By Vincent Flifli
The visit of both the Danish National Innovation Fund and the Investment Fund for Developing Countries (IFU) was done in the framework of our traveling to Copenhagen to attend course on “mixed methods” at the University of Aalborg, Copenhagen. In order to give us understanding on how innovation is promoted in Denmark and abroad we visited these two centres, before coming back to Aalborg the following day.
Innovation Fund Denmark on focus:
The Innovation Fund Denmark was established as of 1st April 2014. It brings together research, technology development and innovation grants from the Danish Council of Strategic Research, the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation and the Danish Council for Technology and Innovation into one new powerful foundation. The general aim of the fund is to support the development of knowledge and technology, including advanced technology, in order to strengthen research and innovative solutions that may benefit growth and employment in Denmark [1].
On getting to the Centre, Dr. Margrethe, the Africalics VFP coordinator at AAU who joined us in afternoon for the visit, introduced us to the project assistant of the centre who will later present thoroughly the centre to us. So, the presenter, after telling the story of the centre as regard to its creation and functions as mentioned above, emphasized that in order for it to achieve its goal, the fund invests in cutting-edge initiatives for small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) by providing risk capital for societal partnership on innovation. The innovation being an important export driver for Denmark. He also mentioned that the fund depends on research-based knowledge. Knowledge being brought into action every day at universities and within both large and small companies. The centre encourages the young scholars with good initiatives to constitute small groups to apply for start -up fund. Sometimes, it is also possible for Danish citizens to constitute their small group with a foreigner who has a good understanding of the project’s idea they are willing to implement. Later in the day we visited Investment Fund Denmark (IFU).
Investment Fund on focus:
IFU is an independent and government-owned fund that provides risk capital and advice to companies wishing to set up business in Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Europe. Investments are made on commercial terms in the form of equity and loans Denmark [2]. The purpose is to contribute to economic and social development in the investment countries.
It makes risk capital available in the form of equity, loans or guarantees for project companies in one of the 146 countries eligible for IFU investment. In addition, IFU acts as an adviser during the establishment phase and a project company’s first few years in operation, typically pulling out when the company can operate on its own.
The Head of Sustainability and Corporate Governance at IFU who presented us to the Fund, mentioned that their task is not easy given that investment is always associated with a number of risks. The risks that they often encounter in their duties are risks related to political instability (especially in African countries), and risks associated to the currency fluctuation, just to mention but a few.
Both funds visited constitute important parts of the Danish innovation system, which rank very high in world rankings. The visiting was inspiring especially that of the innovation centre since in Benin too, there a similar program that promotes entrepreneurship by focusing on incubation of young scholars finishing their degree in Universities in Benin. The particularity of the case of Denmark is that Danish citizens can even be associated with a foreigner who understands the core idea of their project. This particularity is seen for me as one of the important take-homes from this visiting.
A visit to the Amalienborg palace, residence of the Danish Monarch Queen Margrethe II
Sources: [1] https://stateofgreen.com/en/partners/innovation-fund-denmark-innovationsfonden/) [2] https://www.ifu.dk/en/office/copenhagen/