Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education
13-04-26
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) is taking a new approach to international collaboration. The Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education project, in partnership with the University of Nairobi, is part of the Knowledge and Innovation Programme and strengthens DTU’s long-term strategy for university-to-university partnerships in the Global South.
By Vibeke Quaade
The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has a long history of international collaboration that reflects its mission to educate engineers capable of working both locally in Denmark and globally. Historically, most of these partnerships have been with universities in Europe, North America and parts of Asia, and they have focused on joint research projects, student and staff exchanges, and collaborative degree programmes.
Over the past decade, the university has increasingly turned its attention to institutions in Africa, South America, Central America, and Asia – the Global South.
“In the world we live in today, our students need both the knowledge and the experience to work globally and to develop solutions that function in real-world conditions in different parts of the world,” says Morten Overgaard, director of DTU’s Office of International Education.
A long-term, university-wide partnership
DTU is one of the Danish universities that successfully applied to the Knowledge and Innovation Programme in 2025 to fund its collaboration with the University of Nairobi. Their co-designed project is titled Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education and is led by Morten Overgaard.
The project aims to bridge knowledge gaps in climate innovation, entrepreneurship and education at both universities by combining DTU’s innovation ecosystem with the University of Nairobi’s reach, talent and multidisciplinary initiatives.
“The Knowledge and Innovation Programme grant enabled us to establish the kind of partnership with a Kenyan university that we had long wanted to have,” explains Morten Overgaard.
Expanding DTU’s global engagement
The Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education project fits into DTU’s broader strategy of expanding institutional collaborations in the Global South.
The university has currently agreements with around 115 institutions worldwide, including universities in India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa, and with the University of Nairobi in Kenya as the most recent addition and potential collaborations in Vietnam in the pipeline. While individual researchers and departments have collaborated with these regions for years, partnerships at university level remain relatively new.
A highly ranked university with global appeal
So far, around seven to eight percent of DTU’s institutional partnerships are with universities in the Global South, and this share is expected to grow in the coming years as part of the university’s strategy to further strengthen its global impact. However, this should not be interpreted to mean that DTU’s engagement in the Global South is driven by the need for visibility, as the university is already well positioned internationally.
In the universally recognised overall world university rankings such as QS World University Ranking and Times Higher Education World University Rankings, DTU ranks among the top one percent. In subject area rankings focusing on engineering and science, DTU is typically ranked in the top 50 universities, and in a newly introduced ranking of all European Engineering Universities, DTU has been number one for the last three consecutive years.
“As an internationally highly ranked institution, our goal is to make our students and faculty even stronger, to inspire cross-continental innovation, and to attract top global talent – all of this in order to strengthen the university as a whole,” says Morten Overgaard.
Morten Overgaard´s three tips for potential applicants of Knowledge and Innovation partnership projects
1.Institutional collaboration matters: Projects succeed when they are owned by the university as a whole.
2.Equity in partnerships is essential: Both parties must actively contribute to shaping and implementing the project, and maintain a clear understanding of the respective investments and benefits involved.
3.Student mobility is complex: Recruiting large numbers of full-degree students is challenging; short-term mobility and joint activities are often more feasible and administratively easier to handle.
Key facts about the Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education project
Project period: 2026–2030 for partnership activities and 2026-2032 for scholarship/student mobility activities.
Funding: Supported by Denmark’s Knowledge and Innovation Programme (KIP) with a total grant of DKK 31 million / EUR 4,1 million.
Scope: Covers student and faculty mobility, joint curriculum development, innovation workshops, and collaboration on climate innovation, entrepreneurship and education initiatives.
Participants: Involves students, researchers and academic staff from DTU and the University of Nairobi, leveraging DTU Skylab’s innovation ecosystem and multidisciplinary initiatives at both institutions.
Student mobility and learning in both directions
Over the next five to six years, the Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education project is expected to involve 300+ students, with mobility in both directions and a strong focus on climate innovation and entrepreneurship. The project is also expected to influence teaching at both universities.
“The students and faculty involved will bring back new ideas about innovation, sustainability, and global challenges,” Morten Overgaard says.
DTU Skylab is a highlight
A central element of the collaboration is DTU Skylab, the Danish university’s high-profile innovation hub, which is a major draw for the partnership.
Over the past 10–15 years, Skylab has developed a strong innovation ecosystem that brings together students, researchers, companies and investors, making it easier to turn ideas into real products and businesses.
“What Nairobi is particularly interested in is how to create a coherent system where innovation is systematically transformed into real solutions,” Morten Overgaard explains.
“This is exactly what DTU has done with Sky Lab, and we are sharing that experience through the Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education project.”
University-to-university collaboration
International collaboration on the scale of the Partnership for Climate Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Education requires strong commitment from the top leadership of the participating universities. For this reason, it is anchored in the central administrations and structured as a long-term, university-to-university partnership. This approach aims to establish a lasting framework for collaboration between the two universities.
