The Danish Prime Minister juggles plastic bottles and tests new waste management system during visit to BTECH

On the last day of January, the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs Brian Mikkelsen and Minister of Education Merete Riisager visited the Department of Business Development and Technology to present the Danish Government’s Strategy for Denmark’s Digital Growth. The visit also gave the ministers an insight into what the students are working with, e.g. The Internet of Things.

[Translate to English:] Foto: Fotograf Camilla Brodam

Before the press conference and the presentation of the Strategy for Denmark’s Digital Growth, the three ministers were given a guided tour of the department. Here students from the Centre for Business Development demonstrated their work giving the ministers a chance to try out the latest technology.

Hussam Mansour, a Master’s degree student in technology-based business development, showed the ministers an innovative waste management system that the Prime Minister in particular was keen to try out.

Hussam has a Bachelor’s degree in business development. He told the Prime Minister how this specific combination of IoT and waste management has the potential of making the process of emptying waste containers 40 % more efficient. By providing the containers with sensors, it will be possible to know exactly when the containers need emptying - at all times. The Prime Minister tried out the system for himself by throwing plastic bottles into the prototype and by following the screens and seeing with his own eyes how well the system works.

“It’s great to meet a young man who has an appetite for technology and the courage to start his own business. I hope and feel convinced that the Government’s strategy will help young people like Hussam, so that more people will follow his example,” the Prime Minister wrote on Facebook after his visit to the Department of Business Development and Technology.

Hussam Mansour started his company Ioteelab with his fellow student Szabolcs Nagy, who is also doing a Master’s degree in technology-based business development, but has a Bachelor’s degree in electronic design engineering.