Author mfm Last saved: Last printed: 10/31/2011 11:25:00 AM SAVEDATE \* MERGEFORMAT |10-10-2011 15:47:00 PRINTDATE \* MERGEFORMAT I:\04 Afd. i Scion\Stab\4. Forretningsudvikling\Klynge Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster\Test og demonstration\Oxford rapport\Mapping the Need of Cleantech Companies for Test and Demonstration Facilities.doc Revision:

Extract from a report made for Scion DTU

Oxford Research A/S, October 2011

SUMMARY MAPPING THE NEED OF CLEANTECH COMPANIES FOR TEST AND DEMONSTRATION FACILITIES

2

Summary

It is a political vision for Denmark to be one of the leading laboratories in the world for testing and demonstrating new green technologies.1 Therefore, Scion DTU and Copenha-gen Cleantech Cluster have chosen to clarify the status of the test and demonstration facilities within the cleantech industry and point towards specific areas with room for improvement. This is carried out on the basis of the most comprehensive mapping of the need of Danish cleantech companies for test and demonstration facilities yet.2 The report is based on a survey performed among Danish cleantech companies by Oxford Research for Scion DTU and Copenhagen Cleantech Cluster.

The mapping provides a detailed picture of how cleantech companies execute tests and demonstration while it points towards a number of central areas with improvement po-tential which may help further development in the field and achieve the government's ambition to place Denmark in the forefront.

Test and demonstration are important for the companies' de-velopment

The survey shows that test and demonstration are essential for the develop-ment of Danish cleantech companies and will continue to be so for years to come. Thus, 75% of the responding companies state that they have tested and/or dem-onstrated their own cleantech products or expect to do so in the future. The importance of test and demonstration is highlighted by the fact that the companies indicate that test and demonstration of products/concepts along with product development make their highest priority for the next three months.

Consequently, access to relevant test and demonstration facilities are crucial for the de-velopment work of the Danish companies and therefore good general conditions should be highly prioritised.

New test and demonstration facilities are needed

One third of the companies responded that there is a need for test and/or demonstration facilities in Denmark.3 The responding companies are estimated to

1 http://www.ens.dk/DA-DK/NYTEKNOLOGI/GREENLABS/BAGGRUND_FOR_ORDNINGEN/Sider/Forside.aspx

² Test facilities are facilities in which companies can test a product prior to it being commercialised. These facilities could either be in-house facilities or tests carried out by other companies.

Demonstration facilities are facilities that enable the next step from the testing phase to demonstrating the product in real size and/or in interaction with other technologies under realistic operating conditions. 3 This does not include companies that responded with "do not know" to the question.

3

constitute a representative segment of all the approximately 1,300 cleantech companies in Denmark. Thus, more than 400 cleantech companies believe that Denmark lacks test and/or demonstration facilities.4 In the light of the political ambitions for Denmark to be among the leading countries in the world, this seems to be a large group.

It is in particular companies within water and wastewater (50%), sustainable materials (47%) and green/lasting energy production (47%) that believe there is a lack of test and demonstration facilities while satisfaction with the exist-ing facilities are highest within air/environment (38% believe there is a need for test and demonstration facilities) and optimisation of the energy consumption (33%). Among the relatively few companies who have stated which facilities they believe are needed, most indicate full-scale demonstration facilities.

Among the companies who believe that test and demonstration facilities are needed, 31% choose to test abroad while only 12% among the ones that do not lack test and demonstration facilities look abroad. Thus there is a connection between the companies that believe Denmark lacks test and/or demonstration facilities and the ones that choose to have their products tested abroad. As a cause for testing abroad around a quarter of the companies indicate that they have explored the market but been unable to find oth-ers who were able to perform the tests required.

Companies test differently

Danish cleantech companies apply a wide variety of test formats when testing. Moreover, the companies choose to combine different test formats rather than focusing on one exclusively. It is common practice, for instance, to form network-ing and cooperating relations with clients and other companies. Thus, 47% have used test facilities at a client's location, 45% have worked with a university or a knowl-edge institution and 43% have established test facilities with clients or other companies. Fewer choose to test abroad (34%) and purchase access to test facilities (34%).

The reason given by the companies for their choice of test formats is that it offers an opportunity to acquire new knowledge of their products, study their clients' needs and strengthen the collaboration with other companies. This signifies why knowledge sharing and creating are keywords in the test phase.

The typical Danish cleantech company combines different types of tests and demonstration when developing their products. Currently, tests of mechanical strength (37%), hardware tests (35%) and isolated tests of energy efficiency (29%) are the most commonly applied test formats while the companies believe that full-scale dem-onstration (64%), energy efficiency test interacting with other tests (55%) and durability test (45%) will be the most common formats in the future.

The companies demonstrate in cooperation with their clients and the public sector – and the demand increases

The companies choose to combine a number of demonstration formats and make a point of creating knowledge of their product by demonstrating at a

4 The response rate of the survey is about 30% and extrapolations of this character are naturally subject to some uncertainty.

4

client's location (77%). Not as many companies choose to create their own demon-stration facilities (32%), cooperate with a university/knowledge institution (32%), coop-erate with other companies (not clients) where the product is attached to the daily pro-duction (25%) and cooperate with other companies to create common demonstration facility (22%).

In comparison to other companies, it is a relatively small number of companies – who either demonstrate their product at a client's facilities or by using their own demonstration facilities – that choose to combine this demonstration format with other demonstration formats. 30% of the companies, who use their own demonstration facilities, get 81-100% of their demonstration needs covered this way, while the same is true for 25% of the companies who demonstrate using a client's facilities. The number of companies that get 81-100% of their demonstration needs cov-ered by means of the other demonstration formats is considerably lower.

The demands on test and demonstration facilities are increas-ing

The companies expect that test and demonstration during which products are included in a system with other products will play a larger role in the future (full-scale demonstration under realistic operating conditions and test of energy efficiency in interaction with other technologies). This also suggests that test and demonstration facilities are likely to become more comprehensive and complex in the future. Again, this will lead to increased expenses for building and managing such facilities.

The increased demands on test and demonstration may cause more companies, espe-cially smaller ones, to work together with others regarding their test and demonstration. The background is that products should be part of a larger system that the companies themselves often do not have access to and/or do not have financial resources to estab-lish.