SDU researcher starts a drone company
Postdoc Kristian Husum Laursen is taking off – thanks to the entrepreneur programme Spin-outs Denmark – from the University of Southern Denmark with the drone company CODRONE
Postdoc Kristian Husum Laursen has spent the past year working on developing a company based on his research into safe autonomous drones – drones that can fly safely without a pilot.
He has now left his research job at the university's Faculty of Engineering to become a full-time entrepreneur.
Kristian Husum Laursen received the first of SDU’s eight postdoc positions in the Spin-outs Denmark programme.
A programme run jointly by Danish universities to bring more innovative research into businesses.
- The Spin-outs Denmark programme has given us a lot. Meeting other like-minded individuals, who also come as young researchers with an entrepreneurial side and an idea to take it beyond research and start a company, explains Kristian.
- We have received great help in viewing technology more from a business perspective than a research perspective.
Together with his partner Jarl Møller Banke, he has developed a surveillance drone for ports, airports, and other places with critical infrastructure.
”As a researcher, you don’t make statements until you are sure they are correct, but as soon as you have an idea for your product, you need to get people to see its potential
For Kristian Husum Laursen, there is a shift in mindset when transitioning from researcher to entrepreneur. As a researcher, you need to come up with new ideas and have evidence to support your conclusions.
- There is a big difference. Selling an idea without having the final data… As a researcher, you don’t make statements until you are sure they are correct, but as soon as you have an idea for your product, you need to get people to see its potential, he explains.
From Researcher to Entrepreneur
Taking the plunge to learn something new is not a new experience – but it requires a Pippi Longstocking mentality.
- When you start a PhD, you are also thrown into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim, and you learn from there. It’s the same here. It’s not so much about my technical background, but there are still new skills and new things I need to learn, says the former SDU researcher.
The next step for him and CODRONE is to get their first customers on board.
About CODRONE
- Founded by Kristian Husum Laursen and his partner Jarl Møller Banke, the company sells surveillance drones that can fly without a pilot because they are attached to a docking station with a safety line.
- The surveillance drone from CODRONE is currently intended to help monitor larger areas, such as ports or airports.
- Read more at www.codrone.dk
Companies building on research
- Spin-outs Denmark is a one-year programme for junior researchers who dream of creating a company based on their own research.
- The programme is run by the eight Danish universities and is funded by the Villum Foundation.
- Spin-outs Denmark has now appointed 60 early-career researchers to translational postdoc positions.
- At the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), eight translational postdocs have been appointed.
- The researchers receive mentors from the business sector and training in areas such as business development.
- Read more at www.spinouts.dk