DKK 21 million for new energy technologies to boost innovation in the energy cluster

The entire Danish energy cluster will have a strengthened, neutral platform for cooperation on innovation and new energy technology. The Danish Business Promotion Board (Danmarks Erhvervsfremmebestyrelse)  allocates an additional DKK 21 million to Energy Cluster Denmark up to and including 2024.

The collaboration on new, energy technology solutions and green innovation is strengthened with a new grant of DKK 21 million to Energy Cluster Denmark towards 2024.

This is the result of the Danish Business Promotion Board distributing its investment in the cluster programme ‘Innovation Power: Danish clusters for knowledge and business’.

A total of DKK 175 million has been distributed in grants to the 13 nationwide cluster organisations. The grant to Energy Cluster Denmark is the second largest after the food cluster and underlines that energy technology is still among the most promising business and technological strengths in Denmark:

“It commits to getting a renewed and strengthened mandate from the Danish Business Promotion Board, and together with our members we must continue to create results,” says Glenda Napier, CEO of Energy Cluster Denmark:

“In the energy cluster, we have come a long way in the first stage, and now we are ready to continue working and further expand technology development within green energy and sector coupling. We do this by supporting innovation collaborations between companies and knowledge institutions – and quite simply making green technology development easier for Danish companies to participate in.”

Benefits business and climate

The activities of the energy cluster always take place in partnerships, where companies and knowledge institutions together solve the sector’s biggest technological challenges. A strengthened mandate for this work is important to Bo Svoldgaard, Senior Vice President of Vestas Wind Systems A/S:

“Energy Cluster Denmark has gathered the right people around a platform they can collaborate from, and it is to the benefit of both the business community and the green transition that this effort continues and is further consolidated,” says Bo Svoldgaard.

The energy cluster contributes to gathering and integrating knowledge into technological and commercial solutions that are implemented on a global scale, he points out:

“The collaboration in the cluster’s innovation projects makes it easier to apply new research in industry and translate this knowledge into growth and export opportunities. Many players in the energy field are global companies based in Denmark. Thus, the support for Energy Cluster Denmark benefits both the development of the business community in Denmark and is at the same time an important Danish contribution to spreading green, Danish solutions to the rest of the world for the benefit of the climate,” he says.

Strengthening SMEs and standardisation

The funds from the Business Promotion Board will, among other things, focus on spreading innovation collaborations more widely in the undergrowth of the energy supply chain. Only one in six small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) currently work with innovation, according to figures from the Danish Business Promotion Board’s business panel. Another effort is to support the spread of standardization and contribute to industrialization, which can seriously reduce costs and bring new, green forms of energy into play.

David Tveit, Director of the Danish Technological Institute, is very positive that the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs has chosen to support this particular effort under the auspices of Energy Cluster Denmark:

“Standardization is in demand among companies, but it is typically not something that the individual company has the resources to participate in and influence. It is therefore very positive that the Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs has chosen to support this area with funds so that we, as the professional experts in collaboration with Energy Cluster Denmark, can push the standardization work together with our industry contacts. For example, batteries are a growing area and at the same time an unregulated market. If we can clarify how the companies’ need for test methods, documentation and standards is, it will be of great benefit to the development of the industry,” he says.

Together with the other GTSs, the Danish Technological Institute will contribute to the implementation of a number of cluster activities that strengthen the development of common guidelines and standards in the area.

The needs of the companies are the starting point for Energy Cluster Denmark’s work, and the cluster’s chairman Peder Østermark Andreasen is pleased with a renewed mandate for this effort:

“The clusters will be the framework for innovation collaborations and networks that bind small and large companies together with knowledge and research institutions on new, innovative products and solutions created on common knowledge and competencies. But these must be solutions that someone needs. This is the only way we strengthen Denmark’s opportunities for growth and exports, and at the same time make a significant contribution to our common fight against climate change,” says Peder Østermark Andreasen.