Purpose
The Novo Nordisk Foundation wishes to make significant contributions to the sustainability of society and the environment, including research in sustainable food and biomass. Grants within Plant Science, Agriculture and Food Biotechnology support excellent fundamental research with a strategic perspective addressing the major questions and challenges within these fields. The proposed research must involve a clear element of biotechnology*, have an outlook to scaling potential(s) while contributing to productivity and sustainability.
The research projects should preferably include one or more of the following topics:
- Plants with increased productivity, resiliency, nutritional content and/or resource-use efficiency
- Development of plants for food, fibre, fuels, materials, chemicals and carbon storage
- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture
- Increased productivity and resiliency of agricultural systems
- Fundamental research within sustainable foods and food processing
- Functionality and the associated structures of food components
- Data science to advance research within plant science, agriculture, and food biotechnology
The program does not support:
- Research focusing on livestock, livestock commodities and feed.
- Research with a main component within nutritional uptake and metabolic effects of specific foods.
Proposals focusing on industrial biotechnology or environmental biotechnology should be submitted to the Novo Nordisk Foundation Committee on Industrial Biotechnology and Environmental Biotechnology, while proposals with a focus on pharmaceuticals and therapeutics should be submitted to the Novo Nordisk Foundation Committee on Bioscience and Basic Biomedicine.
*For the biotechnology requirement, the OECD short definition of biotechnology will be used as a reference for assessments. The OECD single definition of biotechnology is: the application of science and technology to living organisms, as well as parts, products and models thereof, to alter living or non-living materials for the production of knowledge, goods and services.
