Unpack your everyday life!
It was an old dream come true in 2005 when Jørgen Mads Clausen inaugurated the Danfoss Universe experience park in the company of dignitaries such as HRH Crown Prince Frederik and HRH Crown Princess Mary.
Already in the mid-90s, the Danfoss director came up with the idea of creating a park focusing on science and technology, and in 2000 he bought the Blue Cube at the EXPO exhibition in Hannover, which would become one of the symbols of the park.
Together with his wife, Anette Clausen, who is currently chairing the Board of Danfoss Universe, he has thus been one of the driving forces behind the creation of the experience park, which is funded by the Bitten and Mads Clausen Foundation.
"The problem today is that people are not interested in science because they can''t see how things work," Jørgen Mads Clausen believes.
"Things were completely different in my childhood when I could take an alarm clock apart and see this little balance inside and understand how it could make the clock tick. Peeping inside was an eye-opening experience and when I found out how it worked, I went ''Wow!'', and then I could remember it. But who knows how a discman works? Not many, because you can''t take it apart, and if you try anyway, you''ll break it. And inside there are just these black lumps whose functions you can''t sort out anyway!
"It''s my clear belief that the fact that you can''t see how the technology functions is a real problem and one consequence is that too few engineers are being educated. That''s exactly why the park is meant to be a place where you visualise technology. We must give the young people lots of ''Aha'' and ''Wow'' experiences - that''s how you learn best. We all know the ''Wow'' feeling of suddenly understanding or being able to do something new. It really sinks in and shapes the rest of your life. Perhaps you will even want to pursue a career in science - or perhaps you make inventions of your own and start up your own business in some years'' time."
Is it a park for all the geniuses and geeks in the class?
"No, it''s for everyone - girls too. It''s not an amusement park, but it has to be interesting and therefore also fun. We have emphasised the hands-on experience that doesn''t require you to read an explanatory sign. We know that this age group will not be reading a text. They will want to buzz about and try first this and then the next attraction. It''s not like systematic education, and there''s no compulsory schooling. The idea is for them to get an appetiser that will hopefully make them want to continue exploring things back home or at school."
"We also want to make a systematic effort to attract school classes. There will be a school programme where the classes may solve specific tasks during the time they''re in the park and there will be things they can prepare for before they arrive, and projects to do later on."
Why build the park?"
Besides giving young people these 'Aha'' and 'Wow'' experiences, we are also hoping to nurture development in the local community. It is part of a tourism venture in Southern Jutland. We are looking to make it into a business with derivative effects in the local community, such as perhaps accommodation venues that may benefit financially from visitors staying overnight. Also, it should help brand Danfoss. Not just by putting up some logos in the park, but also by showing that we care about generating interest in the sciences. To my knowledge, no other industrial enterprises in the world have come up with this before."
Why is it important to generate interest in science?
"We all want to have a welfare society, but it presupposes that we have a flourishing industry sustaining our welfare. And that requires us to survive globalisation. Our products need to contain more knowledge and so we need more technologists - i.e. engineers and scientists - who can come up with these new products that are necessary to us and that we survive on. If not enough engineers are being educated, things are going in the wrong direction. We can''t live without high technology - our entire society is based on high technology."
You are chairman of the Innovation Council and you are engaged in a variety of contexts to encourage innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit. Will this also become part of Danfoss Universe?
"Right now we haven''t been able to give it the dimension of directly visualising how to start up a business. In the park, you can see how my father began his business. It''s the place where my father was born - and Danfoss, too. You can visit his office which was also his nursery, and you can see the large factories outside the park. It was all started from scratch by a man without a penny in his pocket - and it can easily be done again! This is exactly the inspiration we want to convey with the park."
"In the longer term, we have plans about what we call a 'fab lab'' where you can make a design on a computer and then press print. But your design will not be printed on paper; but come out as a plastic 3D figure. The data are sent to a 3D printer. It hardens liquid plastic using a light beam. This way you can build up a figure of hardened plastic, layer by layer. This is also called "rapid prototyping". Perhaps it takes an hour to print out a figure, but it''s much faster than if you had to do it on a bench lathe. So we envisage that young people with an idea will be able to design it on the computer and then make the product here and now. Then they have a prototype they can try to sell - and if they succeed, they can take the next step and produce it more efficiently."
"We are generally quite concerned about how to learn best and most efficiently in order to retain the knowledge for many years. It''s about creativity and about that learning should probably involve more senses, such as by working with a computer in the fab lab, working with the real physical things, by reading things and seeing something on video. All in all, this means that you may get a more intensive learning process."
Have you considered placing the park somewhere more central than Northern Als?
"We estimated at one point that we could double the number of visitors if we placed the park in Kliplev, right next to motorway E45, and this was an interesting aspect, of course. But there is only one place that can lay claim to the cradle of Danfoss, and it''s up here. If you built a copy of my father''s office in Kliplev - well, it just wouldn''t be the same. What we''ve learned from other museums is that copies and replicas fail to have the same magnetic pull as the real stuff. So it''s quite important for us to be placed here."