DI Bio

🎵 "Go west, life is peaceful there. Go west, in the open air..." 🎵 The Pet Shop Boys were right. Almost. As the ground is shifting under the Transatlantic relationship, we will still need to go west. Our future lies in continuing our sales and partnerships with other regions. Not just to boost our economy, but to deliver the global biorevolution. But... a bit more west, than what you are thinking right now. In Korea, there is strong desire to attract foreign biosolutions companies. To this effect, the Korean authorities are offering fast-tracked establishment processes, favorable tax conditions, a well-educated workforce, and a general ambition to advance biosolutions. In DI Bio, we are therefore hosting a webinar in collaboration with our DI Korea office and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, KOTRA, about the opportunities for establishing biosolutions companies in Korea. The webinar will take place on Tuesday 19 November 9.00am to 10.00am (CET). Sign up below by commenting or by DM'ing Mikael Wraae Valsted. Extra points for quoting other relevant pop musicians, when signing up. See you soon!

”Quick and dirty”… is not usually the advice you get from Danish Industry, we reckon.   A night to remember!   Our very own Mikael had the privilege of moderating an exclusive event at Kost Studio this Monday afternoon.   The aim of our mashup was to give you, founders and soon-to-be entrepreneurs, the best cards on your hand, when you are to scale your innovative food startup.   Building a food startup is complex and the normal rules of entrepreneurship do not apply, so to provide valuable guidance we had invited leading founders and investors:   💡 “Make it quick and dirty” was the advice by Gerit Tolborg of Chromologics (an accomplished entrepreneur, who has raised 13 mio. EUR, so obviously not too quick’n’dirty) – you’ll need to perform a ton of analyses and approvals, so choose your battles on what to spend your money on.   💡 ”Be bold!”, as there was no shaking on the hands of Randi Wahlsten, who is going through the decision of scaling their production by 100x. Matr Foods is going to make a mark on our Nordic cuisine, so do follow their journey.   💡 “No one wants to pay a green premium”, was the simple, but expensive advice from Bodil Sidén of Kost Capital. You’ll need to focus on changing the food system, but doing it cost-effective.   💡 “Derisk your business”, as Sara Sande of Danmarks Eksport- og Investeringsfond provided insights in how investors’ decide and evaluate. Investors are all about taking commercial risks, but you will need to derisk your technology, before you can get them onboard.   Thank you Kost Studio for hosting and providing the perfect setting. Thanks to Alex of DI Startup for being textbook wingman, and not least, thank you a TON to Helena for making the magic happen.   Let’s do this again! 🚀

📢 News announcement: World-class startup communities to be established in Denmark 📢   Denmark is spearheading the biorevolution with leading spinouts from universities and accelerators.   But… we still lack fundamental conditions to reach the full potential of these entrepreneurs. This list includes access to funding, tax codes, funding, tech transfer, more funding, and not least physical facilities.   Now we are amending that.   Present at BII today, the Minister for Business Affairs Morten Bødskov announced a joint investment agreement with a range of leading Danish foundations, including the Novo Nordisk Foundation, to fuel the establishment of new world-class communities.   The startup facilities are reserved for entrepreneurs within the biosolutions sector and other Danish positions of strengths.   The investment will ensure:   ✅ Mapping and assessing challenges in Danish incubation environments - proactive mandate for the Danish Business Authorities to deliver solutions ✅ Opening the doors for public co-payment in investments by foundations - including new pilot/demonstration facilities ✅ Paving the way for permanent incubation environments, when the foundations have de-risked the initiatives Thank you Morten Bødskov for your leadership and to the foundations for their investment. This shows that we are taking strides these days to improve the conditions of entrepreneurs, and that our government is listening when you are speaking.   And thank you Line Kloster Pedersen of Visibuilt for showing the way on how to keep improving the sector. We need entrepreneurs like you! Use your voice. Participate in the debate. Join the community of DI Bio. We are here for you. 🌱

The power of good bacteria… and the power of female founders! 💪   Hello world, meet Anja and Rikke.   For anybody not knowing them, you soon will. Anja and Rikke are traveling to all corners of Denmark and abroad with a simple, yet powerful message:   We need more bacteria. Much more in fact, as bacteria hold the key to life.   More down to earth, good bacteria are responsible for keeping us humans healthy while safeguarding a lot of our foods. Think yoghurt and cheese. Every time we remove the good bacteria from our environment with unnecessary chemistry, we give the ugly bacteria a chance to thrive.   We need to change that, and that’s why Anja and Rikke have perfected a range of household care products based on probiotics, thus boosting the good bacteria in our life, while keeping the ugly ones at bay.   Perfect, right?   But wait, just as in 1990s TV Shop, there’s more. Both of the founders are female and this showcases just how diverse the biosolutions sector is.   Female founders are leading the biorevolution, and we are honored to work close with entrepreneurs as Anja and Rikke.   The biorevolution is just getting started, so let’s get down and dirty with the bacteria. 🦠

Taking your startup from garage to global?   We are here for you. 💚   Alex here is one of our best friends at the House of Industry.   In fact, we also hope that Alex will become one of *your* best friends, if you have the ambition of taking your startup from garage to global corporation.   Together with DI Startup and Kost Studio, DI Bio is hosting a startup mashup for all innovative food entrepreneurs on Monday 4 November focusing on how you can scale up your business.   Denmark is home to one of the most innovative biosolutions communities in the world, fueled by great insights and sharp minds of academia, organizations, and entrepreneurs.   What we need to succeed is capital. Lots and lots of capital. And Danish Industry is here to show you the way.   While our event on Monday is full, do sign up for the waiting list and to receive more news – and if you need any advice on how to scale up your startup, Alex and Mikael are here to help you 1:1. https://lnkd.in/dh9qY5ub With your help, we want to take the House of Industry to the House of Startups. See you on Monday, gals and guys. 🚀

“Backpack for the first day of school” 🎒   Simple, but brilliant innovation of BioMason.   Earlier this autumn, Sofie Carsten Nielsen and Mikael Wraae Valsted had the pleasure of visiting Biomason in Jutland.   Concrete is responsible for 8 % of global CO2 emissions, and we continue to use it for construction and infrastructure, simply because we don’t have an alternative.   Our hosts are on a mission to change that.   Inspired by nature, Biomason uses biology to build calcium carbonate biocement. Enzymatic processes from microorganisms replace the need for high energy, eliminating direct emissions.   This is taking place in Bording onsite at IBF A/S (which also deserves a standing applause for embracing innovation), being the world’s first biocement factory. That is, Denmark is also here leading the biorevolution.   At the moment, BioMason can cut CO2e emissions by approx. 60 % with their technology and aiming for 80 % reductions at full-scale production, while being cost-competitive.   And the ingenuity of the technology is plainly that they have found a microorganism that sequesters carbon, receiving a backpack of nutrients to start their first day of school building the biocement.   That’s the beauty of biology. Let’s heavily invest in mimicking nature in their solutions, where they have a head start of hundreds of millions of years.   Thank you Morten and your amazing team for the tour! 🙏

VIP treatment to launch your next big innovation. Sounds nice, right? 😉   It’s your lucky day then.    The Danish government has just unveiled their initiative to make Danish production great again.    This could be a game changer in ensuring high-paying, green industrial jobs being located in Denmark, while advancing the biorevolutions. And the tools to achieve that are concretely:   ✅ Red carpet treatment for any green production in Denmark, including biosolutions   ✅ Designation of industrial zones to gain easier access to infrastructure and utilities   Simple, yet effective, right?    Then let’s do ours to support this policy change and congratulate the Minister of Business Affairs Morten Bødskov for this valuable proposal.    Yes, the government listens, and yes, your voice matters. Make it heard. DI Bio is here for you. 🌱

GEFION TO ADVANCE THE BIOREVOLUTION ... and the two kings started it all 👑 Yesterday was a massive day for the Danish biosolutions sector. As it has escaped no one's notice, the Novo Nordisk Foundation had invited CEO Jensen Huang of NVIDIA and H.M. King Frederik X to open one of the world's most powerful AI supercomputers, Gefion. At the same time, DTU Biosustain could break the news of being selected in using the supercomputer as one of the first research institutions, advancing the biorevolution. That's the power of the Danish biosolutions ecosystem - and it's massively good news for all of us. Concretely, Carlos G. Acevedo-Rocha of Biosustain is co-leading a groundbreaking project alongside Tejs Vegge from DTU Energy. Together, they will leverage Gefion’s extraordinary computing power to map enzyme dynamics and develop enzymes that can convert CO2 into sustainable fuels and chemicals—a crucial step in fighting climate change. Well done, DTU Biosustain for your ambitions and turning the AI revolution into discoveries to better the world with biology. "My friends, you bow to no one." 👏

AERBIO IS GOING TO REVOLUTIONZE FEEDS   And we’re proud to support them 👏   Today, on the cover of Børsen, Aerbio is presenting their business plans to revolutionize the production of feedstock.   Aerbio will quite simply turn CO2 and hydrogen into first feeds and later foods only by the magic of microorganisms (and some sharp minds from the world’s leading universities, of course). Yes, you read that right. In the future, CO2 will become a resource and not a waste product.   DI Bio is especially proud to support them, as they have decided to relocate from Holland and the UK to Denmark. While Denmark is in a global competition within biosolutions, we are still one of the leading hubs – and we need to keep it that way.   So how come Aerbio chose Denmark? That’s because we have:   ✅ Access to some of the sharpest minds in the world within biosolutions   ✅ A thriving community pioneered by not least DTU, University of Copenhagen, BII, and the Novo Nordisk Foundation   ✅ Competitive personal tax codes for researchers (but unfortunately, that’s a temporary solution, which we will need to look into)   Welcome to Aerbio in Denmark, and a huge congratulations to all of us for selecting the Danish hub. This shows the future solutions can be developed and produced in Denmark – but we need the government and the EU to do whatever we can to support them. Thank you Peter Rowe and Kaspar Kristiansen for letting us being part of your journey.

GRASS IS (STILL) THE NEW GOLD   And sports fans know this 😉   Denmark is the world's leader in developing grass for turf and forage. When global tournaments in soccer, tennis and golf are being held, it’s on Danish grass.   80 % of the global production of seeds is actually taking place on Danish turf (pun intended). Talk about a green revolution just before our eyes.   So what makes Denmark the perfect country for harnessing nature’s own variation?   For one, we are lucky to support a global leader as DLF with one of their research sites located in Store Heddinge, spearheading innovation.   DLF has invested massive resources in better the world with biology, for example by pioneering:   ✅ Up to 60 % reduction of nitrogen drainage with a new line of forage   ✅ Up to 40 % reduction of methane from cattle grazing on their forage   We need to support these breakthroughs, which are simply - in all their beauty - nature-based biosolutions.   Thank you Derek Bartlem, Geraldine Lin Bagger and Klaus K. Nielsen for your time and for the tour. We are still blown away by your commitment to a greener world. 🌱