Welcome to Aalborg!
Aalborg is a multi-faceted city - full of contrasts. A city with a lust for life and all of its pleasures. It’s also grand on a manageable scale. All the major city attractions are concentrated within easy distance. From fast-paced fun to peaceful oases. From a foaming draft beer to sublime gastronomy. From the Viking Era to the Middle Ages, to modern art.
A great many things are happening in Aalborg Municipality. We have created a municipality where growth, knowledge and welfare are top priorities. Now we have set our course toward the future. Storm P, a well-known Danish artist and humorist, once said that “nothing comes of itself alone, except fluff”. If we want change, we must act. And this is one area in which we have excelled in our city and municipality. Aalborg has gone from industrial town to modern knowledge city with a global perspective. The international perspective, in particular, has been decisive for the local development. With an original, high-quality education and research environment, higher education, with Aalborg University as its flagship, has put our university city on the world map.
Aalborg’s history
Aalborg is characterized by past eras. In and around the city, you will find relics of the past with stories to tell. The city’s roots go far back, and Lindholm Høje’s spectacular gravesite and dwellings are good examples of that. Lindholm Høje stems from the late Iron Age and Viking Era, and it is a magical and impressive sight that meets you as you stand and gaze at Lindholm Høje’s 700 or so graves and 150 stone ships distributed throughout the hills. Lindholm Høje was buried in sand in the 9th century due to heavy sand storms that ravaged the area and sent the Vikings fleeing.
Aalborg’s location at the salty fjord, Limfjorden, made the city a natural choice for a merchant town. In 1342, it became a reality, and the town quickly became one of Jutland’s (Denmark’s mainland) largest market towns. Naval officer Skipper Clement was one of Aalborg’s best known figures of the 1500s, and he initiated an uprising among peasants in the town during the civil war, The Count’s Feud, in 1534. Skipper Clement’s forces were captured in Aalborg, and the 7,000-8,000 men died in an enormous massacre. Skipper Clement was later captured, and in 1536 he was executed at Viborg’s parliament.
In the 1800s, industrialization came to Aalborg, and many factories sprouted up. The town became known for its many industrial smokestacks. The cement factory Aalborg Portland is a product of that industrialization, and in 2014 it celebrated its 125 year anniversary.
Aalborg has undergone a huge transformation, and the city is no longer only known for its industrial past. Today Aalborg is also an attractive city for youngsters and students, and a cultural gathering point for diverse cultural institutions and leisure opportunities.
Aalborg – youth and university city
Aalborg is an active youth and university city. Aalborg has a clear vision of being Denmark’s best youth city, and for that reason, youth have a high priority here. In recent years, much has been invested in Aalborg’s power of attraction, so young people come to the city to study, live and work. Turning Aalborg into an attractive university city has been an overwhelming success. The number of students has grown, and the huge boom is also reflected in the population figures, where, today, one in five residents of Aalborg Municipality is a student. In order to meet students’ housing expectations, approx. 4,500 new student housing units for youth has been and is being built in Aalborg in the period 2009-2016.
Not only Danish students choose to study in Denmark, around 2,500 international students live and study in the city. Aalborg Municipality takes care of the new students with its “Roof-over-your-head guarantee”. The housing guarantee applies to all new students seeking a place to live through a student housing organization. Aalborg Municipality has prioritized offering students the opportunity to live in attractive and centrally located youth housing. Larsen Waterfront is one of the newest constructions – a 15-storey building with 251 student flats at Aalborg Waterfront, which you will find when you stroll through the city from the ECC conference venue or your hotel to attend the welcome Reception at Musikkens Hus or the Gala Dinner of ECC 2016.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to the city of Aalborg! Please feel at home when you arrive.
Aalborg University – Your ECC16 Host
Aalborg University (AAU) has a tradition of building strong collaborative relationships. Since the University was established in 1974, our goal has been to use our platform as a global knowledge generating institution to challenge, support and develop society. It offers education and research within the fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, technical and health sciences.
AAU currently has campuses in Aalborg, Esbjerg and Copenhagen, and in all of these, our competences, study programmes and learning methods are attractive to the business community and the students.
For a number of years, the University has experienced rapid growth in education. During this period we have also succeeded in developing world-class research environments, and the research production has seen a significant increase. The increase in academic publications is unparalleled in the sector and serves to emphasize our ambitious research targets. At the same time, the level of acquired external funding is higher now than ever before. Over the past three years the university has experienced a 50% increase in earnings from the university's cooperation with external partners. In 2015 Aalborg University received external funding well above 100,000,000 Euro, which was approx. 22% of the university's total income.
Despite the fact that AAU is a fairly young university, it is already ranking amongst the best and most acknowledged international universities in the world. The great majority of ranking lists name Aalborg University, and AAU is thus in the top 2% the world's 17,000 universities.
Aalborg University awards Bachelors, Master's, Ph.D. and Doctoral degrees in various fields within the different programmes, institutes and centres. In 2013 180 students received a Ph.D. degree. More than 19.000 students are enrolled at Aalborg University. 13% of the total number of enrolled students are international students. 61,1 % are from European countries, 14,7 % from the Nordic countries and 9,4 % from Asia.
Aalborg University is an internationally oriented workplace that attracts researchers from around the world. The university has a high percentage of foreign researchers. The university has 3.362 permanent staff employed and 17 % are foreign academic staff.
AAU’s principles of problem and project based learning (PBL) are a basic formational principle which enable contemplation, independent thinking and academic development. PBL is based on a high level of disciplinary expertise, and at AAU it is the means of acquiring the highest academic level. Internationally, AAU hosts a prestigious UNESCO centre for Problem Based Learning in Engineering Science and Sustainability.
The study programmes at Aalborg University are characterized by problem-solving group-work centred on authentic projects, often solved in cooperation with the industry. Besides giving the students the chance to apply theory to real-life issues, PBL provide graduates with unique competences in teamwork and in working analytically and result oriented – competences highly valued by employers.
Research at the Faculty of Engineering and Science at AAU focuses on creating the basis for more effective, robust and sustainable solutions to central problems that will face tomorrow’s society. The largest area of action encompasses the full breadth of ICT in the fields of computer science, electronic systems including advanced controls, power electronics, manufacturing, energy, materials, robotics, bioinformatics and transport.
In addition, priority is given to the whole range of engineering fields (including material technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology) and to cross-cutting initiatives in the fields of design, social planning and conversion.
Automation & Control at Aalborg University comprises 30+ researchers. In addition to a significant output of highly cited scientific papers in the area of advanced controls, the team has an unusually elaborate record of industrial collaboration with more than 100+ industrial partners in a wide range of industrial sectors.
Conference Venue – Aalborg Congress & Culture Center
Conference Venue: Aalborg Congress & Culture Center
Venue Address: Aalborg Congress & Culture Center, Europa Plads 4, 9000 Aalborg, Denmark
The venue for the ECC16 will be the Aalborg Congress & Culture Center. Aalborg Congress & Culture Center is ideally situated in the city’s largest park right in the heart of the city. The congress center is just a 10-minute drive from Aalborg Airport. In close connection to Aalborg Congress & Culture Center, you will find Hotel Comwell Hvide Hus and adjacent to the conference center you will find First Hotel Europa.
The congress centre provides 700 parking spaces, wifi, fax, cash machine and information desks. There’s an English pub in the basement with darts and skittles and, with the park on its doorstep, you can easily pop out for a walk and a chat, go jogging or simply relax.
“Papegøjehaven,” the centre’s excellent restaurant, supplies catering. At ECC 16, we serve complimentary lunch as well as coffee during the breaks.