Christian Veje Head of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Professor Christian Veje, who comes from the Centre for Energy Informatics at SDU, looks forward to strengthening industrial cooperation and drawing the strategic direction for the institute, when he takes over as head of the Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
Professor Christian Veje took up the post as new Head of Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IME) on 9 May. Thus, the new IME leader, who comes from Centre for Energy Informatics, is very familiar with the faculty.
At the same time, IME in Veje gets a leader with a background from Danfoss R&D. Industrial cooperation has always been an important and natural element in the professor’s research — something he will continue to focus on in his new position.
- Business cooperation on the research and development side goes hand in hand with IME’s opportunities to train the right engineers to meet the needs of companies, says Christian Veje.
The department, which is located both on campus in Odense and at Alsion in Sønderborg and has more than 120 employees, is undergoing rapid development backed by significant donations from companies and other collaborators.
- To me, university-industry cooperation is an important factor for societal growth. To train engineers to meet the needs of companies is and remains a core matter for TEK. Just like the interaction within research and development is extremely important, Christian Veje says.
The institute’s research ranges from foundation-creating to industry-oriented activities and covers the subject areas of mechanics, electronics, mechatronics and electrical energy technology.
IME has a very close cooperation with companies, which includes research and commercial cooperation based on the department’s research-based competencies and facilities within industrial machinery, e-mobility, hydraulics, robots and wind turbines.
These are areas in which companies in the immediate vicinity are world-leading, including growth engines in energy efficiency measures such as Danfoss and LINAK, as well as the Funen robot giants Universal Robots (UR) and Mobile Industrial Robots (MIR).
- It is excellent that we have secured such a qualified person as Christian Veje to lead IME. First, he knows industry from his time at Danfoss. Secondly, he has an in-depth knowledge of university life from his research career and his time as head of education, says Henrik Bindslev, dean of the Faculty of Engineering at SDU.
Thus, Christin Veje has extensive experience within the three pillars on which IME rests: engineering programmes at top international level, world-class research and industrial services.
- Add to that that he has great social intelligence and a leadership talent beyond the usual. He has a basic understanding of people and can see their respective talents and help develop them by setting the right framework and creating the right opportunities for them. Finally, I would like to emphasise that Christian Veje has very well-developed collaborative skills. In short, he has a base of experience and several skills that make him just the right person to lead IME, says Henrik Bindslev.
Christian Veje graduated at the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. He has been employed at SDU since 2008, where he, together with Bo Nørregaard Jørgensen, established the Centre for Energy Informatics in 2013. He has lived in Augustenborg for 17 years, but now lives in Odense with his wife. The couple have two daughters.
FACTS
Unique partnership behind IME
Besides SDU, the Bitten & Mads Clausen’s Foundation, LINAK, Region Syddanmark and Sønderborg Municipality were behind the establishment of, first, the Centre for Industrial Electronics and since the Centre for Industrial Mechanics that now are united under the department IME.
Background
A prognosis prepared by Denmark’s technological alliance, Engineer the Future, shows that Denmark will face a massive lack of highly trained technological work force in 2025.