About

DALSA will serve as a collaborative hub, providing access to state-of-the-art equipment and foster interdisciplinary projects that bridge technology development and practical application.

Proof of concept

At this stage DALSA is a poof-of-concept initiative aimed at revealing the potential value of a full-scale DALSA centre, and to explore setups for the centre's organization, e.g. access models, IPR in pre-competitive public-private collaborations.

Mission

To establish a central and open access hub for technology development and educational advancement in life science automation, serving as a test bed for the full-scale implementation of DALSA.

Background and motivation

The Danish life science sector has delivered world class performances over many years. However, a range of Industry 4.0 technologies, combining automation and digitalization, are globally sweeping across industry and society without having been fully implemented in life science. This both presents an opportunity and a risk. On the one hand, we have the opportunity to harness these new technologies for optimizing production, cutting costs, and accelerating research, development, quality assurance, and time-to-market for new products. On the other hand, if neglected, competitors will fill the gap and undermine a core industry sector in the Danish economy.

Consequently, DTU invited a range of industry partners, public institutions, and leading researchers to join forces with the purpose of creating momentum for automation and digitalization of the Danish life science sector. The result was a list of recommendations and a roadmap for research, education, research infrastructure, and framework conditions — all necessary activities for the life science sector to keep a competitive edge. Link to report

Democratizing automation

At DTU, we now hope that the DTU Arena for Life Science Automation will show the strengths and the potential for this kind of interdisciplinary initiative, paving the way for a full-scale center for Life Science Automation . The aim is to provide an open access facility that democratizes access to expensive automation equipment and the often hard to come by automation skills.