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Partying students met start-up world

Photo by: Helene Mbaididje

A choice between sun-kissed music and insect-based snacks sounds like no competition at all, but Copenhagen Science City chose to battle the odds at the 2018 University of Copenhagen Spring Festival. Together with three Student Innovation Hubs, the innovation district representatives spent the festival presenting student start-ups and talking about entrepreneurship. By Jes Andersen.

Crickets, harbours and disabled communication

Thanks to gorgeous weather, this year’s version of the annual Spring Festival was the most successful ever with over 16,000 visitors to Universitetsparken in the heart of Copenhagen Science City. The UCPH-students and staff came for beers, peers and good cheer. Three stages presented current music. The Copenhagen Science City-pavillion presented start-ups such as the insect-based-snack producers FOODuristic, digital harbor-service providers Harba, disability communication tool Tubus One and cricket infused soft drink-producer Syngja.

350 companies in the immediate area

An innovation district is all about collaboration across traditional boundaries between companies, students, industry professionals and researchers. In Copenhagen Science City 350 innovative companies have chosen to locate in order to take advantage of the many opportunities for collaboration and the nearness to students they can hire.

Three student entrepreneurship hubs

Copenhagen Science City is home to seven innovation environments. Two of those were present for the festival. SCIENCE Innovation Hub and SUND Hub were joined by KU-PLUS, a student entrepreneurship hub for the faculties of Humanities, Law and Theology at University of Copenhagen.

Diversity as challenge

A main challenge for student entrepreneurs is to put together a team with complementary skills. Martin B. Justesen is the founder and General Manager of SUND Hub, the University of Copenhagen health incubator. He was thrilled at the opportunity to talk to students of all stripes.

“The Spring Festival is a unique opportunity to remind yourself, that the University of Copenhagen has the widest base of talent you can possibly imagine. Our three hubs house companies ranging from rehabilitation-apps to virtual-reality prayer rooms. For our teams, meeting students from all six faculties was an exceptional occasion to find new collaborators”, Martin B. Justesen, General Manager, SUND Hub, University of Copenhagen Faculty of health and Medical Sciences.