DDSA - Danish Data Science Academy

What DDSA - Danish Data Science Academy does

DDSA - Danish Data Science Academy is a Danish non-profit national academy established to develop and coordinate data science talent across Denmark. Founded circa 2020 and headquartered at the Technical University of Denmark campus in Kongens Lyngby, DDSA operates as a unifying platform connecting universities (DTU, University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University, Aalborg University, University of Southern Denmark), public bodies, and industry through fellowships, courses, conferences, and community programming. Its core offerings are organized into four product families: a Fellowship Programme providing PhD and Postdoctoral grants (with annual calls, including 2026 cycles); Course and Event Funding supplemented by Visit Grants and Travel Grants; a Mentoring Programme pairing experienced and aspiring data scientists; and the D3A Conference Series (Danish Digitization, Data Science and AI), co-hosted with Pioneer Centre for AI and Digital Research Centre Denmark. Supporting infrastructure includes a Data Science Calendar aggregating Danish events and a regular newsletter.

The business model is grant-funded rather than commercial. DDSA is financed by two Danish foundations, the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Villum Fonden, under a fixed 5-year budget that must be concluded by December 2026, with all funded events, travels, and visits required to take place by October 1 of the final year. Pricing is non-commercial for primary beneficiaries: PhD students at Danish universities typically access DDSA-funded courses free of charge, while external and industry participants pay modest course fees ranging from approximately DKK 160 to DKK 8,400 depending on the event. There is no disclosed revenue, the organization holds no patents or trademarks, and it operates as an independent entity with no parent company or subsidiaries. Distribution is exclusively through Danish academic institutions and direct researcher engagement, with marketing conducted via LinkedIn, Instagram, email newsletter, and the ddsa.dk website.

Name

DDSA - Danish Data Science Academy

Legal name

Danish Data Science Academy

Website

https://ddsa.dk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

DDSA is a Danish national non-profit academy that funds PhD and postdoctoral fellowships, courses, travel grants, and the D3A conference series to develop data science talent across Danish universities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Research Training

NAICS

Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

akta.pro primary industry

Science, Technology & Innovation Administration (National R&D Policy) (BPAIAAAK)

Keywords

• Research fellowship programs
• Data science training
• PhD funding grants
• Academic mentoring services
• Research conference organization

Headquarters

HQ city

Kongens Lyngby

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Foundation Funding: DDSA is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Villum Fonden. The organization operates as a non-profit with a 5-year budget that must be concluded by December, with events and activities required to take place by October 1 of the final year.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Danish Data Science Academy (DDSA) is a national non-profit academy that funds and supports data science talent in Denmark through PhD and Postdoc fellowships, course and event funding, visit and travel grants, a mentoring programme, and the annual D3A conference series. It operates as a coordinating ecosystem uniting universities, research institutions, businesses, and public authorities to advance data science-driven research, training, and knowledge sharing.

Product overview

DDSA (Danish Data Science Academy) is a national academy that operates as a platform for data science education, funding, and community building in Denmark. The core offerings include: a Fellowship Programme providing PhD and Postdoc fellowships; Funding Programmes including Course & Event Funding, Visit Grants, and Travel Grants; a Mentoring Programme pairing experienced and aspiring data scientists; a D3A Conference Series (Danish Digitization, Data Science and AI) hosted with partner organizations; a catalog of PhD Courses covering machine learning, bioinformatics, statistics, and programming; and a Data Science Calendar platform for event discovery. DDSA is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Villum Fonden and serves to unite business, organizations, public authorities, and research to create a Danish data science ecosystem.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• DDSA Fellowship Programme A grant programme providing PhD and Postdoc fellowships to support the development of data science talent in Denmark, with annual calls for both PhD and Postdoc positions.
• DDSA PhD Fellowship Fellowship grants for PhD students conducting data science research at Danish universities, with annual fellowship calls.
• DDSA Postdoc Fellowship Fellowship grants for postdoctoral researchers in data science, supporting early-career researchers in Denmark.
• Course and Event Funding Funding programme that supports the organization of data science courses and events in Denmark to promote knowledge sharing and training.
• Visit Grants Grants to support research visits and collaboration between data science researchers and institutions.
• Travel Grants Grants to support travel for data science researchers to attend conferences, workshops, and collaborative events.
• DDSA Mentoring Programme Programme pairing experienced data scientists with aspiring data scientists for mentorship and professional development.
• D3A Conference Series Annual national conference series (Danish Digitization, Data Science and AI) hosted with Pioneer Centre for AI and Digital Research Centre Denmark, bringing together researchers and professionals across data science and AI domains.
• DDSA PhD Courses Catalog of PhD-level courses in data science topics including machine learning, bioinformatics, statistics, and programming, offered across Danish universities.
• Data Science Calendar Online calendar aggregating data science events including courses, conferences, seminars, workshops, and deadlines across Denmark, with subscription and filtering capabilities.

Quantifiable outcome

• Hundreds of data science talents supported over 5 years

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered flagship.

• Pioneer Centre for AIflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the D3A conference series (Danish Digitization, Data Science and AI). Joint hosting of major national conferences to bring together researchers and professionals in digitalization, data science, and AI.
• Digital Research Centre DenmarkflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of the D3A conference series alongside DDSA and Pioneer Centre for AI. Partnership to advance digital research and data science across Denmark.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• The Alan Turing Institute: The UK's national institute for data science and AI, jointly funded by UK universities and major funders. Most directly comparable to DDSA as a publicly-funded national academy coordinating data science research, training, and community across an entire country.
• ELLIS (European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems): Pan-European AI research network with PhD and postdoc training programmes across multiple countries. Highly comparable to DDSA's fellowship-and-events model operating at a multi-country scale DDSA aspires to via its Cross-Academy initiative.
• AI Singapore: National AI programme of Singapore funding PhD fellowships, AI apprenticeships, and research translation. Comparable to DDSA as a government-and-foundation-backed national talent-development body for data science/AI.
• Vector Institute: Canadian AI research institute backed by corporate and government sponsors, training graduate students and fellows. Operates as a national-level AI training and research hub analogous to DDSA's role in Denmark.
• CIFAR (Canadian Institute for Advanced Research): Canada-based foundation-funded institute running global research and scholar programmes including the Pan-Canadian AI Strategy. Comparable to DDSA in foundation funding model, multi-institutional convening, and scholar/fellow programming.
• Mila (Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute): Quebec's flagship AI research institute funded by foundations and government, training hundreds of researchers annually. Comparable to DDSA in mission (national AI/data science talent development), funding model (foundation-backed), and convening role.

Broad incumbents

• Inria (French National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology): France's national public research institute dedicated to digital science, with significantly broader scope and scale than DDSA. Comparable as a national coordinator for digital/data science talent and research, but operates as a much larger established institution.

Emerging players

• Data Science Africa: Pan-African non-profit building data science capacity through workshops, schools, and fellowships across the continent. Comparable to DDSA in talent-development mission and capacity-building role, but focused on a different region with different scale.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ddsa-the-danish-data-science-academy
• Instagraminstagram.com/danish_data_science_academy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about DDSA - Danish Data Science Academy