DTU gets 150 million donation for new research centre

The new enterprise will focus on developing technologies that can replace fossil fuels with sustainable solutions

The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) has received a 150 million kroner donation from the Villum Foundation for a new research centre.

The Villum Centre for the Science of Sustainable Fuels and Chemicals will focus on developing breakthrough technologies that can replace the use of fossil fuels with sustainable solutions.

The centre will be part of DTU Physics in Lyngby and will be led by Professor Ib Chorkendorff.

Chance to experiment
“This grant gives us a unique opportunity to contribute to the green transformation of the global community,” Chorkendorff stated.

“We also get a rare chance to try out ideas when the risk of failing is high, but which have the potential of becoming the technological breakthroughs the world needs.”

New technologies needed
DTU’s rector, Anders Bjarklev, said major technological challenges must be addressed first before the world can go completely green.

“Although it is desirable to stop the consumption of fossil fuels today, it’s completely unrealistic,” he said.

“We still need technology that can replace fossil resources: for example,  kerosene [powers jet engines of aircraft], in chemical production, and to some extent also energy supply.”

Villum Foundation is the principal shareholder of the VKR Group, which among other things owns Velux, the Danish producer of roofs and skylights.

This is the largest ever donation the foundation has made.





  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.