The Danish Industrial Enzyme Industry - National based Companies with strong internationalised R&D

Danish industrial enzyme industry consists of three main companies (Chr. Hansen A/S, Novozymes A/S and Danisco A/S) which in total has around 75 percent of the world market for industrial enzymes. Industrial enzymes are catalysts used in biological and chemical processes in food, detergents, paper and energy and many other fields.

Historically the industry started up in 1874 based on empiric knowledge on use of rennet in production of cheese from Switzerland and Germany and later enriched by scientific knowledge produced in the company and institutions all over the world. Important for the company was resources of calve stomachs from which the active stuff can be extracted.

The private university, The Carlsberg Laboratory, established nearly at the same time, became after First World War a world leader in research of enzymes. And inspiration from here to the pharmaceutical company in insulin production, Novo, resulted in extraction of valuable enzymes from porcine pancreases used in production of insulin.

The third company, Danisco, started its enzyme business up in the 1930s and is today one of the important players. An important question in the paper is about the future of the companies in Denmark. There is no definitive answer to this question. But a combination of raw materials, growing markets and a good understanding of production based on science based engineering seem to be a strong argument in this discussion.