Industry panel
Meet international entrepreneurs who exploit the Fourth Industrial Revolution opportunities
The 2019 Industry Panel will address the conference theme by presenting challenges for international entrepreneurs in the field of robotics and drones. The city of Odense is among the 10 major hubs for robotics in the world, a position that has developed over the last 10-15 years. The robot and drone cluster consist of more than 130 companies, with approximately 4000 employees. Combined, these companies create a diverse cluster, with significant strengths in for example collaborative robots, service robots, industrial robots, SME automation, drones, sensors and vision.
The University of Southern Denmark is playing/played an important role in the development of the cluster. Research in robotics has been a specialized competence for more than 20 years, and several start-ups have been initiated from this research. The most prominent example is Universal Robots, a firm that is a world leader in collaborative robots and was acquired by Teradyne; an American multinational company; for around 300 million Euro in 2015.
In 2015 the cluster organization, Odense Robotics, was established to promote further collaboration and development of this industry. In 2016 Odense Robotics launched their StartUp Hub which has been very successful in supporting international entrepreneurs in their early development process. More information can be found here.
Entrepreneurs have to apply for being accepted in the StartUp Hub which offers a well-organized program involving all aspects from concept to commercialization. The Hub is co-located with the Danish Technological Institute, a leading research and technology company that has its Danish headquarter for robotics located in Odense (almost 100 employees with robotics expertise).
The Industry Panel is started by Søren Århus, Business Development Manager, Odense Robotics, who will walk conference participants through the facilities of the Odense Robotics StartUp Hub and then present the role of the StartUp Hub more in detail.
Three entrepreneurs at different stages will then present their case, including main challenges and benefits from being part of the StartUp Hub.
CEO Jan Pedersen will present Proxima Centauri, a recent startup and has just moved into the StartUp Hub. The company’s unique technology can reduce costs and improve products in the sausage industry. More information can be found here and here .
CEO Kristian Skårup epresents Lorentz Technology, a software company on a mission to make all drones autonomous in the air, on the ground, and underwater by developing AI-based intelligent drone software. More information can be found here.
CEO Joakim Espeland is the founder of QuadSAT that is a barely two-year-old drone startup developing a revolutionary drone software that already has secured more than DKK 5 million in investment. QuadSAT has just left Odense Robotics StartUp Hub and is already off to a promising start. More information can be found here and here.
The industry panel concludes with a Q&A session.