The Villum Foundation ( da, Villum Fonden); formerly Villum Kann Rasmussen Foundation (''Villum Kann Rasmussen Fonden'') was set up in 1971 by

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

Villum Kann Rasmussen (1909–1993). 10 years later, he set up the Velux Foundation (''Velux Fonden''). Rasmussen was the founder of

VELUX VELUX is a Danish manufacturing company that specialises in roof windows, skylights, suntunnels and related accessories. The company is headquartered in Hørsholm, Denmark and is a part of VKR Holding A/S. VELUX Group is a founding partner of the g ...

and Velfac, Danish window companies. Both foundations are part of VKR Holding A/S, owned by the Rasmussen family and the Villum Foundation, which is the main shareholder. The foundations fund scientific, cultural, artistic and social projects, and award honorary prizes. In 2018, they together granted EUR 118 million divided among 1,015 donations. The money comes from the revenues of the VKR Group and income generated by the foundations’ other assets.

Grants

The foundations support large research activities in the technical and natural sciences, agricultural and veterinary sciences, the environment, and industrial research, providing money for payroll costs, running expenses and procurement of major research apparatus. The foundation supports research centres, the so-called “Centres of Excellence” with larger grants. The designation of the centres is made upon the initiative of the foundation. Its visiting professor programme gives funds to Danish research institutions to permit leading professors from international universities to spend a period at Danish universities. Additionally, since 2001, the foundation has financed a postdoctoral program in the natural and technical sciences. Beginning in 2006, it has donated a larger proportion of its grants to social and cultural projects outside Denmark, with a special focus on

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and other countries in Eastern and Central Europe. The Velux Foundation is more narrowly focused. It has a program supporting citizens more than 60 years old who are actively engaged in activities of personal or common interest that contribute to maintaining their active lives. In addition, it supports research into diseases of the eye, diseases among the elderly, and living conditions for elderly people. It also supports larger research projects within the humanities, health and medical sciences.

Awards

Each year the Foundation awards The Villum Kann Rasmussen Annual Award for Technical and Scientific Research to a Danish researcher. The award is the largest Danish research award. The 2008 award was granted to Professor Anja Boisen, Department of Micro- and Nanotechnology,

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark ( da, Danmarks Tekniske Universitet), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's fir ...

, for her research in

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal ...

. The 2009 awards marked the centenary celebration of Villum Kann Rasmussen. One went to Professor Eva Bjørn Vedel Jensen, Department of Mathematical Science

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

, for research in mathematical and statistical methods for three-dimensional imaging of objects such as the brain from one or two-dimensional observations. The other went to Professor Jan Oskar Jeppesen, Department of Physics and Chemistry,

University of Southern Denmark The University of Southern Denmark ( da, Syddansk Universitet, lit=South Danish University, abbr. SDU) is a university in Denmark that has campuses located in Southern Denmark and on Zealand. The university offers a number of joint programmes in ...

, for producing large and complex

organic molecules In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The s ...

with unique functional characteristics.

References

{{coord, 55.7407, 12.4804, type:landmark_region:DK, display=title Non-profit organizations based in Denmark Organizations established in 1971 Foundations based in Denmark