Get your p2x idea to the market

Join the national VILLUM P2X Fellowship Program - and get your excellent P2X idea boosted. We offer an intense 2-year fellowship under the national VILLUM P2X Accelerator program. Great research ideas with the potential for breaking through on the energy market are taken out of the lab towards the market. Apply to become a Fellow.
About the national VILLUM P2X Accelerator Program
The national P2X program provides full scientific and entrepreneurial support to Fellows throughout the fellowship period.
The national VILLUM P2X Accelerator gives such projects an enormous benefit with its structured, time-limited acceleration program. An acceleration with access to the right guidance and hardware infrastructure. With these right boundary conditions the pool of talent, creativity and sheer drive among Danish students and researchers will be accelerated towards success.
Let us help you get to the market!

Apply for fellowship now
Case with Nitrofix Solutions

Call for P2X projects
The VILLUM P2X Accelerator aims to boost great research ideas that have the potential for breaking through on the energy market out of the lab towards the market. We offer an intense 2-year fellowship period under the national VILLUM P2X Accelerator program (VPX). The fellowship includes funding of up to a total of 5 Full-Time-Employee years of salary for the team, significant support for hardware scale-up and testing, and business development support. Fellows will be employed at one of the five partner universities.
To be eligible, project owners need to apply for a fellowship under the national VP2X program. Actions and activities that will ensure the best and fastest possible acceleration (ideally going from TRL level 3 to 6) should be described in the application. Applications are assessed according to three criteria: Excellence of idea, potential for growth, and feasibility.
For details about TRL levels, please visit Innovation Fund Denmark: TRL - Technology Readiness Level
PROJECT FOCUS: Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
Technologies and/or digitalization aimed towards direct air-capture of CO2, direct reduction of CO2 to liquid products, direct reduction of N2 to ammonia, direct solar powered splitting of water via (solar) thermal looping, or photo catalysis.
PROJECT BUDGET: The maximum amount one can apply for is 4 mdkk for a 2-year fellowship period. This amount will include salary of potential team members required for the realization of the project. If you are unsure about the eligibility of certain cost categories for funding, please contact us in advance of the application submission.
APPLICATION PROCESS: Applications can only be submitted by university students, graduates, or researchers studying or working at either DTU, AU, AAU, KU, or SDU. Non-researchers and/or non-academic actors/organizations can naturally be part of a project proposal, but the main applicant needs to be a university student, a graduate, or a researcher. Each fellow will be employed at the university for the fellowship period.
Applications must follow the template (use download link below), and should include:
Approximate budget, description of the project/activities - including estimated timeline; supposed need for co-workers during the project period and their costs; activity plan. You should also provide a 5 min (approx.) video of your technology and of your team if applicable.
Please submit your application via the submit-link below. In case you need further clarification or advice around your project idea, please contact Scientific Director Peter Vesborg, email: Peter.Vesborg@fysik.dtu.dk.
If your project is selected, you will be invited for an interview, if the VP2X Steering Group finds this necessary (see details below).
Next deadline for applications: 15th August 2023.
Applicants shall be prepared for an online interview on 4th September 2023 (at some point between 10:00 and 14:00). Details about the online interview (dail-in numbers, timeslots, etc.), will be communicated once application has been received by the VP2X Steering Group.
The VP2X Steering Committee will, no later than 2 weeks after the online interview, inform the applicants of the final decision.
FAQ
Yes, you can apply without a ph.d.! If your project is excellent, with potential for growth, and feasible, please apply. You can be a post.doc, a ph.d., a researcher – but it must be YOUR project, your dream.
A: The typical time for accelerating your project in the VPX program is 2 years. We mentor each project during the full period to help acceleration. In some cases, the period can be extended with 6 months. This extension must be applied for at the end of the project period. Please note that in case you do not follow your proposed plan, the steering group can stop your project before finalization.
A: Please check the call text on the website. You may also call or write to Scientific Director Peter Vesborg, phone 4525 3276, mail: Peter.Vesborg@fysik.dtu.dk, to discuss your idea. The conversation is confidential between you and the Scientific Director.
A: Applications are assessed according to three criteria: Excellence of idea, potential for growth, and feasibility. All three are equally important, and each must be clearly illustrated in your application.
A: No, only the direct costs of your project should be added in the application budget. If your project is funded, overhead up to 15% will be added.
A: Please make sure you include:
- Application template (send it as a PDF)
- Include full CV of you and all your team members as part of the application (can be submitted as separate documents).
- Record and share a 5 minute video where you present your technology and your team if applicable
You can furthermore include (optionally)
- 10 extra A4 pages of relevant project information, this should include a detailed view of the scale-up of your technology (what will you have archived after 12 and 24 months), a detailed business plan, pictures of setup and deep technology description how does it work and its advantages)
Make sure you are available when VPX Steering Committee invite you for an interview. Please see above for more details
A: There will be call for proposals 4 times/year, and it is only possible to reapply if this is suggested in the rejection letter. In such case, you will also need to talk to the Scientific Director before resubmitting.
A: No. This is a national program and each applicant has identical chances. The Scientific Director will allocate the same amount of time (max 30 min) to each person asking for feedback on his/her idea.
A: Make a qualified guess and explain reasoning as needed. Some tech support and lab facilities and a mentor will be at your disposal during the Fellowship at no cost. We may have some suggestions for team members, but it is your own responsibility to onboard the right people. Please note your project should be at TRL 3 before applying.
Funded P2X projects
Below a list of the funded P2X projects under the VILLUM P2X Accelerator
|
Grantees | Suzanne Zamany Andersen & Mattia Saccoccio |
Project title | Nitrofix Solutions | |
About the project | We have developed a method to produce ammonia locally and sustainably via the use of only air, water, and green electricity. Our aim is to decarbonized the nitrogen-based fertilizer production one farm at the time, cut the logistic costs of distributing fertilizer, and make the agricultural sector more resilient to external factors and political issues. | |
Link to project pages |
www.nitrofixsolutions.com www.linkedin.com/company/nitrofix-solutions |
Management & Steering Committee
The secretariat is located at DTU, and takes care of the daily management and administration of the VILLUM P2X Accelerator.
We are hosted by DTU Physics, and you will find us at the DTU Physics premises on Fysikvej, building 307, rooms 154 to 160 (first floor)
STEERING COMMITTEE
The overall goals of the VILLUM P2X Accelerator are set by the Steering Committee.
The Steering Committee consists of nine members* and two observers.
*one representative from each of the partner universities, and four members representing the Danish P2X and start-up scene.
Chairman
Jens Kehlet Nørskov, Professor, Technical University of Denmark
Vice Chairman
TBA
Alfred M. Spormann, Professor & Executive Director, Aarhus University
Anders Bøje Larsen, Chief Technology Officer, Greenlab Skive
Bjerne S. Clausen, former CEO, Haldor Topsoe A/S
Jan Rossmeisl, Professor, University of Copenhagen
Jens Ejbye Schmidt, Professor & Head of Department, University of Southern Denmark
Jørgen Tang-Jensen, Former CEO, VELUX A/S Denmark
Mads Pagh Nielsen, Head of the Electro Fuel Research Group, Aalborg University
Mette Dam Jensen, Chief Consultant, GreenTransition
Observers
Peter Vesborg, Professor & VPX Scientific Director, Technical University of Denmark
Jesper Klingsten Nielsen, VPX Technical Director, Technical University of Denmark
Partners
The center and the secretariat is located at DTU. As a national initiative it includes the following partners:

Funding
The VILLUM P2X Accelerator is funded by The Velux Foundations.
