New research call: Industrial electrification, bio-based systems & beyond
GreenLab's Research Platform, co-hosted by DTU, and financed by Villum Fonden, launches a new research call, inviting researchers from all Danish universities to investigate how, and to what degree, eco-industrial clusters can contribute to industrial electrification, sector coupling integration, and the development of scalable integrated solutions.
The challenges related to the green transition of industry are increasingly connected to challenges regarding cross-system integration.
Renewable energy, industrial electrification, grid capacity, bio-based value chains, infrastructure and regulation cannot be developed independently. New large electricity consumers and industrial assets create additional demands on the energy system, while at the same time offering new opportunities for flexibility and sector coupling. In parallel, the transition of agriculture and food systems creates opportunities for circular value chains connecting biomass, protein, water, heat, nutrients and industrial infrastructure. Understanding how these systems interact – and where the opportunities, limitations and trade-offs lie – is at the centre of GreenLab's new research call.
A real-world environment for research
GreenLab offers researchers the opportunity to investigate these questions in an operating eco-industrial cluster.
Renewable energy production, industrial companies, shared infrastructure, local resources and GreenLab's SymbiosisNet create a setting where interactions between energy systems, technologies, industry and regulation can be studied in practice.
The call is part of GreenLab's mission-driven Research Platform, connecting academic knowledge with real industrial challenges.
Since 2021, the GreenLab Research Platform has initiated 25 research projects across five research calls and two fellowship programmes with funding from Villum Fonden. Read more about the projects here. And read about R&E at Greenlab here.
Four research challenges
This September 2026 call centres around four challenges:
Challenge A – Energy system integration
How can local multi-energy hubs interact with the national energy system?
Projects can investigate the value and drawbacks of eco-industrial clusters in relation to grid pressure, flexibility, electrification and sector coupling.
Challenge B – Bio-based & multi-energy system integration
What are the potentials within the integration of bio-based refinery processes and multi-energy systems through shared infrastructure and circular resource flows?
The challenge focuses on connections between biomass, protein and bio-based solutions and shared flows of electricity, heat, water, nutrients and other industrial resources.
Challenge C – Regulation and policy
What is the role of regulatory test zones and sandbox approaches in the development of eco-industrial clusters?
Research may investigate permitting, grid connection, regulatory flexibility and how practical learning can contribute to future regulatory frameworks.
Challenge X – Technology integration
How can promising technologies move closer to industrial application?
This open technology challenge focuses on the conditions required to integrate and demonstrate medium-TRL technologies in an industrial environment, including infrastructure, utilities, partnerships, performance and scale-up.
From research to real-world learning
Across all four challenges, the ambition is to create knowledge that reaches beyond a single technology or project. GreenLab's industrial park provides a setting for exploring how technologies and systems interact under real conditions – and what learnings accumulate over time with relevance beyond GreenLab itself.
Up to five projects will receive funding through the call
Projects under Challenges A, B and C can receive DKK 250,000–1,000,000, while Challenge X projects can receive DKK 250,000–500,000. Projects can run for 6–17 months.
About the call
The call is open to researchers from all Danish universities. Relevant industry and ecosystem partners may also participate under the conditions described in the call.
Application deadline:
28 October 2026 at 12:00 PM.
For further information contact
Lucia Mortensen
Head of Research and Education
+45 50454116
lmor@greenlab.dk
Frederik Botin Carøe Villum
Research Coordinator
+45 26708180
fbcv@greenlab.dk
Leon Aahave Uhd
DTU, Senior Executive Officer – Energy Sector.
+45 93511279
laauh@dtu.dk
