On 4 November 2016, for the sixth year running, Aarhus Symposium hosted about 650 top executives and students at a debate on this year’s theme, ‘the art of power’.
The purpose of the symposium is to establish direct contact between students and top executives. This year, Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen welcomed participants. Novozymes President and CEO Peder Holk Nielsen was also on the rostrum together with Group CEO Pernille Erenbjerg from TDC, and Bjarke Ingels, founder of the architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
The event was organised by 32 students from Aarhus University.
A better infrastructure in East Jutland and closer links between students and business and industry in the region were Rector Brian Bech Nielsen’s key points when he welcomed 500 businesspeople and politicians to the Østjysk Topmøde 2016 summit last week. The meeting was arranged by Business Region Aarhus, which is made up of the 12 municipalities in the East Jutland region. The keynote speaker at the event was AU alumnus Jim Hagemand Snabe.
Last Thursday evening, the political parties that make up the Danish Parliament agreed on the allocation of research reserve funds totalling DKK 555 million.
The Danish Council for Independent Research has been awarded DKK 143 million. This is significantly more than the sum proposed by the Danish government, which included a larger amount of funding for the Danish Innovation Fund.
Rector Brian Bech Nielsen is delighted that a broad agreement has been reached, and one where funding is made available for basic research. The ambition is still, however, to try to reverse the decline in research funding which was initiated with the latest Finance Act.
Last week, both Aarhus University, School of Business and Social Sciences (Aarhus BSS) and the Faculty of Science and Technology (ST) announced that their strategies going forward to 2020 have finally been adopted.
At Aarhus BSS, high quality in education and research, an international outlook and strong external relations are cornerstones of the strategy, which has been through an extensive consultation process in the relevant councils and committees.
At ST, the strategy focuses on the systematic development of quality within the faculty’s most important areas of activity: research, education, talent development, public sector consultancy and business collaboration. The strategy work has involved all departments and major centres, and strategies and action plans are now in place at all levels.
On 8 and 9 December, two free courses will be held on how to submit Horizon 2020 proposals. The Committee for Research and External Cooperation has invited a leading expert in the field, Dr Sean McCarthy, who is well known as a charismatic and engaging speaker.
Sean McCarthy will hold the following two courses: ‘How to write a competitive proposal for Horizon 2020’ and ‘How to write the Impact of a Horizon 2020 proposal’.
The deadline for registration is 30 November.
On Thursday 2 November, Aarhus University hosted ‘Industry 4.0’, an international conference organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the Ministry of Higher Education and Science.
The conference brought together more than 500 business executives and sector experts within digitisation and business opportunities in the global growth markets. Dean at Science and Technology Niels-Christian Nielsen opened the conference together with Danish Minister for Higher Education and Science Ulla Tørnæs.
The Senior Management Team publishes a newsletter every week. This newsletter includes a brief description of current activities and discussions. You can sign up for the Danish version of the newsletter at http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve, after which you will receive an e-mail whenever the newsletter is issued.
If you would like to subscribe to the English version of News from the Senior Management Team, please go to http://info.au.dk/medarbbreve/index.asp?sprog=en. The English version of News from the Senior Management Team is available at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/.
You can read previous editions of News from the Senior Management Team at http://www.au.dk/en/about/uni/seniormanagement/newsletter/2015.