About Innovation Fund Denmark

We invest in entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses that create value for Denmark and new solutions to our society’s biggest challenges.

We invest in sustainable solutions

Innovation Fund Denmark creates a framework for entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses so they can develop innovative and viable solutions to society’s challenges.

For example new climate mitigating solutions, healthier food, a more effective health care, cleaner environment, green transport, start-up journeys – and much more.

We want to create real value from our investments

It is important that the Danish society benefits as much as possible from the money Innovation Fund Denmark invests in research and investment. That is why we prioritize responsibility highly. All projects we invest in have requirements of societal engagement, transparency, education and ethics.

Compared to other investors Innovation Fund Denmark’s results do not necessarily need to be seen in share prices or end of year financial results. Innovation Fund Denmark’s results must also be evaluated on social welfare improvements, increased societal wealth, jobs, reduction of CO2 emissions, cleaner environment etc.

We are ready to take a chance

Innovation Fund Denmark is ready to take a chance in a project, even though others may not be able to see the possibilities in it. Innovation Fund Denmark was created to invest in projects with high risk – and also high potential. And we do this in an easy, simple and transparent way – with as little bureaucracy as possible.

We are all of Denmark’s investment fund

Innovation Fund Denmark was created to strengthen and foster strategic research and innovation projects in all of Denmark. That is why the Fund has offices spread all over the country in Copenhagen, Aarhus and Aalborg.

Organization
Management
Open section, Management
  • CEO: Cecilie Brøkner
  • VP Start up, SME and International: Ole Sinkjær
  • VP Missions and Partnerships: Søren Asp Mikkelsen
  • CFO: Michael Friis Lindinger
  • Head of the Executive secretariat Communication and External relations: Pernille Rype
  • Head of HR: Lene Skovsgaard
  • Head of Missions: Sidsel Hougaard
  • Head of Start up & SME: Lars Zederkof 
  • Head of International Collaboration: Aila Lonka
  • Head of Grand Solutions: Martin Søndergaard
Board of Directors
Members
Open section, Members

Anders Eldrup

Anders Eldrup

Anders Eldrup is the chairperson of the Innovation Fund. Additionally, Anders also sits on the boards of the CIP Foundation, Innargi, and Norlys Energy.

Anders Eldrup joined the Board of Directors on March 7, 2022, and has been reappointed until June 30, 2027

 

Christian H. M. Ketels 

Christian Ketels

Christian H. M. Ketels is the first vice chairperson of the Innovation Fund. Christian is an advisor to, among others, the European Commission.

Christian H. M. Ketels joined the Board of Directors on July 1, 2020, and has been reappointed until June 30, 2026.

 

Henrik Jørgen Andersen

Henrik Jørgen Andersen

Henrik Jørgen Andersen is the second vice chairperson of the Innovation Fund. Henrik is a Senior Executive R&D Advisor at Arla Foods Ingredients P/S and an adjunct professor at Aarhus University.

Henrik Jørgen Andersen joined the Board of Directors on December 1, 2019, and has been reappointed until November 30, 2025.

 

Mette Glavind

Mette Glavind, Board Member of Innovation Fund Denmark

Mette Glavind is the director of the Construction and Building division at the Danish Technological Institute. Additionally, she is the chairwoman of ForskByg and sits on the boards of We Build Denmark, Gerlev Sports Academy, Lifestyle & Design, and the Larsen and Nielsen Foundation.

Mette Glavind joined the Board of Directors on July 1, 2020, and has been reappointed until June 30, 2026.

 

Charlotte Rønhof

Charlotte Rønhof

Charlotte Rønhof is the chairwoman of the Bornholm Business Fund, chairwoman of the Council for Children's Learning, chairwoman of the ATV Science and Engineering Project, and also sits on the boards of the Danish Evaluation Institute, Madkulturen, the Kata Foundation, N. Zahle's Gymnasium, and the Heart Association.

Charlotte Rønhof joined the Board of Directors on March 7, 2022, and has been reappointed until June 30, 2027.

 

Sine Reker Hadrup

Sine Reker Hadrup, Board Member of Innovation Fund Denmark

Sine Reker Hadrup is a professor at the Department of Health Technology at the Technical University of Denmark and is a co-founder of two start-ups in life science and welfare technology.

Sine Reker Hadrup joined the Board of Directors on July 1, 2023, and has been appointed until June 30, 2026.

 

Peter Holme Jensen

Peter Holme Jensen

Peter Holme Jensen is the founder and CEO of Cambiotics. Peter Holme Jensen is also the founder and board member of Aquaporin A/S as well as a board member of Aquapoten.

Peter Holme Jensen joined the Board of Directors on June 15, 2021, and has been reappointed until June 30, 2027.

 

Philipp Schröder

Philipp Schröder, Board Member of Innovation Fund Denmark

Philipp Schröder is a professor at the Department of Economics at Aarhus University. Additionally, he is the director of the FIND Research Centre and sits on the boards of Danmarks Nationalbank and the Competition Council.

Philipp Schröder joined the Board of Directors on July 1, 2023, and has been appointed until June 30, 2026.

 

Henrik Østergaard Breitenbauch

Henrik Breitenbauch redigeret

Henrik Østergaard Breitenbauch is a researcher at both the Atlantic Council and the Center for Transatlantic Relations. He is also the dean of the Royal Danish Defence College.

Henrik Østergaard Breitenbauch joined the Board of Directors on July 1, 2024, and has been appointed until June 30, 2027.

Delegation of the Board's decision-making power
Open section, Delegation of the Board's decision-making power

Delegation of the Board's decision-making power

Innovation Fund Denmark's Board of Directors may delegate its decision-making powers to committees, the secretariat or the Ministry of Education and Research or a state authority under the Ministry as described in Chapter 2, Section 10 and Section 28, subsection 5 of the Act and in Executive Order of No. 1150 of 25 October 2017 § 11.

Read more about delegation of the board's decision-making competence in the rules of procedure for Innovation Fund Denmark (PDF)

Delegation of the board's competences is described in the board's rules of procedure §26, §27 and §28. 
Text within the red square is deleted. 

Innovation Fund Denmark's Board of Directors has delegated its decision-making power as follows:

Committees

Pursuant to section 28, subsection 5 of the Act, the Board of Directors of Innovation Fund Denmark has set up two committees under the Board of Innovation Fund Denmark:

Innovation Committee:

  • Henrik Jørgen Andersen (Chairperson)
  • Philipp Schröder
  • Peter Holme Jensen

Committee for Strategic Research:

  • Mette Glavind (Chairperson)
  • Lars Frølund
  • Charlotte Rønhof

”Fagudvalg”

Pursuant to section § 10, stk. 1, nr. 1 of the Act on Innovation Fund Denmark and Executive Order no. 1150 of 25 October 2017, § 11, stk. 1, nr. 1, the Board of Directors has decided to delegate authority to technical committees. The Board of Directors may at any time set up a maximum of 10 temporary and permanent specialised committees in total.

The Secretariat

Pursuant to section § 10, stk. 1, nr. 2 of the Act on Innovation Fund Denmark and Executive Order no. 1150 of 25 October 2017, section § 11, stk. 1, nr. 2, the Board of Directors has decided to delegate authority to the Secretariat within the following:  

Documents
Minutes from board meetings
Open section, Minutes from board meetings
Fagudvalg / Committess
"Fagudvalg" / Committees
Open section, "Fagudvalg" / Committees

"Fagudvalg”

The Board of Directors appoints temporary or permanent professional “fagudvalg” to assist the secretariat in assessing applications for grants. A maximum of 10 temporary and permanent “fagudvalg” may be set up at any one time.

Strategy
Vision, mission and investment principles
Open section, Vision, mission and investment principles

Vision
Encourages key knowledge and innovation potentials in Denmark.

Mission
Invests with high risk in research and knowledge-based innovation and entreprenuership that accelerate sustainable solutions to societal challenges and increase the global potential for growth in Danish companies. 

Investment principles:

  • Takes the early risk when the market is still hesitant.
  • Build bridges between research, companies and public authorities.
  • Invests in projects with a high level of innovation and a clear focus on outcome and sustainability. 
Documents
Legal basis and policies
Privacy policy
Open section, Privacy policy

It is paramount for Innovation Fund Denmark to protect personal information data and we apply and adhere to all current regulations and laws.

Privacy policy for Innovation Fund Denmark.

Information security policy
Open section, Information security policy
Open Access Politiy
Open section, Open Access Politiy

To create free access for all citizens, researchers and companies to all research articles from Danish research institutions financed by public authorities and/or private foundations.

Denmarks National Strategy for Open Access (PDF)

Documents
Whistleblower
Open section, Whistleblower

The Innovation Fund Denmark’s whistle blower scheme provides employees and others with connection with the Fund the possibility to report suspicion of illegal, unethical or irresponsible behavior that conflicts with the Funds regulations or values. All reports go with full anonymity to the Fund’s legal representation at Kammeradvokaten/Poul Schmith.

Report here.

Requirements for responsible research and innovation
Open section, Requirements for responsible research and innovation

RRI aims to strengthen the links between research & innovation processes and results and societal values and needs.

Innovation Fund Denmark strives to advance RRI in both its overall strategies and via its projects and the Fund adheres to the European Commission’s definition and implementation of RRI.

We have designed our investment types and evaluation criteria in such a way as to encourage projects to focus on ‘societal commitment’ and ‘research training’. To that end, projects are specifically encouraged to:

  • Involve all relevant stakeholders and institutions in the research and innovation process
  • Cultivate a keen focus on future users
  • Engage in formal and informal cross-institutional research training

By involving all relevant stakeholders in the research and innovation process projects may potentially create more sustainable and long-term results. And by making formal and informal research training an integral part of the projects, they will not only generate research and innovation results, but also train the next generation of researchers.

 

Guidelines for international research and innovation cooperation (URIS)
Open section, Guidelines for international research and innovation cooperation (URIS)

Danish and foreign intelligence shows that international research collaborations can have serious security, economic and ethical consequences. A new report and new concrete guidelines for Danish educational and research institutions emphasise that public research-funded foundations have a special responsibility to continuously consider potential risks associated with the activities they fund.

In practice, this means that the foundations have an obligation to be vigilant and actively ask relevant institutions or authorities for more information if doubts arise regarding international researchers and companies applying for and receiving Danish funding.

The new guidelines were published in May 2022 and were created after the Committee on Guidelines for International Research and Innovation Collaboration (URIS) reported on how best to safeguard Danish research against financial, security and ethical risks in international research and innovation collaboration.

Innovation Fund Denmark is implementing the URIS recommendations in the guidelines for all of its relevant programmes. This will be done when the research reserve negotiations for 2023 are finalised and all guidelines are updated for 2023.

You can find the URIS guidelines here.

Conflict of interest
Open section, Conflict of interest

Here you can read the Innovations Fund's eligibility rules, adopted by the board on June 21st 2023. They are entered into force on June 28th 2023, and thereby replace the previous eligibility rules. The document is currently only available in Danish. 

Documents
Impact and research basis
Open section, Impact and research basis

Innovation Fund Denmark was set up to create growth and employment and find solutions to society's challenges. In order to document the value of its investments, Innovation Fund Denmark has developed a framework to help identify the results and success of its projects.

The Innovation Fund's impact framework provides a framework to answer questions such as: How successful are Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) investments? Which projects should IFD invest in? And how to attract the right applicants? And it is through targeted data collection and well-designed analyses that these questions can be answered.

At the same time, the framework tool makes it possible to target data collection, visualisation and analysis so that IFD's societal impact and the path towards it can be made visible.

Documents
Guide to complaints
Open section, Guide to complaints

Appeals against decisions from the Danish Innovation Fund may not be brought before another administrative authority, cf. section 23, subsection 1, in Act no. 306 of 29 March 2014 on the Danish Innovation Fund, as last amended by Act no. 1188 of 8 June 2021 on the Danish Innovation Fund. Pursuant to section 23, subsection 2, legal matters in connection with the Fund's decisions as a grant authority may, however, be appealed to the Danish Agency for Education and Research, cf. section 13, no. 5, in Executive Order no. 1574 of 15 December 2017.

Complaints about legal matters must - cf. section 25, subsection 2 and 3 - submitted in writing to the Danish Innovation Fund, Europaplads 2, 4th floor, 8000 Aarhus C, either per. letter or email to kontakt@innofond.dk, within 4 weeks after the decision has been notified to the parties to the case, cf. section 25 of the Danish Innovation Fund Act.

When the Danish Innovation Fund receives the complaint, the Foundation must - if it wants to uphold the decision - forward the complaint, the case documents and the Foundation's statement on the matter to the Minister of Education and Research v. The Danish Agency for Education and Research.

In the event of a complaint, there may be three scenarios that may arise in the complaint process:

  • First, the Danish Innovation Fund may choose not to reopen the case. In this case, the Foundation must forward the case to the Minister of Education and Research v. The Danish Agency for Education and Research as soon as possible after receiving the complaint.
     
  • Secondly, the Foundation may choose to reopen the case and make a new decision, which is now fully upheld by the party. In this case, no further action is required.
     
  • Third, the Foundation may choose to reopen the case and make a new decision that (still) does not fully support the party. In this case, the party can choose to appeal the now new decision. In these situations, the complaint will again have to be submitted in writing to the Foundation within 4 weeks after the decision has been notified to the person in question.

 

Communication Policy
Open section, Communication Policy

Here you can read the Innovation Fund's communication policy, which is a common, overall framework for the foundation's communication. The communication policy was adopted in November 2021.

Documents
Policy on abusive behaviour
Open section, Policy on abusive behaviour
Travel regulations for committee work in the Innovation Fund Denmark
Open section, Travel regulations for committee work in the Innovation Fund Denmark

This guide has been prepared for members of the Innovation Fund's specialist committee with the aim of instructing how you, as a committee member, can be compensated for travel expenses incurred in connection with committee work.

Read the instructions here (please be adviced that the guide is in Danish).

Documents
Contact
Questions for Innovation Fund Denmark?
Open section, Questions for Innovation Fund Denmark?

You can find answers to most questions on our website.
Before contacting us by telephone, we would like you to be check the information about the relevant programme and it's guidelines.

Contact 

T: +45 61 90 50 00 

E-mail: kontakt@innofond.dk

Phone hours

General information:
Monday - Thursday: 9.00-12.00
Friday: 9.30-12.00
 

telephone hours in Innovation Fund Denmark

 

E-grant technical questions?
Contact e-grant support 
T: +45 33 92 91 90 
E-mail: Support.e-grant@ufm.dk
Weekdays: 9.00-12.00

 

If you have submitted an application or have a grant from Innovation Fund Denmark, please contact us via your case in e-grant.

Addresses
Open section, Addresses

Aarhus (HQ)
Europaplads 2, 4. sal
8000 Aarhus C

Copenhagen
Haifagade 3
2150 Nordhavn

Aalborg
NOVI 1
Niels Jernes Vej 10
9220 Aalborg

Press contact
Open section, Press contact

Press and Communication Officer, Tue Germundsson 
Phone: +45 6190 5087
Mail: tue.germundsson@innofond.dk

Press and Communication Officer, Birgitte Wulff
Phone: +45 6190 5011
Mail: birgitte.wulff@innofond.dk 

Secure email and digital mail
Open section, Secure email and digital mail

Secure email and digital mail

If your enquiry to Innovation Fund Denmark contains sensitive or confidential information, you must use secure electronic mail.

A regular email address is generally not encrypted and is therefore not secure. 

 

Send secure electronic mail via Digital Post

Via Digital Post, citizens and companies can send messages securely to Innovation Fund Denmark. It is possible to see which mailboxes you can send Digital Post to in Innovation Fund Denmark via the Digital Post address book.

Send secure electronic mail via a professional secure mail solution 
Via a professional secure mail solution, companies and authorities can send secure mail to one of the mailboxes below if they have customised their software to send secure emails. It is only possible to send securely if you encrypt the email when you send.

How we handle secure electronic mail at Innovation Fund Denmark
When you send secure electronic mail to Innovation Fund Denmark, it is received in a secure main mailbox. We make sure that the mail is forwarded securely to the relevant employee. You can make our work easier if you write who or which area the enquiry is for.

When we receive secure electronic mail, we will generally also reply via secure electronic mail.

Employees
Open section, Employees
EAN and CVR
Open section, EAN and CVR

EAN: 5798000432864

CVR: 29035695

Logo and guidelines
Download logo in different formats
Open section, Download logo in different formats
Guidelines for mentioning investments where Innovation Fund Denmark participates
Open section,  Guidelines for mentioning investments where Innovation Fund Denmark participates

When referring to projects with investment from Innovation Fund Denmark, the people involved must always ensure that it is clear that this is a project together with Innovation Fund Denmark.

The English term is: Innovation Fund Denmark

When Innovation Fund Denmark is mentioned on websites, publications, presentation plans, brochures and the like, please use the official logo.

Please refer to Innovation Fund Denmark's website with the following address: www.innovationsfonden.dk

By mention in articles, Powerpoints and other forms of documentation. Please use the following text:

Acknowledgments: «This work is partly funded by the Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) under File No. ___. "

Please use following fact box  about the fund if needed: 

Innovation Fund Denmark
Innovation Fund Denmark invests in entrepreneurs, researchers and businesses that create value for Denmark and new solutions to our society’s biggest challenges - and supports the development of new knowledge and technology creating growth and employment in Denmark.

Samarbejder
Danish Innovation Sounding Board
Open section, Danish Innovation Sounding Board

Innovationsfonden har samlet aktørerne i det danske forsknings- og innovationssystem i Danish Innovation Sounding Board. Det er sket som led i implementeringen af fondens nye strategi. Panelet skal bidrage til at sikre, at strategien er forankret i det samlede innovationssystems behov og muligheder og bane vej for at realisere det store innovationspotentiale i Danmark. Panelet mødes flere gange om året. 

Se listen over medlemmer her

Grøn projektbank
Open section, Grøn projektbank

www.grønprojektbank.dk

Grøn projektbank er et samarbejde mellem Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet og Innovationsfonden under Uddannelses- og Forskningsministeriet.

I Grøn Projektbank kan du finde alle projekter med støtte fra GUDP og MUDP samt Innovationsfondens bioressourceområde i databasen.

Grøn Projektbank blev etableret i 2019.

Virksomhedsguiden
Open section, Virksomhedsguiden

https://virksomhedsguiden.dk/erhvervsfremme/content/

Virksomhedsguiden er et digitalt redskab for virksomheder og erhvervsfremmeaktører, der samler indhold og tilbud på tværs af myndigheder og erhvervsfremmeaktører til gavn for virksomhederne.

Virksomhedsguiden samler vejledning på tværs af 16 forskellige myndigheder, de 6 nye erhvervshuse, kommunerne samt erhvervsfremmetilbud fra over 80 erhvervsfremmeaktører.

Virksomhedsguiden blev etableret i juni 2019.

Publications
Reports, evaluations and other publications
Open section, Reports, evaluations and other publications
Social Media
Follow Innovation Fund Denmark
Open section, Follow Innovation Fund Denmark