Biosolution start-ups get new scaling opportunities in district
Novel biobased solutions could be the next big business adventure for Denmark and for Europe. In agriculture, in food, in biochemicals and much more. In order to scale solutions to the global market, Innovation District Copenhagen-partner, BioInnovation Institute, will now launch a scale-up programme featuring financing, guidance, pilot production facilities, and a strong community. The initiative, “Upscalator”, is made possible by a 25 mio € (186 mio DKK) grant from the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Filling a growth-gap
Biosolutions are expected to become a major driver for the green transition, and the global market is expected to reach some 778B € and to create more than 5 million jobs by 2035. Denmark is strongly represented in the sector with corporates such as Novonesis, Arla, and Carlsberg. Start-ups, however, have trouble finding access to knowledge and facilities to successfully upscale their solutions. BioInnovation Institute (BII), is a leading life science and deep tech innovation incubator and accelerator in Copenhagen and they aim to fill this gap.
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”: Jens Nielsen, CEO, BII.
Removing key obstacles to hitting markets
BII has already supported 23 biosolutions companies through its acceleration and company creation programs. Conversations with these, show that 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 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”: Jens Nielsen, CEO, BII.
Strong track-record
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 Innovation District Copenhagen-partner 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.
Extensive industry experience
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.