Professor Anja Boisen from DTU is one of nine members who were appointed to the Board of the Danish Innovation Fund on 25 March. In 2014, the fund will award grants totalling DKK 1.6 billion.
Establishing the Danish Innovation Fund represents the biggest reform of Denmark’s research and innovation system in the past two decades.
The Danish Innovation Fund, the foundation for strategic research, high technology and innovation, is to be an independent body within state administration. The fund is targeted at the business community, and must in particular support solutions to specific societal challenges and boost the level of research and innovation conducted by businesses.
Anja Boisen about her new board member role:
“I am looking forward to getting started. We have unique opportunities for supporting and inspiring even more collaboration between researchers and the business community–and for helping to ensure that the many great research results really take off. The fund is also a unique chance to implement many small initiatives, and to see them through all the way through the ‘food chain’ to commercialisation.”
The Danish Innovation Fund is being established on 1 April 2014, and will award grants to activities within strategic research, technology development and innovation. The fund’s budget in 2014 is almost DKK 1.6 billion.
In a press release from the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science, the Minister Sofie Carsten Nielsen says:
“I have appointed a strong and competent team that will ensure we make the most of our massive public R&D investments: The members of the Board are being given a big responsibility. They must ensure that the DKK 1.6 billion will be used in such a way that businesses and researchers can create groundbreaking research results which can solve problems facing society and create growth and new jobs in Denmark.”
The nine members of the Board are:
- Anja Boisen, Professor, DTU
- Jørgen Mads Clausen, Chairman of the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation and member of the Board of Directors of Danfoss (Chairman of the Board until 31 December 2014)
- Jens Maaløe, President and CEO of Terma (Deputy Chairman, Chairman of the Board from 1 January 2015)
- Peter Kurtzhals, Senior Vice President at Novo Nordisk
- Claus Hviid Christensen, R&D Director, Dong Energy
- Flemming Besenbacher, Professor, Aarhus University, and member of the Board of Directors of the Carlsberg Foundation
- Claus Jensen, President, Danish Metalworkers’ Union
- Peter Olesen, Chairman of the Danish Council for Strategic Research and CEO of ActiFoods (Board member until 31 December 2014)
- Conni Simonsen, Chairman of the Council for Technology and Innovation and Director of the School of Engineering, Aarhus University (Board member until 31 December 2014)