Despite having a population of under 200,000 people, Odense, Denmark has long been one of the strongest robotics clusters worldwide. Its home to powerhouses such as Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR), OnRobot and Universal Robots, as well as one of our favorite events.
The 5th annual Odense Investor Summit takes place Dec. 9. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a limited number of attendees will be allowed to attend the event in person. But you can also watch the event live online as well as on-demand. You can register for the Odense Investor Summit here.
The event is designed in part as a matchmaking exercise between emerging startups and investors. This year’s event will feature 15 startups, 9 of which are part of the RobotUnion program, a leading pan-European accelerator program.
The Odense Investor Summit will also feature keynotes from Universal Robots president Jürgen von Hollen and Dr. Dieter Kraft, managing director at Trumpf Venture GmbH. Kraft is a former investment partner at Robert Bosch Venture Capital GmbH. von Hollen joined us on episode 3 of The Robot Report Podcast. You can listen to the interview below, starting at the 29:07 mark.
The Odense Investor Summit offers a great chance to learn why international investors have invested more than €800 million into Odense over the last five years and how the exit capital is being reinvested within the local ecosystem. Two examples of that come from Esben Østergaard, co-founder of Universal Robots, and Thomas Visti, former CEO of MiR. Universal Robots was acquired by Teradyne for in May 2015 for $350 million. Østergaard took part of the money he made from that sale and re-invested it into MiR, which three years later was acquired by Teradyne for $272 million. Østergaard recently founded accelerator platform REInvest Robotics, while Visti launched Visti Unlimited to help tech entrepreneurs in Denmark.
The Odense robotics cluster experienced tremendous growth in 2019. Robotics companies in the region increased their workforce abroad by 25% last year to 950 employees, almost double the amount of two years ago. Meanwhile, companies increased their workforce in the Danish cluster by 8% to 3,900 people total. The Odense robotics cluster includes 133 companies, 41% of which work on collaborative or mobile robots and related products.
If you want a glimpse into the current and future growth of the Odense robotics cluster, I urge to sign up for the Odense Investor Summit.
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