Jeppe Dørup Olesen, Head of Innovation at Aarhus University, leads The Kitchen — an incubator that has grown from a handful of cases to over 450 active startups and 350 protected technologies in five years. In this conversation, he unpacks what it takes to turn university research into companies, why early-stage risk capital remains Europe's biggest bottleneck, and how Aarhus is building an ecosystem — from an Entrepreneur in Residence program to a university-backed venture fund — to keep promising deep tech companies from moving abroad.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
(09:09) The Kitchen now supports 450 active startup cases and protects 350 technologies, a sharp jump from five years ago
(10:25) High-risk, early-stage capital — not talent or ideas — is named as Europe's real innovation bottleneck compared to the US
(23:53) The Entrepreneur in Residence program pairs commercial hires with research teams as potential co-founders; one resulting company raised a €10 million round
(26:41) Sunstones, a CO2-in-minerals startup spun out of the Department of Geoscience, is highlighted as a flagship success story now moving to demonstration scale
(30:29) Aarhus University's Research Foundation, Salling Foundations, Norlys, and Heartland jointly launched an evergreen VC fund that has closed ten pre-seed investments since opening
(47:18) A broader EU policy push — citing the Draghi report — is set to pull universities further into innovation and commercialization over the next decade
Guest Bio
Experienced Leader with a demonstrated history of working in international collaboration, Innovation, advocacy and public affairs. Skilled in International Relations, leadership, program development and Politics. Strong professional with leadership education from INSEAD, Harvard University and UC Berkeley.
Resources Mentioned
The Kitchen (Aarhus University incubator)
Aarhus University Research Foundation
PreSeed Ventures
BioInnovation Institute
Sunstones
Startup Aarhus
SMIL startup festival
Venture Connect investor meetups
The Draghi report
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