Catalogue of clusters and

innovative networks in

Denmark

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This catalogue of clusters and innovative networks presents an overview of the most significant Danish clusters and innovative networks. The clusters and networks themselves have described their scope and activities. Altogether their activities cover a wide range of areas. Shared characteristics of the clusters and networks in this catalogue are:

they aim to build knowledge bridges between companies and knowledge institution and to create innovation and growth within a group of companies with shared interests

they have a triple helix organisation, i.e. both companies, knowledge institutions and public partners/ civil society take an active part

they have a formally established organisation of the cluster and its activities with at least one fulltime equivalent and have the resources to offer services and activities to the members. The aim is a long-term, sustainable effort

they have a minimum of 20 committed participants from private companies

they must have a valid label; Bronze, Silver or Gold (or be in process) of the ECEI - European Cluster Excellence Initiative

* A cluster participant is committed if he actively contributes to the activities of the cluster through e.g. membership fees, signing of a declaration of accession /a letter of intent/a partnership agreement/etc. or participation in cluster projects. Commitment is not reflected by a registration for a newsletter or by a participation in an event.

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ENERGY ................................................................................................................................................. 5

Agro Business Park ........................................................................................................................................ 5

CLEAN ............................................................................................................................................................ 5

House of Energy ............................................................................................................................................. 5

Offshoreenergy.dk ......................................................................................................................................... 6

Danish Wind Industry Association ................................................................................................................. 6

CONSTRUCTION ..................................................................................................................................... 7

InnoBYG - The innovation network for sustainable construction ................................................................. 7

ENVIRONMENT ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Gate 21 .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

Water in Urban Areas .................................................................................................................................... 8

Network for Sustainable Business Development .......................................................................................... 8

FOOD ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

Danish Food Cluster ....................................................................................................................................... 9

Nordjysk FødevareErhverv ............................................................................................................................ 9

VIFU – Knowledge Center for Food Development ........................................................................................ 9

ICT ....................................................................................................................................................... 10

BrainsBusiness – The North Denmark ICT cluster ....................................................................................... 10

InfinIT – Innovationsnetværk for it .............................................................................................................. 10

Danish Sound - Danish Sound Innovation Network .................................................................................... 10

Animation Workshop ................................................................................................................................... 11

SERVICE ............................................................................................................................................... 12

Brandbase .................................................................................................................................................... 12

Service Cluster Denmark ............................................................................................................................. 12

EXPERIENCE ECONOMY AND TOURISM ................................................................................................. 13

Interactive Denmark .................................................................................................................................... 13

Invio - Innovation network for ExperIence Economy .................................................................................. 13

PRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND DESIGN ............................................................................................... 14

Arctic Business Network .............................................................................................................................. 14

ACRM - Arctic Cluster of Raw Materials ...................................................................................................... 14

Bigscience.dk ............................................................................................................................................... 14

Censec and Inno-PRO .................................................................................................................................. 15

DAMRC ......................................................................................................................................................... 15

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D2i – Design to Innovate ............................................................................................................................. 15

DMN - Danish Material Network ................................................................................................................. 16

The Innovation Network Lifestyle & Design Cluster .................................................................................... 16

RoboCluster ................................................................................................................................................. 16

HEALTH ................................................................................................................................................ 17

Bio Med Community .................................................................................................................................... 17

Biopeople ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

MVA - Medicon Valley Alliance ................................................................................................................... 17

MedTech Innovation ................................................................................................................................... 18

MTIC – MedTech Innovation Center ........................................................................................................... 18

Welfare Tech ............................................................................................................................................... 18

TRANSPORT ......................................................................................................................................... 19

Maritime Cluster Funen ............................................................................................................................... 19

MARCOD ...................................................................................................................................................... 19

Maritime Development Center ................................................................................................................... 19

UAS .............................................................................................................................................................. 20

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ENERGY

Agro Business Park Agro Business Park was established as a science park in 2000. Today, Agro Business Park is a cluster- and

management organisation specialising in knowledge based innovation and entrepreneurship within

agriculture, bioenergy, environmental technologies and food processing. Agro Business Park co-ordinates

large scale initiatives including the Future Food Innovation programme and the national Innovation

Network for Biomass.

More information at http://www.agropark.dk/

CLEAN CLEAN is Denmark’s leading green cluster organisation with members from the entire cleantech sector.

CLEAN is a politically and technologically neutral platform where domestic and foreign companies,

knowledge institutions and public authorities exchange knowledge and enter into new partnerships. On the

strength of its members, CLEAN is highly experienced in exporting integrated green solutions. CLEAN co-

ordinates the two national innovation networks Innovation Network for Environmental Technologies’

(Inno-MT) and Innovation Network for Smart Energy.

More information at www.cleancluster.dk

House of Energy House of Energy is an energy collaboration between five partners in North Denmark, including FleksEnergi

and Hub North. FleksEnergi is a district heating cluster, and Hub North is a network with targeted profiling

within wind energy. The objective of House of Energy is to encourage growth in the energy sector in North

Denmark through the creation of new products and solutions, growth in the number of companies and

employees and through an increase in turnover and export.

More information at http://house-of-energy.dk/

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Offshoreenergy.dk Offshoreenergy.dk is a member-based non-profit organisation with the overall purpose of gathering the

offshore sector’s players, strengthening the sector and collaborating about the challenges of the future

through a joint effort. Through development projects and networking initiatives, Offshoreenergy.dk

ensures that exchange of knowledge and experience between companies takes place that can reinforce and

make visible their competences.

More information at www.offshoreenergy.dk

Danish Wind Industry Association The Danish Wind Industry Association (DWIA) is an interest and industry association with approx. 250

members across Denmark. The Danish Wind Export Association focuses on the commercial development of

Danish wind export and coordinates all joint export activities for the Danish wind industry. Together with

the Danish Wind Export Association, members can enter the international markets and go further than it is

possible to do alone.

More information at http://www.windpower.org/en

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CONSTRUCTION

InnoBYG - The innovation network for sustainable construction InnoBYG is the innovation network of the construction industry in Denmark. InnoBYG brings the industry

together across professional competency. The network focuses on knowledge sharing, networking and

development of the industry among its members, both domestically and internationally. InnoBYG facilitates

the development of the construction industry by addressing a number of societal and technical challenges,

all of which are related to energy efficiency and sustainability in the construction industry.

More information at www.innobyg.dk

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ENVIRONMENT

Gate 21 Gate 21 is a partnership between local authorities, private companies and research institutions working

together for a sustainable society and green business development. In innovative partnerships Gate 21 and

the partners innovate ambitious solutions to local authorities’ climate and energy challenges through

public-private projects. Gate 21’s secretariat helps the group of partners with the development, financing

and management of the projects.

More information at www.gate21.dk

Water in Urban Areas The network is directed towards the challenge of adapting cities to a changed climate, and thus it operates

within the topic of energy, climate and environmental technologies. The goal is to develop, document and

present technologies and planning tools for climatic adaptation of existing urban areas in Europe, USA and

Australia, and for development of new, climatically strong cities in countries in financial and institutional

transition, such as China.

More information at www.vandibyer.dk

Network for Sustainable Business Development The aim of the network is to strengthen the participating companies' competitiveness through targeted

efforts towards environmental sustainability. The network is a private-public cooperation between two

municipalities, business centers, Aalborg University and a number of companies from Northern Denmark.

Being part of the network enables companies to share knowledge across industries about environment,

sustainability and climate.

More information at http://nben.dk/

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FOOD

Danish Food Cluster The cluster is a membership organisation for businesses, research institutions, and public authorities

working within the food and agriculture sector. The primary objective is to maximise the sector’s potential

for global growth by facilitating innovative collaboration and knowledge. Individually, the members benefit

from higher national and international visibility. Together, they are part of a specialised cluster, delivering

sustainable technology that contributes to world supplies of safe and accessible food.

More information at www.danishfoodcluster.dk

Nordjysk FødevareErhverv Nordjysk FødevareErhverv is North Jutland’s food clusters. The task of the cluster is to carry through

development projects aiming to help food related SME’s with competence development , sustainability,

growth, securing job opportunities, etc. in North Jutland. Nordjysk FødevareErhverv helps SME’s to the

build relevant relations with partners in Denmark and internationally.

More information at http://www.njfe.dk/

VIFU – Knowledge Center for Food Development Over the entire value chain – from primary produce to marketing – VIFU has focus on foods, food

development and food innovation. VIFU establishes networks, projects and collaborations between all the

relevant participants within food and food related professions. The vision is to be the preferred partner for

producers, companies and institutions in and related to the food sector when it comes to development and

growth. VIFU co-ordinates the national innovation network FoodNetwork.

More information at www.vifu.dk or www.foodnetwork.dk

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ICT

BrainsBusiness – The North Denmark ICT cluster BrainsBusiness is a dynamic, innovative cluster of cutting-edge ICT companies and a high standard of

research. The companies are innovative, have a high number of employees and make their mark with

products and technology in a class of their own. In addition, the ICT research at Aalborg University is world-

class, and the university is the largest in Denmark in terms of the number of BA and MA students working

with ICT.

More information at www.brainsbusiness.dk

InfinIT – Innovationsnetværk for it InfinIT is a Danish network for innovative utilisation of IT. The goal is to convert the infinite possibilities that

technology offers into concrete collaborations between research and industry. Therefore, InfinIT invites

researchers and enterprises working with or using IT to participate in collaboration projects and the

exchange of knowledge, thus creating a forum which generates exactly the knowledge that Danish industry

and society needs in terms of embedded systems, mobile technology, security, big data, etc.

More information at www.infinit.dk

Danish Sound - Danish Sound Innovation Network Danish Sound functions as a hub for research environments, businesses, public organisations, policy

makers and professional users. Danish Sound works through innovation projects, matchmaking,

conferences, workshops and international activities with promoting the Danish sound-ecosystem within

five areas: Recording & Reproduction, Diagnostics & Monitoring, Digital Media, Designed Sound and

Assistive Technologies.

More information at www.danishsound.org

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Animation Workshop The Animation Workshop - a part of VIA University College enjoys a strong and wide reputation due to the

top educations we provide for the international film industry, yet The Animation Workshop is much more

than a school. The Animation Workshop is an international centre of knowledge and development for

animation (and related) professions and businesses.

More information at http://www.animwork.dk/en/

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SERVICE

Brandbase Brandbase wants to improve advertisers’ notion of postmodern consumers, markets and branding – and to

expand their tool box accordingly. The network envisages that this “expansion” will happen through

dissemination of acknowledged academic insights as well as through inspirational inputs from cutting edge

advertising agencies. The network’s mission is to develop arenas where model practitioners and

researchers from leading business schools and universities can present, exchange, and develop knowledge.

More information at www.brandbase.dk

Service Cluster Denmark Service Cluster Denmark strengthens research-based service innovation by creating new possibilities for

cooperation and co-creation between enterprises, researchers and knowledge transfer institutions. Besides

from stimulating actual service innovation activities in businesses, Service Cluster Denmark strives to be a

trustworthy partner, facilitator and knowledge broker in the area of service innovation in Denmark and

throughout Europe.

More information at www.serviceplatform.dk

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EXPERIENCE ECONOMY AND TOURISM

Interactive Denmark Interactive Denmark is a non-profit organisation with a mission to accelerate, coordinate and support the

development of the Danish game and interactive cluster. Interactive Denmark works to connect industry

people, organisations and companies. Interavtive Denmark support Danish companies in identifying and

accelerating business opportunities and growing internationally. The goal of the organisation is to create

2,000 new jobs in the Danish game and interactive industries by the end of 2017.

More information at www.danishgameindustry.com

Invio - Innovation network for ExperIence Economy Invio promotes knowledge about the experience economy through new research, knowledge sharing,

matchmaking and collaboration between companies and knowledge institutions. By strengthening

companies’ ability to develop and innovate this will in turn lead to growth and job creation. The partners

behind Invio are universities and institutions, who attract and generate the latest expertise and knowledge

on the experience economy in Denmark.

More information at www.invio-net.dk

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PRODUCTION, MATERIALS AND DESIGN

Arctic Business Network Arctic Business Network is a network of companies focused on the Arctic and the North Atlantic region.

Through the network corporate arctic skills are strengthened by sharing the latest knowledge and

inspiration for new business ideas in the Arctic. The network has a special focus on Greenland. A large part

of the member companies has a longstanding commitment in Greenland. Other members are companies

that have Arctic and/or the North Atlantic region as part of their strategic plans.

More information at http://www.arcticbusinessnetwork.com/da

ACRM - Arctic Cluster of Raw Materials ACRM is a platform for companies with interests, experience, and competences within the extractive

industries. ACRM’s main purpose is to strengthen the competitiveness in Greenland and Denmark in the

industry and contribute to sustainable growth and employment in both countries. To obtain this goal,

ACRM support business cooperation, industry consortia, and business concepts. Also, ACRM provides

technology and skill enhancement for Danish and Greenland companies.

More information at www.acrm.dk

Bigscience.dk The Danish Big Science Secretariat works to promote Danish skills and know-how on the Big Science

market. Bigscience.dk coordinate a network composed of highly qualified companies able to deliver

products and services matching the needs of Big Science organizations and their prime contractors.

Bigscience.dk help organizations and European companies find relevant Danish suppliers for Big Science

bids.

More information at http://english.bigscience.dk/

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Censec and Inno-PRO CenSec is an industrial cluster and a network center with a mission to develop business networks among

small and medium-sized sub-suppliers to the defense, security and space industry and to

offer assistance regarding market knowledge, competences and education enabling companies to

participate in business networks. Censec’ vision is to be the best cluster in Europe offering business

networks which create visible, measureable and sustained results for business members.

More information at www.censec.dk

DAMRC DAMRC is a research and development center for advanced manufacturing technologies that develops and

transforms the latest knowledge into practical solutions in close collaboration with the universities for the

benefit of Danish industrial companies’ global competitiveness. The setup of the DAMRC allows the center

to benefit from the broad span of competences within the group of DAMRC-partners, which means that

DAMRC has access to a continuously expanding knowledge and competence base.

More information at www.damrc.dk

D2i – Design to Innovate At the heart of design-driven innovation, D2i brings design research and practices to businesses, public

authorities and other knowledge-based institutions that are already working with or wish to work with

design thinking and design-driven innovation. D2i is a platform for networking, development and

collaboration. The platform delivers the latest research and practices in design thinking and design

processes and at the same time carries out its own research.

More information at www.d2i.dk

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DMN - Danish Material Network DMN is specialized within aluminum, steel as well as plastic and polymer. The objective of DMN is to

strengthen the global competition of Danish companies by strengthening the industry’s awareness and

knowledge when it comes to choosing the optimum material for a given product. DMN is the link between

companies, universities, knowledge- and research institutions and DMN aims to continuously strengthening

the interaction between research, education and consultancy regarding material selection.

More information at www.dmn-net.com

The Innovation Network Lifestyle & Design Cluster The purpose of the cluster is to promote growth and innovation in the home and clothing sectors and the

creative industries by identifying, communicating and acting as a repository for new knowledge and as the

link between businesses and research and knowledge institutions. The consortium consists of 15

knowledge and research institutions within homes and clothing. It pinpoints the sectors’ needs and

generates usable new knowledge, which supports and strengthens innovation in the companies.

More information at www.ldcluster.com

RoboCluster RoboCluster is a Danish innovation network for robotics and automation. The object is to maintain and

further expand the robotics sector in Denmark by generating and ensuring optimum conditions for

innovation in new as well as in existing enterprises and set robotics into action in fields as hospitals,

farming, industry, play and education. This is done by initiating technological projects between suppliers,

producers, users, universities and knowledge institutions in the field of robotics and automation.

More information at www.robocluster.dk

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HEALTH

Bio Med Community BioMed Community is a life science cluster in North Denmark. The community is a collaboration between

Aalborg University, Aalborg Hospital, the City of Aalborg the Aalborg Co-operation and more than 70

companies in the MedTech industry with more than 2,000 employees. The main objective for BioMed

Community is to foster innovation and generate growth by supporting our local entrepreneurs and

enterprises engaged in medical technology and rehab.

More information at www.biomedcom.dk

Biopeople Biopeople has an international outreach that helps Danish companies and researchers establish cross

border collaborations. Biopeople's core competences are networking, inspiration, collaboration and

knowledge sharing. The network embraces and gathers the vast majority of public and private research

within health and life science in Denmark. The network includes all relevant Danish universities, research

institutions, hospitals, industry associations and several pharma, medtech, food and biotech companies.

More information at www.biopeople.dk

MVA - Medicon Valley Alliance MVA is a non-profit membership organisation in the Danish-Swedish life science cluster Medicon Valley.

The 250 members, who together employ approximately 140.000 people, represent the region's triple helix

and include universities, hospitals, human life science business, regional governments and service

providers. MVA exists to make Medicon Valley an attractive destination for the best talent within life

science.

More information at www.mva.org

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MedTech Innovation The objective of MedTech Innovation is to create growth within the medico-technical sector in Denmark.

MedTech Innovation is focused on establishing and facilitating public-private innovation partnerships as

well as networking activities both in Denmark and internationally. MedTech Innovation strives to be the link

between the different target groups; industry, research and the health sector – and to create growth

through innovation.

More information at www.medtech-innovation.dk

MTIC – MedTech Innovation Center MTIC is a non-profit-making enterprise established with funding by Vækstforum Midtjylland. MTIC is a

commercial sparring partner for those businesses that develop, produce and sell products to the health

care system. The objective is to generate business growth, strengthen operations internally through

competence development, and assist with critical business problems, thereby ensuring that new ideas

become national and international products with a market interest.

More information at www.mtic.dk

Welfare Tech Welfare Tech operates a national cluster and is a hub for innovation and business development in

healthcare, homecare and social services. Welfare Tech is a membership organisation with members from

private industry, public organisations, and research and education institutions. The cluster operates as a

national entry point and test bed for international companies who want to enter the Danish and European

market. Welfare Tech co-ordinates the Innovation Network for Health and Welfare Tehcnology.

More information at www.welfaretech.dk

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TRANSPORT

Maritime Cluster Funen The cluster is part of Developing Fyn, which is a public business development organisation that focuses on

development of businesses based on the island Fyn in Denmark. The cluster is a professional network for

companies, universities, research- and knowledge institutions as well as players within the maritime sector.

With more than 80 members the clusters proves that it is necessary to unite the forces in order to meet the

increasing global competition.

More information at www.fynsmaritimeklynge.dk

MARCOD MARCOD is a national knowledge center that assists the Danish maritime service and equipment industry

to convert new ideas into competitive products, services and business processes. MARCOD’s vision is to be

a recognised national knowledge center that creates a commercial driving force within the maritime service

industry in Denmark. The objective of MARCOD is to support maritime businesses with the development

and sales of products and services within environmental optimisation of vessels and operations.

More information at www.marcod.dk

Maritime Development Center The Maritime Development Center is the cluster organisation for the Blue Denmark, and a network

organisation for the maritime business and stakeholders. As a cluster organisation, the Maritime

Development Center brings together authorities, knowledge institutions and all types of companies within

the maritime business. Our strength is our ability to work and collaborate across the entire industry. The

Maritime Development Center co-ordinates the Transport Innovation Network

More information at http://mdc.center/

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UAS UAS Denmark is the Danish industry cluster for UAS (unmanned aircraft systems) organisations. The cluster

is made up of more than 80 members and includes representation from all parts of the industrial supply

chain. This includes developers, Danish research institutions, and professional private and public user

organizations. The members of UAS Denmark promote UAS development and testing to expand the market

in Denmark. UAS Denmark is the door into the Danish UAS organisations and watches over the interests of

them both polically and in regards to relevant authorities.

www.uasdenmark.dk