The Novo Nordisk Basis is infusing a startup incubator it created with further capital to strengthen innovation and entrepreneurship in Denmark and Europe.
The muse introduced Thursday it has allotted as much as 5.5 billion Danish krone (about $850 million or €736 million) to BioInnovation Institute (BII), funding that can run from 2026 to 2035. This capital will allow BII to develop into new strategic and geographic areas, supporting extra entrepreneurs and startups, the muse mentioned.
The Novo Nordisk Basis is likely to be finest generally known as the controlling stakeholder in pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, nevertheless it has a broader mission of supporting human well being. A method it executes that mission is by supporting innovation. The muse shaped BII in 2018, providing packages and funding to assist startups in life sciences and deep tech. In 2020, BII spun out from the muse as an unbiased group. Since 2018, BII says it has supported 131 startups. These corporations have gone on to boost €1 billion (about $1.16 billion) in exterior funding.
Regardless of the success of younger corporations which have acquired BII assist, the muse says Europe nonetheless lags different areas in translating discoveries into groundbreaking improvements. The extra monetary assist from the muse is meant to make sure that the BII innovation engine in Copenhagen can scale in a approach that helps Europe broadly.
With the brand new capital, BII expects to extend the variety of startups it helps every year. Life science and biotech startups will proceed to be an space of focus. However BII will even develop to new fields reminiscent of synthetic intelligence.
“We’re giving BII the chance to develop its attain and additional strengthen its place as a European powerhouse for innovation,” Novo Nordisk Basis CEO Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen mentioned in a ready assertion. “It will show instrumental in securing that much more science is translated into new corporations, jobs and options benefitting individuals and our planet — and finally driving the expansion and entrepreneurial tradition that can profit European competitiveness.”
Picture: BioInnovation Institute/Esben Zøllner Olesen
