The Danish Industrial PhD Programme Promoting research and innovation

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• The Danish Industrial PhD ProgrammePromoting
  research and innovation

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General PhD population in Denmark

• Approximately 1100 PhD students enrolled at
  Danish universities in 2001
• The present Danish government has made PhD
  education one of its top priorities
• The aim is to enroll 2400 PhD students at Danish
  universities in 2010. This goal is included in
  mutual, binding agreements between the government
  and the universities

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The Industrial PhD Programme in Denmark

• Established in 1970
• An Industrial PhD project is a three-year
  research project and a PhD education with an
  industrial focus
• The programmes aims are to
• promote research and innovation in the private
  sector that would not otherwise be undertaken
• support public-private partnerships within
  research and innovation
• stimulate the education of new researchers

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• The Industrial PhD student is hired by a private
  company and enrolled at a university and divides
  his or her time roughly equally between both
• The company receives a monthly wage subsidy of
  approximately half of the students salary
• The host university receives a subsidy to cover
  academic supervision and other expenses

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Application

• The programme is open to projects within all
  scientific fields, all types of companies and
  candidates from all countries.
• The student must be employed in a company branch
  located in Denmark
• Applications are assessed by an advisory
  interdisciplinary committee appointed by the
  Danish Council for Technology and Innovation
• Fast track from application to decision answer
  within 45 working days from application

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Programme advantages

• The programme is user driven. The company is the
  project owner
• It ensures research training at a highly
  specialised level. The university is responsible
  for the academic quality of the scientific
  education
• It is an effective network promoter between
  universities and the private sector
• Employment options upon completion of an
  Industrial PhD are excellent most candidates
  gain employment in the private sector

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Satisfaction with the Industrial PhD Programme

• 98 of students
• 94 of company supervisors
• 94 of university supervisors
• . . . are satisfied or very satisfied with the
  Industrial PhD programme according to an external
  analysis conducted in 2007

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Programme development

• The number of new Industrial PhD projects per
  year in Denmark has increased by 138 percent
  since 2002 from 50 to 119 in 2008
• High application success rate In 2008, 62
  percent of applications were approved
• Approximately 400 Industrial PhD students are
  currently under way covering all scientific areas

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New Industrial PhDs
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Academic fields

• Industrial PhD projects started in 2008 divided
  into academic fields
• Technical Sciences 45,3 pct.
• Agriculture/Veterinary Science 4,2 pct.
• Health Sciences 8,7 pct.
• Natural Sciences 17,6 pct.
• Social Sciences and business 15,1 pct.
• Humanities 9,2 pct.

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Companies

• Projects started in 2008 according to company
  size
• Large enterprises 62 pct.
• Medium-sized enterprises 21 pct.
• Small enterprises 17 pct.

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The Industrial PhD Programme attracts
international students

• Approximately 20 percent of all Industrial PhD
  students accepted in 2008 were from other
  countries than Denmark
• The current population of Industrial PhD students
  consists of students from 26 different countries

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Industrial PhD is on the national and
international agenda

• Aim of 150 new Industrial PhD projects in Denmark
  in 2010, which is twice as many as in 2004
• Programmes with aims similar to the Danish
  Industrial PhD Programme exist in Canada,
  Finland, France, Holland, Norway, Sweden and
  Wales
• NordForsk (research board under the Nordic
  Council of Ministers) had first call for
  applications for Public-Private Partnership PhD
  Projects in November 2008

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Challenges for the Industrial PhD Programme

• Maintain a growing number of applications and
  approved projects in the face of the current
  financial crisis
• Promote companies motivation to prioritize
  research and innovation activities and invest in
  Industrial PhD projects

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Proposal of a European Industrial PhD

• The Danish government has launched the idea of an
  European Industrial PhD Programme
• The aim is to promote academia-industry
  cooperation and innovation in the European
  Research Area (ERA)
• The proposal furthers mobility in Europe the
  involved company and university should be located
  in different European countries

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Proposal of a European Industrial PhD

• A European Industrial PhD Programme would
  contribute to the vision of ERA through its focus
  on the knowledge triangle research, education
  and innovation.
• Relevant forums could be the European Institute
  of Innovation and Technology (EIT) or FP7s
  People Programme