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Good practice Imported

DTU Skylab

Denmark · Kongens Lyngby · See the Denmark profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 42% 71/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

DTU's university-run innovation hub has produced roughly 850 new businesses since 2013 (about 80 a year); by 2024, DTU-founded startups had attracted DKK 1.8 billion in venture funding — 21% of Denmark's entire VC market that year.

850
New businesses (2013-2023) (2013-2023)
1.8 DKK billion
DTU-founded startups' VC funding (2024)
21 %
Share of Danish VC market (2024)
25 startups
DTU-founded startups raising VC (2024)
100 companies/year
DTU annual company spin-outs (university-wide)
5,000 m2
Skylab facility size
171,861
Visits (2022)
571
Prototypes developed (2022)
365
Start-up projects coached (2022)
127
Events run (2022)
75 43 from industry
Partner organisations (2022)
2,000+
Students on courses (2022)
DTU Skylab

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Period
2013-present
Region (NUTS)
DK012
Keywords
university entrepreneurship, technology transfer, student and researcher startups

Context

DTU Skylab is the innovation and entrepreneurship hub of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), established in 2013 in Kongens Lyngby to shorten the path from research idea to product by bringing students, researchers and corporate partners into one shared space.

Activities

Skylab offers prototyping labs across sustainable food, biotechnology, chemistry and digital technologies, plus coaching, courses and office space, and has grown from an initial prototype workshop to more than 5,000 square metres of facilities; in 2022 alone it recorded 171,861 visits, developed 571 prototypes, coached 365 start-up projects, ran 127 events, and worked with 75 partner organisations, 43 of them from industry.

Results

Over its first decade (2013-2023) DTU Skylab contributed to roughly 850 new businesses, about 80 a year, while the wider university now spins out around 100 companies annually; in 2024, 25 DTU-founded startups attracted DKK 1.8 billion in venture funding, equal to 21% of the entire Danish venture-capital market that year.

Conclusions

The source material cautions that the 21%-of-Danish-VC and DKK 1.8 billion figures describe funding raised by DTU-affiliated founders broadly rather than specifically by companies that passed through Skylab's own programmes, so the causal link between Skylab's activities and this headline figure is indicative rather than directly measured.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Costs are not itemized in the source; a purpose-built 5,000+ m2 facility with prototyping labs across four disciplines, ongoing coaching, courses and event programming for a large partner network implies a medium recurring university operating budget.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Established in 2013 and continuously operating for over a decade, with results tracked from 2013 through 2024.
Staffing & skills
Technical University of Denmark (DTU) — Skylab facility staff/coaches, 75 partner organisations (43 from industry) as of 2022

Conditions for success

  • Co-locating students, researchers and corporate partners in one shared, well-equipped facility (prototyping labs, coaching, courses, office space).
  • Sustained decade-long institutional commitment from the university, expanding from an initial prototype workshop to over 5,000 square metres.
  • Deep integration with the wider university's research and spin-out pipeline (DTU spins out around 100 companies a year university-wide).

Common failure modes

  • The headline VC-funding and market-share figures describe DTU-affiliated founders broadly, not specifically companies that passed through Skylab's own programmes, limiting causal attribution to Skylab itself.

Where it fits

Governance type
university-run facility
Scale
single-institution hub (Technical University of Denmark)
Income level
high-income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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