The aims and objectives of appointing business committees at all the departments and department-like centres at the Faculty of Natural Sciences are to significantly increase dialogue and collaboration with the private business sector.

There are a number of advantages in connection with increased business collaboration. These include joint research applications, new networks, sharing the research infrastructure, access to external research funds, collaboration regarding degree programmes and a contribution to solving major societal challenges.

All research groups at the Department of Chemistry have close and strong collaborative contacts with both companies and other research groups in Denmark and around the world. We work with all kinds of companies - both large and small. However, it is worth mentioning companies such as Grundfos, Vestas and LEGO as some of our partners. In addition, companies have also sprung from research at the department, for example RadiSurf and Danish Graphene.

Larger, longer-term collaborations are also part of everyday life here at the institute. For example, the department is one of three university partners in LINX - a non-profit organisation that looks to put together companies, universities and other stakeholders in materials development. You can read more about LINX here.

The Department of Chemistry and iNANO were also part of the first Open Science initiative at Aarhus University. The project was called SPOMAN and focused on materials science. The idea behind Open Science is that scientists and industry collaborate across areas to innovate and create new knowledge. This science and information is then continuously made available to everyone. In other words, it must not be patented. You can read more about the SPOMAN project here.

The the tasks of the business committees are determined locally and include:

• Setting annual targets – in collaboration with department management – for the extent and nature of business collaboration at the department or centre
• Regularly describing the department’s or centre’s positions of strength that are relevant to the business sector
• Providing access for enquiries from companies, the Dean's Office and the Faculty Secretariat regarding activities related to business collaboration
• Mapping and contributing to the initiation of collaboration with companies that can have an interest in the department’s or centre's academic profile (both major companies and SMEs)
• Providing management information to the Faculty Business Committee and the Faculty Management Team in connection with enquiries, including a brief annual report of the individual committee’s work