Salute e Benessere
Challenge accepted: New funding for ambitious projects within biomanufacturing, cardiometabolic diseases, and artificial intelligence
"Every year, the Novo Nordisk Foundation initiates the Challenge Programme to engage with the scientific community and encourage top-tier researchers to bring their most promising ideas to fruition with projects that are significant in both scale and vision and address societal challenges," says Lene Oddershede, Chief Scientific Officer for Planetary Science & Technology at the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Flemming Konradsen , Chief Scientific Officer for Health at the Novo Nordisk Foundation, adds: "We believe that the most effective way to address the immense challenges we face in areas such as human health and the green transition is through better research, brighter ideas and – not least – a far stronger scientific ecosystem for knowledge sharing and innovation. The Challenge Programme is one of our most important building blocks in achieving that mission."
The nine projects funded through the 2025 Challenge Programme are wide-ranging in scope, innovative in their methods and span four strategically important themes selected by the Novo Nordisk Foundation last year: 1) Heterogeneity in Biomanufacturing, 2) Ectopic Fat - meaning unwanted fat tissue in places like the heart - and Cardiometabolic Disease, 3) Interactions of Infectious Disease and CMD, and finally 4) The Novo Nordisk Foundation Grand AI Challenge.
Although the projects supported by the 2025 Challenge Programme are anchored at Danish institutions, they facilitate collaboration with researchers across the globe, including partners in Sweden , the Netherlands , Belgium , Germany , Australia , and the United States.
The nine selected projects, each funded by up to DKK 60 million, aim at achieving the following specific objectives:
Theme 1: Heterogeneity in Biomanufacturing
Theme 2: Ectopic Fat and Cardiometabolic Disease
Theme 3: Interactions of Infectious Disease and CMD
Theme 4: The Novo Nordisk Foundation Grand AI Challenge
The Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme was established in 2014. The themes for next year's Challenge Programme were announced in April 2025 . With the 2026 call, the Challenge Programme is now open to primary applicants from Europe -based research institutions, and the size of the grants has been significantly expanded.
Established in Denmark in 1924, the Novo Nordisk Foundation is an enterprise foundation with philanthropic objectives. The vision of the Foundation is to improve people's health and the sustainability of society and the planet. The Foundation's mission is to progress research and innovation in the prevention and treatment of cardiometabolic and infectious diseases as well as to advance knowledge and solutions to support a green transformation of society.
View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/challenge-accepted-new-funding-for-ambitious-projects-within-biomanufacturing-cardiometabolic-diseases-and-artificial-intelligence-302492476.html