Novo Nordisk Foundation grants millions to NOME and Medicon Village until 2028
The Nordic Mentor Network for Entrepreneurship (NOME) is an elite initiative, funded by Novo Nordisk Foundation, that supports promising life science startups in the Nordic region. The program is led by the Danish accelerator Accelerace, and since NOME’s inception in 2016, Medicon Village in Lund has been responsible for recruiting companies from southern Sweden and mentors to the program. Given NOME’s positive results and accomplishments, Novo Nordisk Foundation has now granted a further 29.3 million DKK to the program, thus extending NOME till 2028 and enabling it to expand into new geographies and industries.
The partner organisations jointly driving NOME carefully identify and match selected life science companies with mentors from a network of 150 successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. The goal is to ensure knowledge transfer from senior leaders with extensive industry experience to early-stage companies. Since its inception, NOME has supported over 80 startups.
Mikkel Skovborg, Senior Vice President of Innovation at Novo Nordisk Foundation in Copenhagen, emphasises NOME's role as a key player in the Nordic life science ecosystem.
"NOME plays a crucial role in meeting the need for high-quality industry expertise, which is essential for building successful startups," says Skovborg.
Since 2017, NOME companies have collectively raised €436 million in capital, and NOME's Managing Partner, Peter Birk, is very proud of NOME’s contributions in supporting its portfolio companies.
"We see clear signs that mentors' support significantly improves startup companies' chances of raising capital and developing their technologies and businesses," says Peter Birk, who, in addition to project managing NOME, is Head of Business Development at Accelerace in Copenhagen.
"At Medicon Village, we are proud to be part of the collaboration and to offer companies in southern Sweden the opportunity to participate in an elite initiative like NOME. The continued funding from Novo Nordisk Foundation is confirmation that we have been successful in recruiting mentors and companies," says Petter Hartman, CEO of Medicon Village Innovation, noting that NOME complements the innovation support that Medicon Village is providing in Lund.
NOME's partner organisations consist of research parks, accelerators, and innovation environments in the Nordic countries, and recently, partners from Germany and the Baltics have also been involved in the initiative. There are now plans to further broaden the program's scope over the next five years, which will open up opportunities for companies from new industries and sectors to participate.
"During the upcoming funding period, NOME plans to diversify into additional life science-related industries. For the first time, NOME will be open to startups, partners, and mentors focusing on sustainability and quantum technologies," adds Mikkel Skovborg.
With Novo Nordisk Foundation's extended and expanded support for NOME, the project's partners are provided with financial resources for another five years. For Medicon Village in Lund, this means additional resources have been allocated to ensure the provision of top-tier international mentorship to companies in Skåne in the coming years. So far, 11 Skåne-based companies have been admitted to NOME, and the next admission round will take place in May 2024, providing more companies with the opportunity to join.