Denmark - Science and technology

The Ministry of Research is the central administrative unit for research policy. Among advisory bodies to it are the Danish Council for Research Policy, the Danish Natural Science Research Council, the Danish Medical Research Council, the Danish Agricultural and Veterinary Research Council, the Danish Technical Research Council, and the Danish Committee for Scientific and Technical Information and Documentation. The chief learned societies are the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters (founded in 1742) and the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences (founded in 1937). Denmark also has 29 specialized learned societies in the fields of agricultural and veterinary science, medicine, natural sciences, and technology. Among the principal public research institutions are the universities Aalborg, Aarhus, Copenhagen, Odense, and Roskilde; the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University at Frederiksberg; the Technological University of Denmark near Copenhagen; the National Hospital in Copenhagen; the Risø National Laboratory near Roskilde; the Danish Institute for Fisheries and Marine Research at Charlottenlund; and the Danish Meteorological Institute at Copenhagen. In 1987–97, science and engineering students accounted for 25% of university enrollment. Many of the world's preeminent theoretical nuclear physicists have worked at the Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy, Physics, and Geophysics of Copenhagen University. Copenhagen has museums of geology and zoology and botanical gardens.

Research and development expenditures in 1987–97 totaled 1.9% of GNP; 2,644 technicians and 3,259 scientists and engineers per million people were engaged in research and development. Government grants supply almost half of all funding for research activities. In 1998, high-tech exports were valued at $5.5 billion and accounted for 18% of manufactured exports.