Pioneer Innovator Grant

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Pioneer Innovator Grant Programme 2026 supports early‑stage academic research projects in health and sustainability with clear commercial and societal impact potential, offering up to DKK 1.2 million over one year per project.​

Opportunity overview

The Pioneer Innovator Grant is split into two tracks – Health and Sustainability – both aimed at accelerating the commercialisation of novel, science‑based discoveries emerging from academia. The grant funds proof‑of‑concept and related activities at a pre‑company stage, so researchers can validate and mature their ideas while keeping the project anchored in universities, hospitals or research institutions, rather than in established companies.​

The Health track supports innovative research within med‑tech, industrial biotech, pharma and quantum technologies linked directly to patients or human health, with a special focus on cardiometabolic diseases (e.g. heart attack, stroke, obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease) and infectious diseases and preventive solutions. The Sustainability track targets innovation in agriculture, food, industrial and environmental biotech, carbon capture/use/storage, nitrous oxide and methane emissions and quantum technologies with emphasis on sustainable high‑yield agriculture, sustainable food for healthy diets and climate mitigation technologies that support the green transition.​

Funding and eligible costs

For the 2026 call, the Foundation has allocated a total budget of DKK 56–117 million, with each project able to request up to DKK 1.2 million for a duration of up to 1 year. Funding can cover:​

• Salaries for research staff (e.g. technicians, postdocs, PhD students including tuition fees up to DKK 80,000/year, project managers and other project consultants).
• Operating expenses: consumables, materials, animal and human studies, access to registries, clinical trial costs, lab facilities, databases and infrastructure.
• Equipment essential for the project, up to DKK 200,000 per budget year.
• Communication and dissemination: conferences, publications, outreach directly related to the project (including publication costs up to DKK 25,000 per year).
• Travel directly linked to project work (including conference presentations and lab visits, typically up to DKK 25,000 per year).
• Commercialisation support: consultant fees, IP landscape and freedom‑to‑operate analyses, IP strategy and licensing advice.
• Direct administrative expenses up to 5% of the total grant, and bench fees (for non‑Danish universities) under specific conditions.​

The grant cannot cover:

• Salary for the main applicant or co‑applicants.
• General overheads/indirect costs (rent, electricity, building maintenance).
• Direct commercial activities or double‑funded activities already supported by other funders.​

Eligible applicants and countries

The call is open to academic researchers in the Nordic countries:​

• Denmark
• Finland
• Iceland
• Norway
• Sweden

Eligibility rules:

• The main applicant must be a faculty member, researcher or student employed at a university, hospital or other research institution in one of the above Nordic countries.​
• Co‑applicants are optional; they may come from the same Nordic institution as the main applicant or from other universities, hospitals or research institutions nationally or internationally.​
• The hosting/administrating institution must be a non‑profit organisation (e.g. university, hospital, public research institute). Grants cannot be awarded directly to companies.​
• Projects associated with incubator programmes or where IP is owned by a university holding company are eligible if:
  • The administrating institution is the university.
  • The project and findings remain anchored in academia.
  • No company (with a registration number/CVR) has been established at the time of application.​

If a company is created during the project, the Foundation must be informed so that remaining funds can potentially be redirected or adjusted according to the grant conditions.​

Scope, requirements and evaluation

Projects must be directly linked to one of the two focus areas:​

• Health: improving the lives of patients and human health through new treatments, prevention, diagnostics or health technologies.
• Sustainability: sustainable high‑yield agriculture, sustainable food systems, or climate mitigation technologies supporting the green transition.

Proposals with ideas not clearly linked to these focus areas, or projects involving livestock/feed, nutritional uptake or clinical nutrition studies in the sustainability track, will be administratively rejected at screening.​

Applications are evaluated by the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Committee on Innovation Grants on three equally weighted criteria:​

1. Novelty and potential impact – originality of the idea and its societal or commercial relevance.
2. Competencies and management – qualifications of the main applicant and team, and their capacity to deliver the project.
3. Commercial potential and scalability – realism and strength of the plan to translate research into scalable solutions or platforms with clear impact potential.

The budget must be well‑justified and aligned with project tasks and is also scrutinised closely during assessment.​

Timeline and application process

Key dates for the 2026 call are:​

• Call opens: 16 January 2026
• Call closes (deadline): 5 March 2026
• Applicant notification: July 2026
• Earliest project start date: 1 August 2026
• Latest project start date: 31 July 2027

Applications must be submitted in English through the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s online system NORMA. The main applicant creates a NORMA profile, completes the online forms (including project description, CV, publications list and budget) and uploads required appendices, such as a hosting letter confirming institutional support and, if relevant, bench fee policy. Only the main applicant can submit the final application; co‑applicants may be invited in NORMA to help prepare it.​

For questions regarding the Health call, contact Signe Daugbjerg. For questions regarding the Sustainability call, contact Charlotte Schöller.​

Charlotte Schöller
Senior Scientific Manager, PhD, Innovation
cgs@novo.dk​

Signe Daugbjerg
Senior Scientific Manager, PhD, Innovation
sbd@novo.dk

Click HERE to visit the official website. ​