Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Danish Universities: Possible Indicators for UFS’s Data Preparedness in Research and Innovation

Together with The Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, David Budtz Pedersen has contributed to a new project on possible indicators for innovation activities in the university sector. The project was commissioned by the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science (UFS) and aims at supporting the Agency’s work in expanding the data foundation for analyses of universities’ innovation, entrepreneurship, and impact in Denmark. The project has been tasked to develop a catalogue for indicators intended to facilitate the selection of indicators that can be used for regular monitoring and impact assessments of Danish universities’ contributions to the innovation ecosystem.The report is published in 2025 and includes a review of the main findings from the literature study, highlighting relevant trends and key considerations regarding indicators of universities’ innovation efforts.

Project is led by Maria-Theresa Norn (AU), Carter Bloch (AU), Simon Fuglsang (AU), Ebbe K. Graversen (AU), and Rikke Evald Povlsen (AU). The project engaged researchers from three research environments as partners and advisors to ensure the broadest possible foundation of knowledge and expertise: Ina Drejer, Pernille Gjerløv-Juel, Kristian Nielsen, and Christian Østergaard (IKE Group, Aalborg University), David Budtz Pedersen (Humanomics, Aalborg University) and Lars Alkærsig and Jason Li-Ying (DTU Entrepreneurship, Technical University of Denmark).