REIntegrate
REIntegrate: From AAU to a Large International Company
REIntegrate
REIntegrate: From AAU to a Large International Company
By Astrid Helene Mortensen og Nelly Sander, AAU Kommunikation og Public Affairs
Foto: REItegrate
The PtX plans are still moving forward in what started as a vision by then AAU professor and co-founder of the company REIntegrate, Søren Knudsen Kær. A well-functioning test plant in Southern Jutland and 400 million kroner in hand to build the next one are the near future prospects for the technology that the North Jutland spinout company REIntegrate kickstarted in collaboration with the university and a number of investors. After nearly four years, European Energy chose to acquire and integrate REIntegrate into its successful company.
Something Tangible Instead of Thick Books
Søren Knudsen Kær was a professor for over 20 years before he took the leap and started a company. To move from thought to action, he received help from Open Entrepreneurship – an organisation that works closely with universities and researchers to develop business models and support entrepreneurship.
“It was actually one project that got it started and was almost the prerequisite for everything,” says Søren Knudsen Kær, who today is the technology chief in the PtX department at European Energy.
This first activity was the Power2Met project, where they, in collaboration with AAU Energy and other partners, designed and built an electricity-to-methanol plant. The plant was built at Aalborg University and began production in 2020. And it was a particularly important step, says Søren Knudsen Kær:
“What succeeds commercially is often what can show something in reality. It is just much more convincing for investors and others that you have something tangible, rather than having done a lot of calculations and a thick report.”
“REIntegrate has not only contributed to technological innovation but also to the creation of jobs."
Creating Jobs in North Jutland
Søren Knudsen Kær is in no doubt that the collaboration with AAU at the time was crucial for REIntegrate's success in finding investors. And although the REIntegrate name no longer exists, the ideas and technologies live on in European Energy.
“REIntegrate has not only contributed to technological innovation but also to the creation of jobs. The company started with a small core of employees here in North Jutland, who developed the first concepts. After the acquisition, European Energy has continued to invest in the area and create additional jobs,” concludes Søren Knudsen Kær.