MIT-Denmark Program Overview

M I T- D E N M A R K PROGRAM OVERVIEW

OUR PARTNERS Host Locations

STUDENT INTERNSHIPS About MIT-Denmark Known as the happiest country in the world, Denmark is a country where members of the MIT community can discover a new way of thinking. This program brings together the greatest minds of MIT with Danish innovators in the fields of life science, sustainability, and technology, among others.

Companies and research institutions have the opportunity to host MIT students as interns across industries, regions, and organization size. Popular fields of interest include the “techs” (gametech, healthtech, cleantech, foodtech, etc.), IT, consulting, design, sustainability, and engineering.

Students are matched with host based on the interests and needs of both parties. The aim is to provide MIT students with a unique insight into Denmark and Danish culture by contributing to meaningful work as an intern or researcher, as well as allow Danish companies to develop a relationship with MIT, while benefitting from a talented student intern.

About MISTI MIT International Science and Technology Initiatives (MISTI) is MIT’s pioneering international education program. Rooted in the Mens et Manus tradition, MISTI matches MIT students with tailored internship, research and teaching opportunities abroad. We also facilitate international faculty collaborations and develop partnerships with leading companies, research institutes and universities around the world.

MISTI empowers MIT students and faculty to advance knowledge and solve the world’s great challenges.

Specifically, MISTI: » Furthers MIT’s educational objectives by creating applied international learning opportunities for MIT students that increase their ability to understand and address real-world problems. » Bolsters the Institute’s research mission by promoting collaborations between MIT faculty members and their counterparts abroad. » Partners with companies, universities, research institutions, non-profit organizations, and government entities, especially those that serve as hosts and collaborators for our students and faculty, to address shared challenges. » Collaborates with partners around the Institute, serving as a vital nexus of international activity, to enable and inspire international projects and initiatives.

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Host Outcomes “We spent three lovely months with a fantastic student who did some really great work that will positively impact our activities. And we also now have a tangible connection with MIT, and that’s great for us!”—Helen Frost, Open Innovation Liaison Scientist, LEO Pharma (Article)

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“The scope of the internship was for Caleb [our MIT student] to apply his NLP capabilities in Mindpool-data enabling a more automated and advanced tool that can categorize qualitative data into themes, remarkably increasing business value for Mindpool and its clients. Caleb did exactly that and more, as he created a number of NLP algorithms (LDA, LSI, and others) in Python that can be used plug-and-play in our codebase.” —Christian Blem Charity, CTO, Mindpool (Article) “Working with MISTI interns is unlike any professional experience with interns I have ever encountered.” —Frederik Taarnhøj, Co-Founder and CEO at FaunaPhotonics

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Student Quotes “I was excited about MIT-Denmark partly because I wanted to experience Danish culture and life in Copenhagen, but primarily because of the internship. I changed my major to Mechanical Engineering because I wanted to have the knowledge to build solutions for the problems I care most about. Denmark is a leader in clean technology and I wanted to learn from the best.” —Lucy Milde ’20, Mechanical Engineering, Interned at COWI

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“[For my internship], I worked to develop an augmented reality remote support demo application for a water filtration system…I also explored how augmented reality could be utilized throughout a product’s lifetime, focusing on marketing, pre-installation, installation, operation and maintenance.” —Joshua White ’21, Aerospace Engineering, interned at Grundfos

EVENTS Part of the mission of MIT-Denmark is to connect the community of MIT with the culture and innovation of Denmark. This is accomplished through events, and there are many opportunities for Danish companies, institutions and organizations to get involved.

ON CAMPUS Host Events

Student Events MIT-Denmark also hosts several information and general recruitment events each year, in addition to detailed training sessions for students before they join their Danish internships. Pre-internship training includes health, safety and logistics as well as Danish culture, history and workplace etiquette.

Companies visiting MIT can collaborate with MIT-Denmark to develop presentation and networking events.

European Career Fair Held annually at MIT in February, the European Career Fair attracts talented candidates across industries interested in an international career. Past Danish delegations attending the ECF have been able to get tours of MIT campus, buildings and labs (including the new MIT Nano Center), receive specialized recruitment training from MIT career offices, and join networking events focused on Danish innovation.

IN DENMARK While in Denmark, students have the opportunity to join cultural activities, as well as company visits and networking events. We have also hosted receptions for both students and hosts to meet, mingle and share their experiences.

ONLINE In addition to in person events, there are many online events and activities that involve both our partners in Denmark and MIT students.

Green Campus Innovation Challenge In this virtual challenge, students from MIT and Danish universities came together to develop ideas cross-culturally to make their university campus more sustainable. They did this with mentorship and training from an international network of campus stakeholders, experts in academia and entrepreneurship and some of the most innovative companies in the world.

13 events within the challenge including: » Opening remarks from the Acting U.S. Ambassador to Denmark » Design & Ideation for Beginners hosted by MIT Design for America and MIT Professor of Mechanical Engineering Maria Yang » Company presentation and cooking demonstration with Danish startup Too Good to Go » Pitching Workshop hosted by the Confederation of Danish Industry - Pitching Sustainable Business Cases Read more about the Green Campus Innovation Challenge on MIT News: “MIT and Danish university students unite to envision a more sustainable future.”

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Since 2018, MIT-Denmark events have been attended by more than 500 MIT students Energy Course MISTI Career Connections: Energy launched in 2020 as a pilot and will be a forcredit course starting in fall 2021.It explores the green transition and energy innovation, with Denmark as a featured country.

“I’ve always loved engaging with fellow MIT students about topics of energy and sustainability as a materials science major and energy studies Minor, and I’m very glad I was able to do so as part of the MISTI Career Conversations series. Through MISTI’s excellent connections and support, I’ve been working at the Danish green industrial park startup GreenLab for the past few months, and it was exciting to be able to help share GreenLab’s vision for making an impact on industrial energy transitions and development.”

—Anthony Cheng ‘20 (Full article) Read more about this course on MIT News: “MISTI Pilots conversations in Energy.”

GET INVOLVED Why host an MIT intern?

MIT-Denmark hosts say that their organizations benefit just as much as the students do. The interns bring fresh perspectives, new knowledge and invigorating enthusiasm while contributing to project goals.

MIT Denmark students are: » Pre-selected from the top tier of MIT students (4.0 minimum GPA) » Recommended by their faculty » Skilled in the lab/work setting due to previous internships, UROPs and other hands-on MIT opportunities » Ready to hit the ground running Most students are seeking internships during their 3-month summer vacation from MIT (June-August) but opportunities exist to host students year round.

Join MIT-Denmark in Other Ways There are many ways to partner with MIT-Denmark besides hosting an intern. You can: » Attend the European Career Fair » Support faculty research collaboration between MIT and Denmark by launching a Global Seed Fund » Sponsor an MIT student to do an internship in Denmark or create a named internship fund » Start a Global Teaching Labs program in Denmark, in which MIT students teach STEM subjects and facilitate workshops for secondary school students » Invite MIT students interning in Denmark during the summer for a company tour or site visit

Read About Us in the Media Expectations from Hosts Hosts are expected to provide a challenging project for the student, and to oversee their progress throughout the internship. Student interns require a workspace and a supervisor, and work full time (37 hours per week). Most students are seeking internships during their 3-month summer vacation from MIT (May/June-August).

The mission of MISTI is to provide all MIT students the opportunity to intern abroad. One key element of this is ensuring the program is cost-neutral for students, meaning they receive the funds to cover their basic travel and living expenses (flight, housing, local transport, food, etc.). It costs approximately 10.000 USD (60.000 DKK) for an MIT student to do a summer internship in Denmark. We ask companies that are able (particularly large companies) to cover this amount. For startups and smaller companies, MIT-Denmark will work with you to determine how best to share these expenses.

Share a project: tinyurl.com/mitdkhost

MIT News “Cultivating Collaboration and Innovation Between MIT and Denmark.”

MISTI Radio: “Working Somewhere Between Home and Abroad.”

DI Business “Challenges of Coronavirus create possibility of virtual internships with MIT students” (in Danish) The International Denmark “Mutual Collaborations.”

CPH Post “Science-Business Round-Up: MIT-Denmark is thriving!”

Visit our website to learn more! mitdk.org