It is here that entrepreneurs, businesses, climate professionals, students and government officials from across the Nordic countries are able to join Climate-KIC’s European partnership and work on innovative solutions for the cause and effects of climate change. European commissioner for climate action, Connie Hedegaard, was present at the inauguration of the centre:
"We need to start making the transition to a sustainable, low-carbon society as soon as possible. And we need innovative solutions to build this low-carbon economy. The Climate-KIC, a European platform for innovation, addressing climate change, can help us find these innovative solutions. With Denmark's strong position within clean-tech a new Nordic Centre in Denmark will contribute to development in the field of climate innovation and help create jobs and growth," said Hedegaard.
The Nordic centre will be based on DTU Lyngby Campus. Over time, it will expand to include leading relevant businesses, public authorities and universities throughout the Nordic region and possibly also the Baltic region. Denmark's first KIC centre is expected to boost Danish and Nordic developments in the field of climate innovation.
“This is a very important new initiative for Climate-KIC – enlarging our innovation base to include this key region of Europe. We are starting from a very strong base in Denmark and will progressively extend the partnership to build a truly Nordic centre. In this context, I’m delighted that we already have an excellent Swedish partner – Chalmers University of Technology – on board” said Mary Ritter, Chief Executive Officer, Climate-KIC.
Climate-KIC is a European platform for innovation, addressing climate change and the challenges it entails. This is done by means of collaboration between the three sides of the knowledge triangle: research, education and entrepreneurship. Climate-KIC was started up by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) in 2009 as one of three 'Knowledge and Innovation Communities' (KICs).
Climate-KIC now has five national CLCs and six regional centres in Europe, bringing partners together from different sectors and geographical areas. These generate specific solutions, products, courses and graduates focused directly on creating innovative solutions that can reduce environmental impacts and mitigate the consequences of climate change.
The Nordic centre consists of DTU, the University of Copenhagen, Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden), Grundfos, VELUX Group, the City of Copenhagen, COWI, Novozymes, Realdania and ROCKWOOL.
