How do leading manufacturers use AI, robotics and new production strategies to increase productivity, strengthen resilience and accelerate innovation?
- 24 nov2026
Join Danish Industrial Summit 2026 and gain concrete insights from MIT, Harvard Business School, Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, Grundfos and University of Southern Denmark that you can bring back to your own organization.
Danish Industrial Summit 2026 is curated by MADE – Manufacturing Denmark, bringing together leading companies, researchers and decision-makers to turn knowledge into industrial competitiveness.
Speed, Productivity and Resilience: The New Competitive Edge
The pace of change has become the defining challenge for industry. AI is evolving rapidly. Technologies are converging. Global markets are shifting. Competitive advantage no longer belongs only to those with the best products—it belongs to those who can adapt, decide, and innovate the fastest.
The Danish Industrial Summit 2026 explores how companies can turn speed into a strategic advantage: accelerating productivity with AI, strengthening resilience in an unpredictable world, and bringing innovations from idea to industrial impact faster than ever before.
Exclusive visit to a world-leading robotics centre
Few people have had the opportunity to experience it. At Danish Industrial Summit 2026, participants will gain exclusive access to SDU's new Center for Large Structure Production (LSP). Experience Europe's largest purpose-built robot gantry and gain first-hand insight into the technologies shaping the future production of wind turbines, ships and large industrial structures.
What you will gain
- Discover how leading manufacturers are turning speed into a competitive advantage through AI, automation and new ways of working
- Learn how to accelerate innovation—from idea to industrial implementation—using concurrent engineering and advanced production technologies
- Understand how global shifts are reshaping manufacturing, supply chains and industrial competitiveness
- Gain practical insights into building both productivity and resilience in an increasingly unpredictable world
- Experience exclusive access to one of the world's most advanced robotics facilities at SDU's Center for Large Structure Production
- Connect with leading industrial executives, researchers and policymakers shaping the future of manufacturing
Programme details and keynote speakers will be announced on an ongoing basis.
Dato
24 november 2026 kl. 10:30 - 17:00
Sted
Odense Havn A/S
Kystvejen 100
5330 Munkebo
Danmark
Sprog
English
Tilmeldingsfrist
10 november 2026
Pris
Participation is free for members of MADE. Non-members are welcome to attend. Ticket price for non-members is DKK 500 (excl. VAT). Please note that if you have signed up but fail to attend without cancelling you will be charged a no-show fee of DKK 250 (excl. VAT)
For more information please contact: Josua Ekberg Ravnholdt, Communication Advisor, Email: jekberg@made.dk, Tel.: +45 28 34 50 94
Program
Moderator: Nynne Bjerre Christensen, journalist, Moderator.dk.
10.00 Registration, coffee and networking
10.30 Welcome
Chair of MADE and Group Vice President, Group Supply Chain, Ulrich Brorson, Grundfos
Introduction to the day’s three themes: productivity, resilience and speed, along with insights into how Grundfos works to strengthen its competitiveness.
10.40 World-Leading Robotics for the Industry of the Future
Section leader and Professor, Christian Schlette, SDU Center for Large Structure Production
How can robotics strengthen the competitiveness of Danish industry? At the SDU Center for Large Structure Production (LSP), new robotic solutions are developed and tested for the production of large-scale components such as ship sections and wind turbine blades. Researchers and companies collaborate on industrial robotization and digitalization technologies.
The center is among the world’s leading facilities for large-scale automation and plays a key role in transforming cutting-edge research into practical industrial solutions that can boost productivity and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
11.10 Models of Manufacturing Innovation: U.S., Europe, China, and Beyond
Executive Director Ben Armstrong, MIT, Industrial Performance Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
How and where are the next great technologies going to be produced? Innovations in spaceflight, energy, computing, and housing all require manufacturing breakthroughs as well as scientific ones.
Startups and established companies in different regions of the world have adopted different approaches to building what’s next. In the United States, vertical integration and new vehicles for deep tech financing has emerged to target next-generation technologies.
In Europe, government interventions have aimed to accelerate manufacturing scale-up. In China, manufacturers have adopted a faster-paced experimentation that builds on the existing industrial ecosystem. Drawing on evidence across sectors and regions, Ben Armstrong will introduce multiple models of industrial innovation and discuss their tradeoffs.
11.40-12.30 Lunch and network
12.30-12.40 Transfer by bus to the SDU Center for Large Structure Production (LSP)
12.40-13.25 Experience Europe’s Largest Robot Gantry
Join an exclusive guided tour of Europe’s largest purpose-built robot gantry – a massive 30 x 20 x 10 metre robotic structure equipped with advanced KUKA robots.
The LSP facility is designed to test and demonstrate robotic technologies at a scale rarely seen in research environments. Here, large industrial components such as ship sections and wind turbine blades can be manufactured, inspected and processed with a level of precision, automation and flexibility that will help shape the future of production.
Participants will gain first-hand insight into the centre’s test facilities, ongoing development projects and the technological breakthroughs that are driving the next generation of large-scale manufacturing.
13.30-14.00 Transfer by bus back to the conference venue
14.00–14.30 AI in Industry: Where Are We Heading - and What Does It Mean for Danish Manufacturing?
TBA
14.30-15.00 Panel discussion
TBA
15.00–15.30 Global Manufacturing Trends: Why Speed Matters More Than Ever
Professor Willy Shih, Robert & Jane Cizik Professor of Management Practice, Harvard Business School
Today, competitive advantage is increasingly defined by speed. The companies that win are those that can develop, test and scale new products faster—not because they manufacture more cheaply, but because they integrate innovation and production more effectively. Concurrent engineering, close collaboration across the value chain, and rapid learning cycles are becoming decisive capabilities for industrial success.
Drawing on decades of research into manufacturing and global supply chains, Professor Willy Shih explores how China and other leading manufacturing economies have built industrial strength through speed, scale and continuous innovation. Why are companies investing more in R&D even as margins come under pressure? How are new supply chain dynamics changing global competition? And what lessons can Danish manufacturers apply to strengthen their own competitiveness?
Shih reflects on the critical link between innovation, production and competitiveness, highlighting where Denmark has strong positions—and what it will take to maintain them in an increasingly fast-moving industrial landscape.
15.30-15.50 Networking break with coffe and cake
15.50-16.15 Industrial Innovation Prize 2026
Which innovations have the potential to strengthen Danish manufacturing? Meet the finalists for the Industrial Innovation Prize 2026 as they present their MADE demonstration and innovation projects live on stage.
The finalists have been selected for their innovation, impact and potential – and you, the participants at Danish Industrial Summit, will decide the winner through a live vote. The winning project will be announced and celebrated on stage.
16.15-16.30 Wrap up and Closing Remarks
