Two strong players in the Danish innovation ecosystem are now joining forces to attract technology investors to Copenhagen. TechBBQ, one of Scandinavia’s largest technology fairs, has entered into an agreement with Innovation District Copenhagen, which hosts one of Europe’s highest concentrations of innovation driven start-ups.
Within the innovation district, the University of Copenhagen is a key player, and on 25th August 2026 the university will host a major investor day in its iconic building, the Maersk Tower.
A significant element in an ambitious programme
TechBBQ invites investors from across the globe, and the event in Innovation District Copenhagen is a significant element of this year’s programme. This is partly because the district is home to more than 500 research based companies, and partly because some of the world’s strongest research environments in quantum technology, artificial intelligence and the life sciences are based here.
Over the past few years, some of the strongest investment cases in Denmark have come from partners in Innovation District Copenhagen. A visit with us is both an opportunity to gain insight into the advances that research is on the verge of delivering, and to meet companies with enormous, untapped potential, says Annemarie Munk Riis, CEO, Innovation District Copenhagen.
Innovation district partners attract significant amounts of Danish venture capital
Fresh figures from the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO) support this analysis. In recent years, capital investment in Danish life science start-ups has grown significantly. Biotech/life science attracted €468 million in 2025.
This accounted for 38 percent of all Danish venture capital activity, and half of these investments were made in companies with roots at the two innovation district partners University of Copenhagen (UCPH) and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). This has positioned Copenhagen as a European hub for life science.
Innovation District Copenhagen represents something truly unique in a European context: a dense concentration of world-class research, talent, and start-ups within AI, quantum technology, and life sciences.
For international investors, this is not simply a glimpse into the technologies of the future — it is an opportunity to meet the companies and research environments that could define the next generation of global growth success stories. That is why partnering with Innovation District Copen-hagen is such a natural fit for TechBBQ and our ambition to strengthen Copenhagen’s position as an international innovation hub, says Avnit Singh, CEO, TechBBQ.
Quantum tech on the rise
The share of investments within the quantum technology field has also grown considerably—from zero in 2021 to five per cent of all capital investments in Denmark in 2025. This is the same level as in the far more mature health tech sector. The two Innovation District Copenhagen partners, UCPH and DTU, host some of the world’s strongest research environments in both quantum technology and life science, and participants at the investors meet can discuss trends, opportunities and challenges for investment in emerging technologies.
Copenhagen has strong research environments, ambitious start-ups and a growing innovation dis-trict. The ambition is to create shorter distances between research, companies and the capital need-ed to bring new solutions forward. That is why collaboration with TechBBQ is important. It gives in-ternational investors more direct access to the university’s environments, where some of the solu-tions of the future are being developed. We look forward to the collaboration”: David Dreyer Lassen, Rector, University of Copenhagen and Chair, Innovation District Copenhagen board.
Shortening the journey to real societal value
One of the innovation district’s partners is the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), Denmark’s most active venture investor. In 2025 alone, EIFO financed 600 small and medium sized Danish enterprises with a total of DKK 3 billion. They also see great potential in making the innovation district more visible to foreign investors.
Denmark has world class research environments, but the distance from the laboratory to a viable business is still too great. IDC will help to shorten that journey and create real societal value by bringing together environments in AI, quantum and life science—while also making it easier to attract foreign capital and international talent to build on what we already do well”: Peder Lundquist, CEO, EIFO the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark.
Great untapped potential
The innovation district is already strong in both research and commercialisation, but the untapped promise is far greater. To realize that potential, 20 stakeholders have joined forces to expand and develop the district based on a political agreement and vision plan from 2025.
In the coming years, actors from the state, municipality, research institutions, healthcare sector, business community, finance, foundations and the innovation sector will create space for thousands of new companies, while also developing a stronger culture of innovation among the area’s research stakeholders.
The Innovation District Copenhagen partnership is:
- BioInnovation Institute (BII)
- Bispebjerg Hospital
- Københavns Kommune (City of Copenhagen)
- BYGST Danish Building and Property Agency
- Danish Industry Foundation (Industriens Fond)
- Danish Technical University (DTU)
- Freja Ejendomme
- LEO Foundation
- Lægemiddelindustriforeningen LIF
- Lundbeck Foundation
- Ministry for Higher Education and Science
- Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs
- Novo Nordisk A/S
- Novo Nordisk Foundation
- Symbion Community
- EIFO (The Export and Investment Fund of Denmark)
- University College Copenhagen (Københavns Professionshøjskole)
- University Hospital Rigshospitalet’
- University of Copenhagen
- Quantum Denmark
30.06.2026.
