Crowdfunding in sustainable innovation: Insights from and for Denmark

The take up of innovative services and products has contributed to creative thinking also in terms of new sources of financing. Innovation processes are characterised by constant development, and it is beneficial if models of financing can be aligned to that. Crowdfunding, i.e. collecting finance from publics, has emerged as a new alternative also in the field of sustainable innovation. Crowdfunding is particularly interesting for Small and Medium size companies (SME’s) looking for financing when their product or service is not considered quite ready for investments. This policy brief looks how crowdfunding relates to sustainable innovation. It introduces crowdfunding as an activity, discusses it in relation to sustainable innovation and looks at the development of crowdfunding in Denmark. This policy brief looks at crowdfunding from several levels: a strategic, programmatic and case level. Concerning Denmark attention should be paid to the rise in the popularity of crowdfunding. This increasing popularity might be further strengthened by recent efforts by the Danish revenue service to clarify the relevant legislation when applying for crowdfunding. Though no tailor-made legislation has been presented by the Danish government, a number of initiatives seek to make crowdfunding a viable possibility for Danish companies.