology to analyse the contents of the water samples.
The DNA-based bacteria analysis differs from traditional culture- based analyses in that it can quickly and accurately establish whether a particular water sample contains bacteria which might cause sickness or disease. The kit can for example be used to take water samples from apartment
buildings, swimming pools or from a company’s cooling system. The new methods of collecting sam- ples were developed by the Institute and have been used in the Institute’s work for Logstor, for- merly Løgstør Rør, whose product range includes pipes for district heating systems and for the trans- port of oil and natural gas. The Institute has recently carried out DNA-based testing for dangerous bacterial organisms at Logstor’s production plant in Poland.
FROM CHECKS TO SELF-CHECKS AT GARAGES
For many years the Danish Technological Institute has been responsible for the checks on repair and service work in the country’s authorised car repair shops.
The Institute has developed a web- based system so that garages’
own inspectors can carry out the checks. This enables the garage to obtain a clear overview of their own level of quality, which makes it easier to prevent mistakes. At Citroen Center in northern Zeeland they are very enthusiastic about the system. Owner Ove Jensen says: “The system has resulted in a lot more communication between the mechanics in the repair shop. Now they discuss faults and repairs far more than they used to and are therefore sharing their knowledge and
experience with each other. At the same time it provides us with an overview of where the faults arise – whether it’s in particular pro- cesses – headlight adjustment, tyre pressure or wheel adjustment – or whether it’s due to certain mechanics who might for example need further training. We’re now in a much better position to assess these different factors and act accordingly.”
SWEDISH RETAIL TRADE TO INTRODUCE RFID LABELING
A Swedish company is using the RFID test centre at the Danish Technological Institute to decide on which supplier they should choose.
During the course of 2007, Swedish company Svensk Retursystem is to introduce RFID labelling on the plastic pallets used in its return system. The organisation will then decide on a supplier for the first 2-3 million return pallets with inbuilt RFID tags. The choice will be made based on laboratory tests of the read- ability of the RFID tags both before and after the pallets have been through the Institute’s transport simulation laboratory. Here the tags undergo a series of tests to examine the effects of being bumped, dropped or vibrated at different temperature and humidity levels.
The RFID test centre was inau- gurated last year and is one of the world’s first certificated test centres for the new RFID technology - small intelligent tags which can identify and store a range of data about where a particular product or packaged batch originates from, its
‘history’ and its physical location.
RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification.
Pharmaceutical company Lundbeck develops and produces drugs for people all over the world who suffer from mental and
neurological disorders.
The active ingredients for the com- pany’s drugs are manufactured at their production plant in Lumsås.
The production process is extreme- ly demanding, requiring very high levels of stability, accuracy and con- trol of all sub-processes. The fac- tory in Lumsås has for example a large refrigeration unit which serves to cool the factory’s vital production plant, which contains the reactor in which the active ingredients are actually produced. The cooling is done with the help of water which runs through a closed system of pipes under the factory. The Danish Technological Institute’s micro-bio- logy experts have provided assi- stance in stabilising the refrigeration
unit, firstly through effective water cleaning using a combination of automated particle filters and a sand filter, and secondly by syste- matically monitoring and taking sample measurements of the water.
By using a high-tech microbiologi- cal method of measuring, the num- ber and type of micro-organisms present in the water can be deter- mined extremely accurately. Above all, the sand filter and the monito- ring system mean that the amount of biocides needed in the refrigera- tion unit to prevent bacterial growth can be drastically reduced. This is good for both the environment and the company’s bottom line.
is introducing a systematic way of transferring technology and knowledge to small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Institute has set up a system to tackle the challenge of turning research-based knowledge into practice in the form of goods and services. The Tech-Trans project aims to establish contact between companies and the research world. This is being done firstly through ‘inspiration’ meetings where companies are presented with the latest technological conquests in different fields, secondly through setting up a number of growth groups, and finally by assisting in the actual development of projects between the individual company and a research institute. One example of this is AquaCircle, where 40 com- panies from the aqua-culture industry – fish-breeding – are joi- ning forces to create a knowledge network together with Aalborg University, DHI – the Institute for Water and Environment, the Danish Technological Institute and the Danish Institute for Fisheries Research in order to promote new sustainable growth opportunities.
The project stems from the Institute’s result target agreement with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. In all there are 200 companies taking part in eight development and growth groups.
AN OPERATIONALLY SAFE AND RELIABLE COOLING ENVIRONMENT
– LUNDBECK AIDED BY MICRO-BIOLOGY
SPACE TRAVEL IN EASTERN JUTLAND
The space travel industry provides exciting development and export opportunities for Danish companies.
It is in this industry that the very latest and most advanced techno- logies are first used in practice.
There are also extremely high demands made on the companies if they intend to contribute to the many international projects that are currently being run in Europe.
This is why the Danish
Technological Institute has taken the initiative of establishing a growth group for space travel, which consists of eight high-tech companies in eastern Jutland.
These companies have joined together in a network in order to strengthen their position in tende- ring for the many development projects in the field of space travel.
One of the companies is Chr.
Dalsgaard Project Development, a small company in Århus which develops intelligent textiles with electrical conductive properties.
The company has plans to develop clothing with in-woven antennas which can monitor an astronaut’s respiration and heart-beat and so dispense with the need to have sensors attached to the body. The clothing could be tested when ESA, the European Space Organi- sation, sends the next astronaut out into space. As well as the com- panies involved, participants also include Aalborg University, The Danish Space Consortium and the Danish Space Centre.
If a company wants to be a supplier for one of the large car manufacturers they have to prepare themselves for some pretty tough delivery terms.
CAR PRODUCERS INTRODUCE TIGHTER REGULATIONS
A delayed delivery could earn a supplier a late-delivery penalty running into millions of DKK a day.
Therefore the Institute has set up a network for suppliers to the car industry. It is an obvious strategy for smaller companies to work together to create the opportunity of jointly producing the ‘complete- system’ deliveries which car manufacturers are now deman- ding. With the Institute’s help, a number of companies have formed a network which allows them to draw on the experience of current suppliers, find future business partners and take part in
seminars where car manufactu- rers talk about their terms and requirements and can offer useful advice. The network is being co- ordinated by the Innovation Institute in Århus, which for the past three years has been jointly managed by the Danish
Technological Institute and Århus Municipality.
The Danish Technological Institute has supplied a ‘turnkey’ testing plant for pumps.
GRUNDFOS ACQUIRE THEIR OWN TESTING PLANT FOR CO2 PUMPS
With an annual production of over 13 million pumps Grundfos is one of the world’s largest pump manu- facturers. Grundfos develops pumps for many different purpo- ses – including large industrial refrigeration plants. CO2 is one of the natural coolants that can replace the traditional CFC-based cooling agents, which from 1 January 2007 are banned in Denmark. Therefore the company is investigating ways of developing CO2-based pumps. This kind of pump is commonly tested at the Danish Technological Institute’s accredited test facilities. Grundfos though wanted to be able to carry
out the sampling and testing themselves in conjunction with their development work. Therefore the Institute built a testing unit for CO2 pumps which has now been installed at the company. The unit has been specially designed so that it conforms to the company’s very exact and specific require- ments, and is the result of a com- bination of Grundfos’ many years of experience of producing pumps coupled with the Institute’s experi- ence in using CO2 as a coolant as well as their knowledge about testing and sampling.
INNOVATION ON SAMSØ
Forty energetic souls on the Danish island of Samsø have learned to think in a new, creative way to start up projects and to create growth.
Forty people have taken part in a development course organized by Samsø Development Office and the Danish Technological Institute’s innovation and creativity experts.
The course is aimed at ensuring future growth among companies and entrepreneurs in a low popula- tion density area where the ability to think in a new and different way could be crucial to ensuring an active community in the future.
On the course, participants have engaged in concrete projects which range from vegetable production to health companies. The project is an EU social fund project, and was recommended for a European Enterprise Award in the category
‘Investment in People’.
THUESEN JENSEN FIT OUT THE WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE IN THEIR NEW HEADQUARTERS
The company is growing, and the product range and number of product groups are expanding. After some years’ growth, it is sometimes the case that the original warehousing solution is no longer the most suitable.
INDIAN FOODSTUFFS – COMPLYING WITH EUROPEAN STANDARDS
In January 2006 the Institute started on a project to imple- ment food safety in India.
The project includes giving advice about the CE marking of foodstuffs, the introduction of quality control systems in the food sector, training and capacity expansion for a num- ber of Indian food authorities and providing consultancy services in the purchasing of laboratory equip- ment. The programme also takes in study tours to several EU countries, and the Institute has already hosted visits from various Indian dele- gations. The project forms part of the European Commission’s Trade Investment Development
Programme which is aimed at generally improving India’s opportu- nities for exporting to the EU. The programme is set to finish at the end of 2007.
Many companies will recognize this situation. At hardware whole- saler Thuesen Jensen they have called in experts to help them set up a completely new wholesale warehousing system. Thuesen Jensen supplies a wide range of well-known quality branded goods for the hardware industry, includ- ing the French Pulliviut porcelain which they sell to a large number of retail stores in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. For the wholesaler, a wide range of goods and the ability to deliver at short notice are important prerequisites for doing business with the retail
chains and large department stores. This places huge demands on the fitting out, logistics and operation of the warehouse. The Institute’s logistics experts have therefore advised the company on among other things how to fit out the warehouse in the most effi- cient and effective way to achieve a good working environment with the appropriate number of employees.
MANAGING DRUG
DEVELOPMENT – ALSO WITH DIMMS
Alpharma is a pharmaceutical company producing among other things antibiotics which are used both in the company’s own drug production and in drugs produced by other companies all over the world.
The antibiotics are produced by growing certain bacterial strains under extremely controlled and well-defined conditions. Finding the optimal conditions for produ- cing the ingredients efficiently and with the highest possible level of cleanliness and quality is a lengthy process. That is why the Institute’s DIMMS constitutes such an important element in the Alpharma development depart- ment because DIMMS collects and collates large amounts of data from different measuring systems and automatically sets up models to interpret all these data. DIMMS
‘translates’ these multivarious data so that only a limited number of employees are needed for the analysis and interpretation work.
And the Institute has been able to put a fall-back team of analysts at the disposal of the company in periods of high employee turnover, so that the optimisation work can continue uninterrupted.
In high-tech production plants, raw meat products are heat-treated in large pressure boilers. The factory has set up a comprehensive quality control programme and constantly monitors the production process and documents the content of the nutritional substances in the food to ensure that the finished product is of a consistently high quality. And that is why the Danish
Technological Institute’s DIMMS is proving to be of such great benefit to the factory. DIMMS – Data Interpretation and Model Management System – is a smart piece of software which has been specially developed to control and optimise complex processes. The system can collect a multitude of data from every conceivable type of measuring equipment across diffe- rent platforms and systems. And it can easily be integrated into the rest of the company’s IT systems.
With DIMMS it is therefore possible to take online measurements and continually adjust a whole series of parameters without having to inter- rupt production. The company can thereby carry out quality control at the same time as producing goods.
Farmfood in Løgstør produces food for minks from the waste products of for example chicken factories.
PROMOTION OF QUALITY IN BULGARIA AND ROMANIA
Ahead of the two countries joining the EU on 1 January 2007, a lot of work has to be done to adapt the countries’
legislation and regulations to EU standards.
An example of this kind of work is the Institute’s contribution to deve- lopments in the areas of measure- ment and quality. The Institute is helping with developing methods and standards in metrology, accre- ditation, testing, certification, inspection and market-monitoring.
In addition laboratory technicians and managers are being trained in both countries.
The company produces autoclaves which clean, lubricate and sterilise dentists’ rotating instruments before they are used in the mouth of the next patient. If the instruments are not cleaned and sterilised between each patient there is the risk that infectious diseases like HIV and tuberculosis could be transmitted from patient to patient. Nitram Dental’s combination autoclave is at the advanced end of the scale, and the company works continually with innovation and product improve- ment in order to maintain its leading-edge status. The company wanted to develop the autoclave further so that – after having lubri- cated the delicate rotating instru- ments with oil – it could make sure that any surplus oil was blown out of the instruments. The Danish
Technological Institute investigated whether there was any risk of the equipment becoming re-contami- nated by having air blown into it.
The Institute’s micro-biologists put bacterial spores into the apparatus and the research showed that there was in fact a risk of re-contamina- tion. Therefore further testing and consultancy work was carried out with the company, where various changes to the equipment’s con- struction were carefully analysed and tested in practice. The result is that Nitram Dental now market an autoclave which cleans, lubricates and sterilises a dentist’s rotating instruments at the clinic in under 12 minutes – without any traces of oil being left on the equipment, leaving it 100% sterile.
Nitram Dental produces autoclaves for the dental industry.
The Danish Technological Institute has assisted in the company’s product development and improvement.
EFFECTIVE CLEANING
OF DENTAL EQUIPMENT
Back in 2004 a government delegation from New Zealand journeyed out into the world to seek inspiration for how new technology could contribute to stimulating new growth for companies in the country.
DANISH INSPIRATION
FOR NEW ZEALAND COMPANIES
The delegation visited the Danish Technological Institute and saw that the Institute’s role as a ‘knowledge broker’ between research institu- tions and business life was some- thing that could also be used back home. New Zealand’s many SME’s needed to acquire the latest technological know-how if they were to survive in an internationally com- petitive environment. This was the start of the Institute setting up a fully operational Technological Partnership in New Zealand in 2006. The Technological
Partnership creates the framework for contact to be established be- tween the world of research and individual companies needing an expert in a particular field, partly through utilising the Institute’s extensive international expert data- base. The office in New Zealand is run by four employees and current- ly has 18 development programmes implemented via the Technological Partnership.
they want to experience some- thing new and unique, and they want to be active participants in new happenings and events.
Event management has therefore become a completely new growth industry – and in Denmark this could open up many new business opportunities. The less densely populated areas and the many small islands are very well suited for creating unique events. This is the reason why the Institute has set up Danvifo, the Danish Knowledge Centre for Event Management on the island of Bornholm. The know- ledge centre’s brief is to expand the opportunities for Danish businesses to become players in event manage- ment, thereby helping to create new jobs in these sparsely popu- lated areas. At the same time the centre will function as the national centre for the dissemination of knowledge and competences for the Danish event management industry, focusing particularly on small and medium-sized enterprises. The knowledge centre is being run with support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation and from Bornholm’s regional municipality.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON GUNPOWDER AND BULLETS
In the spring 2006, police and intelligence experts from all over the world gathered at a conference held at the
Danish Technological Institute.
The background for the conferen- ce was the Institute’s expertise in
‘firearms’ investigations, that is to say microscopic examination of gunpowder particles, which contri- bute to the police being able to solve cases involving firearms. The conference gathered together the world’s detection work elite with speakers from Australia, USA, Israel and a number of other countries. A benchmark analysis was presented at the conference by experts in the field, who ranked the Institute among the 10 best laboratories in Europe.
THE SMALL
BUT EFFECTIVE BRACKET
The new building regulations which came into effect in the New Year 2006 mean that many walls have to be built thicker because of extra insulation.
DANISH EXPERTISE FOR TURKISH METROLOGY
As part of Turkey’s adaptation to European standards, the Institute is helping by advising the coun- try’s authorities about ‘legal metro- logy’. This is to ensure that Turkish regulations and norms relating to the checking of con- tents of packed finished goods and the checking of measuring equipment are the same as in Europe. The Institute is contribu- ting consultancy and training ser- vices in metrology to the Turkish Trade and Industry Ministry and is helping the ministry raise aware- ness of metrology among produ- cers, importers and wholesalers of measuring instruments.
And this in turn means that it can be difficult to put in windows as they can no longer be mounted directly into the wall because of the extra wall thickness. This pro- blem was anticipated by builder Johnny Mortensen – and he hit upon a great idea. He came up with a new type of window-mount- ing bracket which could be built into the window opening in the wall. He then contacted the
‘Public Service for Inventors’ and from that point on plastics experts from the Institute got involved in the project to find the optimal
One of the basic conditions for international trade is that the partners have a common stan- dard for metrology – the study of measurement techniques.
material from which to make the bracket. A company was con- tacted which was interested in entering into a licence agreement with Johnny Mortensen – and that company was Knudsen Kilen, which now markets the bracket.
Given the challenges surrounding entrepreneurship, product devel- opment and innovation that Danish companies face, there is a lot of focus on the ‘Public Service for Inventors’ which the Institute runs on behalf of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The Institute has carried out a survey of the people’s IT habits for the National IT and Telecom Agency.
The project brought together experts from the Institute’s IT deve- lopment and social and user analy- sis departments respectively. The qualitative part of the survey was done using both ‘laboratory tests’
and focus groups. The laboratory tests consisted of concrete tasks which required participants to for example book a holiday on the internet while experts observed how the participants actually solved the task and what difficulties they came across on the way. And in the focus
groups, detailed discussions were held on topics such as ‘shopping on the net’ and ‘the assessment of the value of information’. The fol- low-up reporting was rather untradi- tional in that it took the form of case histories. A series of essays de- scribe eight fictitious people’s IT experience and habits. We meet the middle-aged cultural consumer and the lonely pensioner. One of the stories has been put out electronically in multi-media form using sound and pictures.
the Institute has had many opportunities to contribute technical input to work carried out by the Danish
Globalisation Council.
Globalisation Council.
Centre manager Hanne Shapiro has given two presentations to the Council about the demands and challenges business and labour market training and education pro- grammes will face in the light of increasing global division of labour and specialisation. Even though according to OECD Denmark has one of the best business and further education systems in the world, there is still a need for the vast majority of business leaders to gain insight into the relationship between productivity, innovation, competitiveness and a well- educated workforce. This is also true for employees who have undergone only limited training.
And companies also need to take responsibility for providing business training and education opportu- nities for young people. New indu- stries and new kinds of jobs are springing up as a result of global specialisation and the utilisation of new technologies – something the training and education system also needs to be able to respond to.
The presentations to the
Globalisation Council illustrated the cutting-edge competences that the Institute’s employees possess, including analysing central socially relevant problems.
PEOPLE’S IT HABITS
Copenhagen Fur uses Six Sigma to boost Danish mink exports.
Danish mink breeders produce some of the finest furs on the mar- ket and they are exported all over the world. But as the furs are pro- cessed in large batches, the unifor- mity of each individual batch is of paramount importance to the quality. This is the reason for Copenhagen Fur starting to use Six Sigma, with the help of the Danish Technological Institute. Six Sigma is a production and quality improve- ment tool which focuses on ensu- ring exactly the kind of uniformity Copenhagen Fur demand as well as eliminating any faults early on in the production process. The name Six Sigma originates from the study of statistics. Sigma is a measure for how good a process is at producing uniform and fault-free products. At Copenhagen Fur the furs are initial- ly sorted automatically by size and colour. After that, the furs are manually sorted into different quali- ty levels according to the fur’s thickness, surface, hair-length and blemishes in the fur. Finally the furs are sorted according to ‘purity’, in the form of their more or less bluish or reddish hues. Six Sigma is being used to systematically measure and calibrate the manual sorting and to carry out benchmarking compared to previous results.
DEVELOPMENT OF A
SUSTAINABLE LOCAL BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN RUSSIA
The Danish Technological Institute is taking part in the Foreign Ministry’s Neighbourhood Programme to develop SME’s in two regions in Russia, Kaliningrad and the Pskov region.
Small and medium-sized compani- es in these regions face huge chal- lenges, for example reduced com- petitiveness, inefficient business organisations and excessive bureau- cracy. The Institute is advising business organisations on among other things how to introduce effec- tive and sustained business promo- tion initiatives. The Institute is also working on how to develop the mar- ket offering business advisory servi- ces, for example by training person- nel at the local advisory office. The programme was set up in 2006 and is to be run over four years.
This company has increased production by 30% just by introducing some simple improvements.
MICROFYN IS LEAN
Microfyn is a high-tech company which produces lasers and control systems for the construction indu- stry. At one point, demand for the company’s products was so great that production was having pro- blems keeping up. So the Institute’s experts were called in.
Together with the company a lean process was put into operation.
This meant for example conside- rably cutting down on the range of series produced, thereby reducing time wastage and turnaround time for raw materials. In addition, the Institute carried out a thorough analysis of the production flow in
the company, involving some very advanced calculation work.
Employees also received extensive training; for example five were trained up to be internal lean coaches who will help continue the lean process when the Institute’s consultants have finished their work. Very soon after this intensive analysis and consul- tancy work, the company started reaping the benefits: production capacity rose by over 30% without employees having to speed up their work-rate at all.
The Institute provided the Danish State Education Grant and Loan Scheme Agency (SU) with the technological and pedagogical advice about e-learning they needed before making significant investments in e-learning.
E-LEARNING AT SU
The State Education Grant and Loan Scheme Agency provides financial support for students in further education and has some 2,500 employees in educational institutions around the country.
These employees have to be fami- liar with a growing number of grant and loan schemes and the complicated legislation behind the schemes, which is why e-learning is such an ideal supplement to other Agency staff training pro- grammes. But before committing to any major investments in e- learning programmes, the Agency sought professional advice. The
Institute has thus helped the Agency in a number of aspects:
by rolling out a whole new training strategy; by choosing the relevant technology for e-learning – a choice that incidentally proved to be much cheaper than expected; by producing a tailor-made e-learning handbook; and by training the staff responsible for the e-learning itself. Finally the Institute provided templates so that employees can themselves produce e-learning of the same high quality as they received from the Institute.
DANISH-EGYPTIAN PARTNERSHIP IN FOOD SAFETY
The Institute has entered into a partnership with the Food Technology Centre in Cairo.
The Institute is to help the Centre build up the technical expertise necessary for employees to be able to advise Egyptian food pro- ducers so as to enable them to compete successfully on an inter- national scale. The Institute will also offer practical support in the construction of both laboratory- technical analyses and technical training of the Centre’s staff. The partnership is supported by the Danish business-to-business pro- gramme under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
FINDING THE RIGHT TASTE
Soft drinks producer Kavli is using consumer panels set up by the Institute to evaluate the taste of new products before they are launched on the market.
The Danish Technological Institute has many years’ experience with taste evaluation and with putting together consumer panels whose task is to taste and rate different products – the so-called pre- ference tests. Often these are tests that companies want for existing products. However, soft drinks producer Kavli is currently invol- ving the Institute right from the product development stage. The Institute has assembled a con- sumer panel of children and adults to taste different new flavours of juice in the FUN Light drinks range. By consulting the panel the company will find out what children and adults think of the new flavours and which parameters are important in their evaluation of the product. The test results are to be used subsequently in further product development.
DRUGS FROM THE EAST MEET BIO-TECHNOLOGY FROM THE WEST
The bio-tech company MediMush are using the Institute to document the stability of the immune-stimulants which go into their product.
The company extracts immune- stimulating substances from mush- rooms which are used for medi- cinal purposes in China, Japan and Korea. The substances are used in food supplements, but in the future they will also be used in new drugs to treat for example cancer. Production consists of cul- tivating among other things the shii-take mushroom, from where the active ingredients are ex- tracted. Food technology experts from the Danish Technological Institute are investigating the stabi- lity of the extracted substances.
This is done by storing the product
in a controlled environment at different temperatures, with and without strong lighting, combined with advanced and systematic quality analysis taken at selected time intervals during the process.
In this way the company is able to obtain a precise picture of the substances’ stability and to find out whether the effect perhaps decreases over time.
The Institute’s subsidiary Technological Innovation is one of seven innovation environments whose brief – on behalf of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation – is to invest in and advise technology-based start-up companies.
NEW METHODS FOR THE
MEASUREMENT OF SOUND AND VIBRATION
This year Technological Innovation has invested in companies includ- ing OrtoSense, a company based on a completely new error-detec- tion system which draws its inspiration from the way the human ear functions. With the help of microphones and vibration measuring equipment, the system can aurally test whether there are any casting faults, bearings that are about to break or metal fatigue in an item. The system therefore acts as an early warning system long before the piece actually
breaks. It ‘listens’, ‘registers’ and compares observations with how an item sounds when it is not defective. The invention is estimated to have great potential for all manufacturing industry, both during production and as a final quality check on the items.
The system also has a lot of potential to monitor machines such as pumps, engines and turbines.
WORLD STARS IN COPENHAGEN
In November 2006 the Danish Technological Institute had the pleasure of presenting two of the world’s top management gurus to a Danish audience.
John P. Kotter, professor in manage- ment at Harvard Business School, visited Denmark for the first time when he gave a presentation at a change management conference for 230 companies. Kotter is regarded as one of the world’s leading manage- ment and business development researchers, and he treated the audience to an insight into his exten- sive research in the field. The confe- rence’s opening speech was given by one of Denmark’s leading manage- ment researchers, Steen Hildebrandt from Århus Business School.
And yet another management guru, Stephen R. Covey, author of the international bestseller ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, dropped into Denmark to speak at another of the Institute’s conferences. Covey talked about the difference between the ordinary, effective manager and the excellent manager, who has the ability to enable the company’s employees to realise their full poten- tial. Both conferences were held at the Falconer Centre in Copenhagen and attracted a lot of attention from the media.
ANNUAL REPORT 2006
2006 was the year in which the Danish Technological Institute could demonstrate that for 100 years we have been developing and dissemi- nating knowledge about new technology for the benefit of busi- ness and society alike. We can look back at an Institute that throughout those 100 years has been truly innovative and has adapted to the changing demands from the outside world, the Institute’s customers and society in general.
But this has also been a year when we have looked ahead as we put together the strategy for the Institute’s work for the coming three years; a strategy in which the Institute’s forthcoming ‘Result Target Agreement 2007-2009’ with the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will play a central role.
It is largely from work in this area that much of the knowledge which is later passed on to companies in the form of commercial services is developed.
Financial review
In 2006, the Institute made a profit of 1.8 million euro.
The Institute’s total turnover amounts to 97.6 million euro. This represents an increase of 1.9%
compared to 2005.
The result is at the budgeted level.
An amount of 1.5 million euro has been provided to defray costs for the 100-year anniversary, with half of this amount being spent on anniversary bonuses for the Institute’s employees.
The Institute’s turnover comes from commercial activities and from research and development activi- ties – including result target agree- ments – respectively.
The Institute’s commercial turnover amounts to 75.8 million euro. This is 2.7 million euro more than the year before, the equivalent of a rise of 3.7%. Turnover on the
Danish market reflects the conside- rable boom in the Danish business sector, although the increase is slightly under budget. This is partly due to falling order books at one of the Institute’s subsidiaries.
Research and development turn- over together with result target agreement turnover make up 21.8 million euro which is the same level as last year, and represents 22.3%
of the total turnover.
In 2006 the Institute self-financed development projects totalling 3.8 million euro. Self-financing is necessary as the number of pro- jects offered and the proportion of public financing have both de- clined over the last few years. In the Institute’s estimation, it is the knowledge development produced from research and development activities which is of paramount importance for society and busi- ness. And this new knowledge also forms the basis for the Institute
Please note that the Danish Technological Institute constitutes a group with four subsidiaries and that the annual report is submitted based on the group’s consolidated accounts.
