New Centre for Industrial Mechanics on its way in Sønderborg
SDU joins together with Bitten & Mads Clausen Fond, LINAK, Region of Southern Denmark and Sønderborg Municipality to establish a new Centre for Industrial Mechanics (CIM) with research, new laboratories and related engineering study programmes within the field of mechanics. The total investment amounts to more than 93 mill Danish kroner by 2030.
On 24 February, representatives from SDU and Bitten & Mads Clausen Fond, LINAK, Region of Southern Denmark and Sønderborg Municipality signed an agreement on the establishment of the Centre for Industrial Mechanics.
The centre shall contain new educations within the mechanics field on bachelor, master and PhD level as well as unique lab facilities and an international top-class research unit within mechanics.
”With the establishment of, first, the Centre for Industrial Electronics and, now, Centre for Industrial Mechanics, we got a unique possibility to cooperate with the companies just where they experience a certain need. With this initiative, SDU Sønderborg now gets research on high international level and connected educations from within electronics through mechatronics to mechanics. Now we cover the entire palette. This gives us a cohesive set of competences within precisely those area, in which regional companies are world leading, among them industrial automation, e-mobility, hydraulics, robots and windmills.
Industry clamour for engineers
Despite rising admissions on the country’s engineering study programmes during the latest years, Denmark will be facing a massive lack of highly educated technological labour in 2025 and onwards. The new centre will be established to meet this lack of engineers so that companies can maintain their production in Denmark.
With world class top research, coveted educations and industrial collaboration, CIM will strengthen the lead that Southern Denmark’s companies have on the global markets. At the same time, it will support the sustainable development that is the general focus of the companies’ efforts.
With the establishment of CIM, the state of knowledge and eco system within products such as electric cars, windmills and robots is going to be strengthened.
Success breeds success
It is not the first time that the five partners go together to establish a centre. In October last year, the Centre for Industrial Electronics (CIE) was opened. In very short time, CIE has become a lighthouse within power electronics and has demonstrated what public bodies like Region of Southern Denmark, Sønderborg Municipality and SDU can achieve in collaboration with global companies such as Danfoss and LINAK.
There are unique opportunities for synergy effects between the two centres which, among others, can help to boost the green solutions that climate change requires. With education and research, the Centre for Industrial Mechanics will support companies within the wind industry, e-mobility and energy efficiency enhancement.
It is the goal of Centre for Industrial Mechanics to build research facilities and to connect an internationally recognised research unit of 30+ staff members by 2030. By this, the centre ensures the companies’ access to research-based knowledge.
Facts
- A prognosis compiled by Danish Tech alliance, Engineer the Future, concludes that Denmark will be facing a massive lack of highly educated technological labour by 2025
- Calculations carried out by the Danish Society of Engineers, IDA, for Engineer the Future, makes it clear that 10,000 STEM candidates will be missing in 2025 (STEM: science, technology, engineering, math). Hereof, 6,500 will be BSc and MSc graduates
- Energy technology accounts for almost 18 percent of the total Danish export of goods, but companies within energy efficiency lack engineers – especially within electronics, mechatronics and mechanics. Thus, it makes sense to educate the engineers in Sønderborg, just where they are needed
- The partners contribute with a total of 93 mill kroner to the establishment of the Centre for Industrial mechanics (CIM)
- The Region of Southern Denmark’s contribution consists of looking into the possibilities and applications to external funds with the aim of financing 18,600,000 kroner via external funding.