Innovation Fund Denmark appoints four new role models for the Innowomen group. Together with the other members of the group, the four new Innowomen must help inspire talented women to pursue an entrepreneurial or research career and apply for funding from Innovation Fund Denmark.
In 2018, the skewed gender balance among Danish researchers and entrepreneurs led Innovation Fund Denmark to launch the Innowomen concept, which aims to highlight female role models in research and entrepreneurship.
- Diversity can be read directly on the bottom line and creates better results when the innovative solutions of the future are to be developed. When only every fourth Danish entrepreneur and every fourth Danish professor is a woman today, this means that we are missing out on ideas, innovation, growth and talent, says the Innovation Fund's director, Cecilie Brøkner.
The Innowomen group consists of female entrepreneurs and researchers who represent very different fields of expertise and professional experience.
Innovation Fund Denmark appoints four new members to the group each year. This year the four new members are:
Karin Lykke-Hartmann , professor at Aarhus University and CEO of the company Notify Therapeutics, who is researching a new treatment for women struggling to get pregnant. Karin has received two Innoexplorer grants from Innovation Fund Denmark
Jessica Aschemann-Witzel , professor and Director at the MAPP Center at Aarhus University. Jessica leads a current research project on transitioning to a more plant-based diet, less food waste and greener food production, which is co-financed by the Innovation Fund's Grand Solutions program
Sarah Hammershøy , machinist and co-founder and CEO of the company MicroChange, which develops filtration systems that can clean seawater of microplastics and surface water of nutrient salts and heavy metals. Sarah has been connected to the Innovation Foundation's entrepreneur program Innofounder.
Sofie Lindskov Hansen , quantum specialist at the company Kvantify with a Ph.D. in experimental quantum photonics from the Niels Bohr Institute and a medical physics education from Rigshospitalet. Sofie is passionate about quantum technology with a focus on application within the healthcare system.
The focus on diversity and on bringing all talents into play has been a top strategic priority in Innovation Fund Denmark for several years - including a focus on ensuring greater gender balance among researchers and entrepreneurs who apply for and receive grants from the fund's programmes.
- As a public institution and foundation, we have an obligation to support diversity in order to ensure the greatest possible quality in Danish research, innovation and entrepreneurship. That is why I am very happy that four inspiring women will help push the important agenda together with us and have agreed to act as visible role models for future researchers and entrepreneurs, says Cecilie Brøkner.
Innovation Fund Denmark brings a portrait of each of the four new Innowomen during 2023.
