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Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded grants of DKK 8.8 billion for scientific, humanitarian and social causes in 2021

The Foundation increased its grant-giving activities in 2021, awarding DKK 8.8 billion (€1.2 billion) for purposes benefitting society – around DKK 3 billion more than in 2020.

The Foundation supported a wide range of initiatives, primarily within research, education and innovation, as well as humanitarian and social purposes, awarding grants to 617 projects.

Many of the projects seek to find solutions to some of today’s societal challenges in relation to health, disease treatment and prevention, the green transition, food production and climate change.

Among the Foundation’s biggest initiatives in 2021 was the establishment of two international research centres.

A grant of DKK 2.2 billion was awarded for establishing the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW). Here, researchers in Copenhagen, Melbourne, Australia and Leiden, Netherlands will collaborate on finding new and improved stem cell-based treatments for incurable diseases.

The Foundation also awarded a grant of DKK 630 million for establishing the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO2 Research Center, based at Aarhus University. The centre will contribute to combatting climate change by paving the way for scalable technologies that can efficiently capture and recycle CO2 from the atmosphere.

In addition, the Foundation awarded a total of DKK 2.6 billion in open competition grants, based on the Foundation’s annual application rounds.

The continued increase in grant-awarding activities is enabled by the financial results of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S and successful investments made by the Foundation’s fully owned investment and holding company, Novo Holdings A/S. The better the companies perform, the more funding can be awarded by the Foundation for scientific, humanitarian and social purposes.

Grants and payouts from the Novo Nordisk Foundation, 2017–2021

The Novo Nordisk Foundation categorises its funding into grants and payouts. In 2021, the Foundation awarded total grants of nearly DKK 8.8 billion for new projects. The amounts the Foundation awards and pays out in a given year are not the same because the grants are often paid out over several years (equivalent to the duration of each project receiving a grant). The DKK 4.8 billion paid out by the Foundation in 2021 therefore covers payouts for both existing grants from previous years and new grants awarded in 2021. The graph above shows the amounts awarded and paid out over the past 5 years.

Distribution of Novo Nordisk Foundation grants in 2021

Further information

Christian Mostrup, Senior Programme Lead, Communications, +45 3067 4805, [email protected]