The COVID-19 pandemic and a number of global crises are challenging the business models of Danish SMEs in particular, and companies need to be even faster at adapting to a dynamic environment. Therefore, the project Modstandsdygtig.dk aims to equip Danish SMEs with international activities to tackle current and future scenarios such as sustainability requirements, security of supply, energy crisis and raw material shortages.

Companies' resilience and agility are increased through sparring sessions, the use of a digital dialogue tool and a guide that aims to help companies document their resilience, which has increasingly become a requirement to qualify as a supplier.

AU Herning's role
Researchers from AU Herning conduct follow-up research to adjust and improve current and future efforts in relation to the processes. This also includes quantitative studies.

"AU Herning's role is to ensure research integration in the project. We must collect good data for our research, but at the same time interact with the other project participants. We provide research-based input for the analytical frameworks that the executive consultants can use and the tools that can make the participating companies more resilient", says Professor René Chester Goduscheit, who also explains that the project fits perfectly with AU Herning's core values: "We believe that research should be put to work in the real world, where research makes a difference. As researchers, we shouldn't just sit at a distance and collect data to publish articles for our colleagues in the research community".

Project partners
The project is funded by the Danish Industry Foundation, and in addition to AU Herning, the following project partners are participating:

• Danish Technological Institute
• FORCE Technology
• The Danish Institute of Fire and Security
• The Alexandra Institute
• Danish Standards
• EDHEC Business School
• Danish Business Promotion

Read more about the project and opportunities for sparring and try the dialogue tool at www.modstandsdygtig.dk. The offer is free for private Danish companies with between 3 and 500 employees.

More information
Contact Project Manager Dorte Storper from AU Herning for more information on tel. +45 4015 7628 or email storper@btech.au.dk.