Collaboration between the Danish Industry Foundation and FRECON strengthen SMEs path through the corona crisis

Collaboration between the Danish Industry Foundation and FRECON strengthen SMEs path through the corona crisis

Press release

GenstartNU (translates RestartNOW) is an initiative launched by the Danish Industry Foundation with the aim of promoting innovation in Danish SMEs and strengthening them through the crisis by looking at new business opportunities. FRECON participates in genstartNU by helping SMEs identify new opportunities and operationalizing them.

At FRECON, we talk to several companies daily who wishes to join genstartNU. Through this initiative, they have the opportunity to apply for 50 hours of free consultancy in order to redefine and operationalize projects that have been put aside because they were challenging to move forward with.

The Danish Industry Foundation has initially allocated DKK 150 million to genstartNU.

“We want to contribute to the emergence of some well-equipped companies on the other side of the crisis. Companies that have developed and strengthened their competitiveness and who will be able to quickly increase revenue,” says Thomas Hofman-Bang, CEO of the Danish Industry Foundation. “For instance, it could be new measures in production, business development, export measures or adjusting the cost base.”

Down-to-earth engineers and innovation readiness

“Our talented and experienced engineers start the dialogue with the companies from the beginning. Something special happens when technicians talk to technicians,” says Michael Elefsen, CCO of FRECON.

“Through our very down-to-earth and well-organized innovation readiness, we structure the thoughts and dreams of each individual company, so we end up with something more operational to work with under genstartNU. The goal is to end up with new business opportunities.”

Technical barriers

Often technical issues become barriers for realizing the projects that FRECON help dust off for the Danish SMEs. FRECON has currently made agreements with more than 40 companies who wish to cooperate under genstartNU. A FRECON team is already visiting the first companies for a closer dialogue to determine precisely how the SMEs can be helped and to agree on work tasks.

“Many of the challenges that slow down the projects are technical – and we help them, for instance, with CFD analyzes, calculations, construction or by bringing structure to some work drawings and completing them,” says Michael Elefsen. “But it could also be conceptualization and visualization of a product idea so that it can be presented to the market.”

Collaboration between the Danish Industry Foundation and FRECON strengthen SMEs path through the corona crisis

Collaboration between the Danish Industry Foundation and FRECON strengthen SMEs path through the corona crisis

GenstartNU strengthens the position of Energy Cool on the export markets

Energy Cool develops energy-efficient solutions for cooling, e.g. of server and technical rooms. For a long time, the company wanted to optimize some technical details on one of their solutions but did not prioritize the task in a busy daily life.

“GenstartNU gave us a good opportunity to delve further into the area, and a strong teamwork with FRECON provided the desired optimization of the solution,” says Henrik Thorsen, CEO of Energy Cool.

“We stand stronger today, and we look forward to being able to increase our sales internationally. At the same time, the project has opened our eyes to use external resources with great pleasure in the future. With good teamwork and the right mix of skills, you can get really far.”

Great joy for SMEs

At all the SMEs that FRECON has been in contact with, the opportunity brings great joy – and so does FRECON when helping operationalize ideas and assisting with the application for genstartNU.

“The companies certainly value getting help and sparring at a difficult time,” says Michael Elefsen. “We are incredibly pleased to be able to spark new business opportunities for many SMEs in collaboration with the Danish Industry Foundation. It is valuable for our customers, the Danish business sector and FRECON.”