The Lundbeck Foundation is one of Denmark’s largest commercial foundations, worth over DKK 60 billion, and we award research grants of around DKK 500 million each year to Danish-based, biomedical sciences research – primarily in the field of brain research.
We are the largest financial contributor to Danish public brain research, and we have an ambition for Denmark to be the world’s leading brain research nation. At the same time, we focus on raising public awareness of the brain and brain disorders.
Our aim is to promote the careers of the most promising scientists and help fund a strong pipeline of biomedical science researchers, regardless of their field of research. For us, this involves both improving the quality of and interest in science teaching in primary and secondary schools and ensuring that our career advancement grants target where the need is greatest on the career ladder.
The Lundbeck Foundation’s commercial activities encompass three large subsidiaries, an international portfolio of 18 venture capital companies, a portfolio of small biotech companies based on Danish university research and in-house administration of assets of around DKK 14 billion.
The Lundbeck Foundation’s history goes back over 60 years. The Foundation was established in 1954 by Grete Lundbeck, a visionary businesswoman and widow of the founder of H. Lundbeck A/S, Hans Lundbeck. Over the years, she donated the shares she had inherited from her husband to the Foundation and, when she died in 1965, the Foundation was sole heir to her assets.
The Lundbeck Foundation was formally established on 4 March 1954, when Grete Lundbeck, as the majority shareholder and chair of the board of trustees, signed the trust deed. A trust deed is a charter that lays down the rules for the foundation’s financial and legal affairs.
Lundbeckfonden’s trust deed was revised 1991 when the foundation merged with the Grete and Hans Lundbeck Trust (Legat).
