On 25 November, the Graduate School of Polymer Science, Danish Polymer Centre hosted its Annual Polymer Day, at which many students had the opportunity to present their work. The day also included a presentation from pro-rector Eva Malmström of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, in which she focused on KTH’s extensive cooperation with industry.
The students’ presentations covered a great breadth, from self-healing materials to water-based polymer lubricants and the development of the characteristics of PDSM film, made from elastic polymers, which can be used in actuators, generators and sensors. For the industry representatives who were present, there was every reason to give the students their full attention.
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| Anca G. Bejenariu giving her presentation: Soft Silicone Based Networks Applicable as Elastomeric Transducers. |
Lars Thorslund Pedersen, head consultant with the development department of Hempel A/S, which is involved in developing polymer-based marine paint, says that his lengthy cooperation with the Technical University of Denmark, DTU, has been of great importance to Hempel’s development work. In particular, he sees it as a significant advantage that DTU can work with a very long time frame and with projects that may not immediately culminate in a product on the market. And DTU’s strong focus on in-depth research makes Annual Polymer Day a particular source of inspiration for Lars Thorslund Pedersen: "Even though today’s agenda does not include anything of direct relevance to Hempel, I am here anyway because it is a good opportunity to keep up to speed with developments in polymer research. And it transpired that one of the groups was doing a lot of work with silicone, which I was not hitherto aware of. We have an entire department at Hempel that is working exclusively with silicone-based paint, so I will definitely be putting them in contact with each other," says Lars Thorslund Pedersen.
There has been close cooperation between Hempel and DTU for many years and has helped ensure that the students establish contact with the companies they will be working for after they have graduated. At the same time, this cooperation ensures that DTU’s research is relevant to society.
How can good cooperation with industry be established?
In addition to the students’ presentations, the day included a visit from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Professor and pro-rector Eva Malmström spoke of her research into modifying cellulose, which can lead to new applications. She also spoke about how for many years KTH has successfully established good relations with industry - and how today they are seeking to expand this cooperation.
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| Professor Eva Malmström giving her presentation: How can an academic institution intercat with industry? |
"We have been cooperating with industry for many years and we know that there is great interest among companies in entering into close cooperation and taking part - also at the strategic level. Therefore we have founded a Faculty for Innovative Engineering, which establishes a more formal bridge between companies and KTH, and where we seek to identify mechanisms that can motivate staff in industry to work for KTH and vice versa. At the same time, we are planning an Open Lab; a place where industry and researchers can meet and work on common problems and challenges, and in this way break down barriers between people with different backgrounds and establish a place where innovation is the starting point. Therefore we have appointed what we call a business liaison to support this cooperation with companies, foundations and alumni wishing to cooperate with KTH," says Eva Malmström.
Søren Hvilsted, professor at DTU’s Chemical Engineering department and the Danish Polymer Centre, invited Eva Malmström to Annual Polymer Day in the hope of being able to use some of the experience from KTH to expand cooperation between DTU and industry. Even though Søren Hvilsted and DTU have for many years enjoyed a close and rewarding cooperation with industry, he sees great potential in finding the "golden formula" that can ensure an even more far-reaching cooperation. Because the advantages are obvious: "Here we are all polymer chemical engineers and this is what we do best," says Søren Hvilsted. "But at the same time, it is important that we are open to going in different directions. It is very stimulating to have these cooperative ventures with industry, of which we have a great many. There is certainly no shortage of subjects that we would like to study, but it gives you a whole different feeling when you are doing something that can ultimately be used by a company and serve society. And this is our ambition. I believe that we can be better at furthering this cooperation by finding a way to render it more binding – to everyone’s advantage."
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| Professor Søren Hvilsted, Professor Eva Malmström and Lars Thorslund Pedersen (Hempel A/S). |
Presentations given at 7th Annual Polymer Day.
Below you will find the abstracts from professor Eva Malmström and all the researchers at the Danish Polymer Centre:
Professor Eva Malmström: How can an academic institution interact with industry?
Anca G. Bejenariu: Soft Silicone Based Networks Applicable as Elastomeric Transducers
Baoguang Ma: Self Healing Materials
Frederikke Bahrt: New Cross-linkers for PDMS Networks
Irakli Javakhishvili: Advanced Macromolecular architectures by controlled radical polymerizations
Ivaylo Dimitrov: Highly phosphonated block copolymers for potential fuel cell applications
Kaushal Sagar: Thiolene assisted liquid-core waveguides based on nanoporous polymer
Kaustav Goswami: Surface vs. Bulk properties and Inhibitors of PDMS films
Li Li: Production of Monodispersed Multiple Emulsions in Microfluidic Device
Lídia Gonzàlez: Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Ionic Networks Derived from Poly(Propylene Imine) Dendrimers
Liyun Yu: Adhesion between poly(dimethylsiloxane) layers for viscoelastic improvement
Nicolas J. Alvarez: The Viability and Performance of Photonic Crystal Defects Chromatography
Qian Huang: Stress Maximum and Steady Extensional Flow of Branched Polymer Melts
Rasmus Hansen: Competitive Adsorption Dynamics of Enzymes on Surfactants
Sindhu Vudayagiri: Release properties of PDMS (Polydimethyl siloxane) film
The programme is available here
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| Ph.d. students having a relaxing talk during the lunch break. |