Research should be put to use in society. The Aarhus University Technology Transfer Office (TTO) helps researchers take their ideas from the drawing board out into the real world.

’There’s lots of fascinating research going on at the universities. But if that research is never implemented in the wider world, the population as a whole will never benefit. Aarhus University is therefore determined that relevant research results should be put to good use, and contribute to the development of business and society,’ says Thomas Tscherning, TTO director. TTO’s role is to ensure that commercially interesting research and development projects are brought to maturity. TTO ensures close, flexible collaboration among researchers, investors and industry with the fewest possible barriers, from idea to realisation.
Specifically, the TTO helps researchers to register patents on their inventions, so that investors will be interested in funding into product development.
’If you want to develop a product, it’s necessary to get private individuals, companies or organisations to invest in it. And of course they will only do so if their investment is likely to generate a return. The rights to such returns can only be protected if the product is patented,’ he explains.

Investing now for future returns

Researchers present their ideas or inventions to the TTO; the TTO assesses whether or not the ideas can be patented, and prepares patent applications.
After a patent application is submitted, it typically takes three to five years before a patent is issued. The TTO also helps researchers to find partners who will finance the further development of the product.
’If the university wants to help society and end-users – and it has an obligation to do just that – then we must help researchers to implement their ideas. That requires investments now in order to reap future profits,’ says Thomas Tscherning.

Spin-outs from Aarhus University

Over many years, a number of spin-out firms have been established on the basis of research carried out at Aarhus University. Here are two examples:

Sorbisense is a firm that develops, manufactures and markets a patented method of passive sampling that enables constant monitoring of water quality, checking for the presence of nutrients and xenobiotics such as pesticides, volatile organic compounds and heavy metals in groundwater, drains, drinking water, watercourses, lakes and industrial wastewater.

Genoscan is a DNA analysis laboratory that specialises in the DNA genotyping of domestic animals. The firm offers DNA analyses ranging from simple genetic tests on single samples to large-scale analyses where up to a million genetic markers are tested on tens of thousands of samples.

New monitoring equipment helps farmers

Thanks to AU research and to development work by WEBSTECH, farmers can now prevent their stacks of grain, silage and feed from rotting. And on a global scale, this technology has great potential to help deflect the threat of a global food crisis.

Normally, a farmer has no way of knowing what is going on in the middle of large stacks of silage, grain or feedstuffs – for example, whether rot has set in. Previously, farmers could only cross their fingers and hope for the best. Now they can discover and stop rot in time. Ole Green, research coordinator at Aarhus University and director of WEBSTECH, has developed a new wireless sensor system that can monitor temperature – and thus detect beginning decomposition – in large stacks of agricultural biomass. The sensors are contained in small coloured balls that the farmer places in the stack.
‘These small balls contain advanced sensor technology. Not only can they measure temperatures deep in the stack, but they can also communicate with each other. The measuring devices in the balls are linked to a server, which providing constant online monitoring of the material in the stack. If the temperature suddenly starts to rise in one part of the heap, the farmer receives a warning text message,’ explains Ole Green.
The farmer is thus alerted in good time, before any significant losses occur. In Denmark alone, failures in grass or maize silage production and in drying grain and seeds cause losses of around EUR 45 million every year. Losses for an individual farmer can total up to EUR 35,000-100,000.

Putting research to work

Ole Green got the idea for the new sensor technology in 2006, while he was a researcher at Aarhus University. He contacted the TTO, where a patent application was then drawn up. When the patent had been granted, the first investors appeared on the scene, including the innovation incubator Østjysk Innovation (East Jutland Innovation). In 2009 Ole Green started the spin-out WEBSTECH, which today develops, produces and markets the patented wireless sensor equipment for agricultural biomass. For Ole Green, continuing to sit at his desk with his research was never an option.
‘I find it really motivating to see my research at work out in the real world, and to see users benefiting from it,’ he says. ‘I want to be part of the process of taking our research into the wider world,’

Second place in major TV competition

The company Webstech came in second in the finals of the Danish Broadcasting Company’s entrepreneurship competition Væxtfaktor 2012 (The Growth Factor). In the programme, 258 Danish businesses competed in the categories best growth idea, strongest business plan and most unique concept.