The Novo Nordisk Foundation has allocated up to EUR 25M to launch the new initiative, 'Upscalator', to support Danish and European early-stage startups with facilities, services, and expertise to support that novel biosolutions reach the market and can drive the green transition. The initiative will be led by BioInnovation Institute (BII), a leading life science and deep tech innovation institute in Copenhagen.                  

Reports speak clearly: The global economic footprint of biosolutions production is expected to nearly double by 2035, reaching approximately EUR 778B , and to create more than 5 million jobs. In Denmark alone, biosolutions across sectors such as agriculture, food, and biochemicals are expected to support more than 34.000 jobs and significantly drive the green transition and the success of Danish and European biosolutions startups. 

However, there is currently a dire need for earmarked financing and tailored guidance for scaling up new solutions. While Denmark historically has a strong global position within biosolutions led by large corporates as Novonesis, Arla, and Carlsberg, startups often lack access to knowledge and facilities to successfully upscale their solutions.

“Biosolutions have been hailed as the next new Danish super sector - but if we are to fulfill our ambitions, strategic investments are needed. Thus, we are pleased that BII, with the support of the Novo Nordisk Foundation, can provide a much-needed opportunity to economically support early-stage biosolutions startups from all of Europe by providing access to facilities and expertise to scale up their solutions,” says Jens Nielsen, CEO of BII. 

He further underlines that, based on conversations with the 23 biosolutions companies that BII supported through its acceleration and company creation programs, a lack of knowledge of how to upscale and the economic ability to afford the services and expertise from Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) are mentioned as the key obstacles to bringing new biosolutions to the market. 

Fast-tracking innovations 

To address the challenges that biosolutions startups currently face, the Upscalator initiative will be based on five key components: an advisory function, a process design unit with a small-scale process lab, a network of service providers, a funding vehicle to support upscaling, and a strong community of like-minded companies. 

“Upscalator is designed to cut time to impact. By bringing funding, infrastructure, and deep biosolutions expertise together in one place, we expect that we can reduce development timelines by up to a year and help new green technologies reach the market faster, where they can make a real difference,” emphasizes Jens Nielsen. 

BII’s proven track record of supporting more than 130 startups - collectively raising over EUR 1 billion in external funding - combined with its strong biosolutions portfolio and central location in Innovation District Copenhagen, was a key reason why the Novo Nordisk Foundation selected BII to lead the Upscalator initiative. 

“The green transition depends on our ability to move promising biosolutions from early development to real-world application. BII has demonstrated a unique capability to support companies at this critical stage, and with Upscalator, we are further strengthening the European biosolutions ecosystem to enable faster scaling, real impact, and long-term value creation for society,” says Mikkel Skovborg, Vice President of Innovation, Novo Nordisk Foundation. 

To spearhead Upscalator's activities, Jette Thykær has been hired as a director and will bring extensive industry experience from Novo Nordisk and academic knowledge from her background as an Associate Professor in Fermentation Technology at DTU. 

Upscalator will run in two three-year periods from Q1 2026 to Q1 2029 and Q1 2029 to Q2 2032.