Innovation, Design and consulting
I like the part of the work that happens before anyone knows what the product is: talking to the people with the problem, working out whether it is worth solving, and building the case that convinces an organisation to act. I have done this inside a multinational manufacturer, inside a venture in the DTU Skylab incubator, for a museum client, and as a facilitator coaching other teams through it.
/images/drone-immobilisation/hero.webp
Rendered concept visual: an interceptor drone approaching a target drone entangled in cord under a parachute
Biologically inspired drone immobilisation
Sole author, designed, built and ran all 109 experiments
Finding the most effective way to stop a drone, through 109 experiments
Master's thesis. Illegal drone incidents in Denmark rose from 62 in 2023 to 206 in 2024, however Danish police still have no local counter-drone tool other than a firearm, and this means that they usually decline to act, since the available response is either too slow or disproportionate to the threat. I interviewed 11 people across the Danish police, military and emergency management and mapped 373 quotes into an affinity map in order to establish what a usable tool would actually have to do, and then ran 109 experiments against a spinning propeller in order to find out what physically stops a drone without destroying it. The answer turned out to be a frayed rope, with five out of five instant stops on the rig, confirmed against a drone in free flight.
/images/ceto-innovation/hero.webp
Receiving the third-place award at DTU Green Challenge, holding the framed prize plaque
CETO Innovation
Team of 7, industry outreach, market model, customer validation and forecasting
Predictive maintenance for district heating networks
A predictive maintenance SaaS for district heating networks, taken from a course concept into the DTU Skylab incubator, with roughly 3 M DKK in annual saving for a medium-sized utility, a 320.85 M DKK addressable market and third place at DTU Green Challenge.
/images/happylight/hero.webp
Light pillar standing on grass at night, casting a warm pool of light downward and a blue zone glow upward
HappyLight
Team of 7, stakeholder mapping, interviews, data analysis
Off-grid wayfinding light for festival campsites
A three-module off-grid light pillar built from recycled zinc drainage pipe, which runs 48 hours across a 7-day festival on one charge, sets its own colour by GPS in order to match the festival's zone map, and installs by an untrained volunteer with an earth drill. This lands at 156–269 DKK per unit at 1,000 units.
/images/gea-radical-innovation/hero.webp
Presenting the innovation framework findings in a meeting room
Implementing a Radical Innovation Framework at GEA
Team of 2, everything done jointly, from the interviews to the framework
Why radical ideas stall inside a large manufacturer, and what to change
/images/brewing-experience/hero.webp
Brewing pot installation glowing with coloured light and rising mist
Brew your own beer, a multisensory museum installation
Team of 6, original idea, first prototype and all the programming
Aesthetic experience design for the National Museum of Denmark
/images/herlev-microbiology/lab.webp
Microbiology department storage room with a row of sample fridges and shelving
Cutting interruptions in a hospital microbiology lab
Team of 6, observation study, time measurements and the costed case
Observation study and costed business case at Herlev Hospital
/images/skillwalls/hero.webp
Rendered interior view of the SkillWalls honeycomb-panel partition dividing an open-plan flat
SkillWalls - a reusable room divider
Team of 6, jointly responsible for prototyping, pitching and researching
Replacing single-use plasterboard partition walls
/images/waste-sorting-bin-and-service/wireflow.webp
A wireflow diagram in Danish mapping the website's screens from the homepage through product configuration to checkout
A modular sorting bin and the service that sells it
Team of 6, ethnographic user research and the usability testing
Product and digital service designed together for 10 waste categories
/images/bike-configurator/hero.webp
Tacton configurator screen for selecting a mountain bike's gears and brakes, with live price and weight totals
Mountain bike configurator
Team of 6, process flows, class diagram, PVM engineering view
From manual quotation to a Tacton configure-to-order system
/images/bagsvaerd-lakrids/hero.webp
A brown paper-wrapped Bagsværd Lakrids salt licorice caramel bag on a table
Innovation tools for a Danish licorice maker
Sole author of the individual analysis, the group ran the investigation
Consulting analysis for Bagsværd Lakrids
/images/danfoss-dei-canada/hero.webp
Map of Canadian universities identified for the recruitment partnership: Victoria, Calgary, Alberta, Windsor, Concordia, Dalhousie and Memorial University of Newfoundland
Attracting the next generation of engineers for Danfoss
Team of 8, led the interviews and co-wrote results and literature
A DEI and recruitment study for Danfoss Region Canada
/images/sclerosis-support-chair/hero.webp
The plywood standing support prototype, an angular Z-shaped frame with a lower plate for the feet, photographed on a plain floor
A standing support for people with sclerosis
Team of 4, interviews, one of two prototypers, and usability testing
An aid that takes the load without taking the exercise
Also in this area
/images/portrait.webp
Portrait of Patrick Guldager Heen
About
I am Patrick Guldager Heen, a Product Development Engineer with an MSc in Design & Innovation from DTU. I work from the requirement to the tolerance scheme, and I test with the people who have to use the thing.