A funky green lighthouse on Tagensvej in Nørrebro is going to house a new and strong collaboration between the three leading universities in the capital from 2011.

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the University of Copenhagen (KU), and Copenhagen Business School (CBS) have joined hands in a unique collaboration to strengthen innovation power and entrepreneurship. The lighthouse, which will be named Copenhagen Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (CIEL), will be located on KU's North Campus and function as a power house of entrepreneurial activities in Eastern Denmark.

CIEL has received an award of DKK 5 million from the Danish National Agency for Enterprise and Construction in a competition called 'the Entrepreneurial University'. The prize was awarded on Friday 19 November as part of the annual Global Entrepreneurship Week, where the first prize of DKK 10 million went to Aarhus University. The funding for CIEL might reach a total of DKK 36 million including expected contributions from the Capital Region Growth Forum and the three universities.

- By taking advantage of the difference in the universities' competences, we aim to create the best framework for creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation through new types of coherence between research, teaching and collaboration with the business community. This will cause better factors for growth to benefit the business community in the capital region and the rest of the country, says Mette Mønsted, Vice Dean of the Copenhagen School of Entrepreneurship.

CBS President Johan Roos sees a great potential in this entrepreneurship academy.

- CIEL will be a strong platform for new initiatives within entrepreneurship combining research, education and network activities. CIEL will strengthen our relations to the business community further. But it can also be a springboard for a closer collaboration with the three universities in other fields, says Johan Roos.

- Put together, the three universities teach half of all students in Denmark. We have some of the strongest and most innovative research areas in the world, for instance within health science, biotech, entrepreneurship, marketing, innovation and the technical solutions we need. This is a potential we now have the opportunity to exploit far better.

Read more about the collaboration here