Innovation Partner – DTU Skylab

Startup builder and innovation nurturer within digitalization, sustainability, or constructing? Take a look at this opportunity! 

DTU Skylab is looking for an ambitious business developer/venture builder/entre-/intrapreneur with a strong technical and commercial foundation within digitalization, sustainability, mechanical engineering, materials, and manufacturing to join our team of Innovation partners. 

Are you passionate about building technology-based startups and commercializing early-stage research? 

Do you want to support innovation among researchers? Are you driven by working in and with teams towards a common goal? Then this might be the right opportunity for you.

Innovation Partners support DTU departments’ innovation efforts both by facilitating awareness about innovation and entrepreneurship among faculty and young researchers, scouting for technologies with commercial potential, supporting researchers’ startup ventures from lab to market and coaching startup teams in funding, mentor- and cofounder programs.

What is DTU Skylab?
DTU Skylab is the innovation hub of DTU. We are a vibrant community supporting diverse activities such as curricular courses, company collaborations, and start-up support programmes. In the 10 years that DTU Skylab has existed, it has become a dynamic innovation hub with 5000+ m2 of offices, teaching facilities, workshops, and laboratories.

DTU Skylab is both an innovation environment for start-ups and an ambitious learning environment where we train skilled engineers with a desire to make a difference in the world.

What you will do
You will have the role of supporting innovation at DTU departments like DTU Compute and DTU Construct. You will support start-up projects, assist the department’s efforts of fostering an innovation culture and be part of developing DTU Skylab’s activities supporting startups from academia and students from early idea to founding a company. You will be part of DTU Skylab’s team of innovation partners and our programs directed at supporting researchers’ with a startup ambition, including our mentor program.

Primary tasks include:

• Support the process of establishing new research-based startups
• Support venture building of startups within e.g. digital twins, 3D printing, new materials, digital solutions for healthtech, building sustainable energy, construction and mechanics solutions
• Facilitate workshops, work with mentors and advisors
• Scout for and identify research areas and technologies with potential for commercialization
• Promote an innovation culture at the departments
• Facilitate cross department cooperation and implementation of best practice
• All this will happen in close collaboration with the innovation responsible at the departments and the team in DTU Skylab.

Who you are
You have strong technical knowledge and an entrepreneurial and commercial mind-set and are used to working in the interface between R&D and business development. You thrive in an environment of teamwork and collaboration across disciplines.

In addition, you:

• Have experience with and understanding of high-tech entrepreneurship, venture building, and e.g. startup-corporate engagement
• Have experience with commercialization and business development of research
• Have solid experience in facilitating startup workshops and/or courses
• Are a strong team player, result-oriented and self-motivated with a focus on creating value, collaboration and communication with internal and external stakeholders
• Have a relevant higher education - e.g. a technical, scientific or commercial education 
• Possess strong networking skills, good at meeting new people and see opportunities
• Experience from working in– either from startups, universities’ innovation hubs or established companies. 
• Have excellent communication skills in both Danish and English.

Who we are
We have a highly creative and collaborative atmosphere with around 50 employees. We have an informal culture, and we can laugh, have fun and be very serious about what we do. We love our users and collaborators, and we love to tell all the great stories about the projects and activities running in DTU Skylab, including building rockets, developing laboratory robots, cultivated meat, digital services, student associations, and international summits.

It is a challenging job in a very dynamic environment. You will become a part of a culture and organization in constant, rapid development, and you will have a lot of influence on this development.

Terms of employment
Salary and employment terms are according to the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) or similar. Preferable starting date 1 August 2024.

The team of innovations partners is part of a larger section of around 20 colleagues in total, supporting business development across both students and researchers. You will refer to the Section Head, Stine Kruse. 

You will be employed at DTU Skylab, and the workplace is DTU Lyngby Campus, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. 

Application and contact
Please submit your online application no later than 29 May 2024 . Open the “Apply now” link, fill out the form and attach your motivated application, CV, and exam certificates. We will invite for interviews on an ongoing basis, so please don’t hesitate to send your application as soon as possible.

If you would like additional information about the position, please contact Section Head, Stine Kruse: [email protected] , + 45 2281 6843 or Director of DTU Skylab, Mikkel Sørensen: [email protected] , +45 2078 7317.

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.

All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, disability, religion, or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.

Technology for people
DTU develops technology for people. With our international elite research and study programmes, we are helping to create a better world and to solve the global challenges formulated in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU in 1829 with a clear mission to develop and create value using science and engineering to benefit society. That mission lives on today. DTU has 13,500 students and 6,000 employees. We work in an international atmosphere and have an inclusive, evolving, and informal working environment. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland, and we collaborate with the best universities around the world.