DHI is one of seven Research and Technology Organisations (RTO) in Denmark, approved by the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The Danish RTOs play a key role in the Danish innovation system as the link between technology and business, as they seek to make new technological methods applicable to businesses and promote uptake of new technology. As an RTO, DHI is a profit-for-purpose organisation as we reinvest the majority of our profit into research. The purpose of this research is to convert it into solutions and knowledge with a direct, beneficial and useful impact on our clients’ water-related challenges.

In an evaluation conducted in 2023, the Danish Agency for Higher Education and Science concluded that the high level of professional expertise and the test and demonstration facilities at DHI and other Danish RTOs are in high demand. According to the evaluation, the RTOs hold a key position in converting research and knowledge into concrete, technological innovation in businesses and society. The RTOs were also rated highly by clients on their benefits of working with the institutes in terms of product innovation related to the green transition and digitalisation. In many ways, the conclusions of the evaluation summarise our work at DHI and emphasise our status as a research-driven organisation.

During 2023, DHI was able to attract more external RD&I funding (order inflow) compared with the year before, with EUR 9.1 million in 2023 compared with EUR 8.0 million in 2022. This constitutes an increase of 14%, which translates into more power to solve the world’s water-related challenges. Our total investments in RD&I (external revenue from grants and own investments in RD&I) amounted to EUR 14.4 million, an increase of 6.7% from the year before.

A major grant from the philanthropic arm of Google helped us establish Global Wetland Watch, which is an alliance between DHI A/S, UNEP-DHI and UNEP. The Global Wetland Watch is a new initiative with the aim of filling a critical global data gap on the world’s wetlands. The project will create a new information system that aims to contribute to climate change mitigation and reducing biodiversity loss by mapping global wetlands with Earth Observation (EO) technology and AI.

This new wetland information system will generate high-resolution maps and statistics on changes to different wetland ecosystems across the globe. The system will make this information readily available at national and ecosystem scales down to a 10-metre resolution. The data and information generated by the Global Wetlands Watch will support country commitments and ambitions towards national targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Global Biodiversity Framework and other multilateral environmental agreements.

The financial support for the development of the Global Wetland Watch comes from Google.org and their open call for projects using AI to accelerate progress toward the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

It was announced in 2023 that the Novo Nordisk Foundation will award approximately EUR 8 million to the establishment of the research-focused Global Wetland Center, which we formed together with Copenhagen University and GEUS. The centre opened officially in February 2024, and its objective is to enhance the ability to model wetlands’ contribution to the global greenhouse gas budgets and design mitigation strategies.

‘Mitigation of climate change for reaching climate neutrality is a fundamental societal challenge. Managing existing wetlands and rewetting of formerly drained wetlands are important, yet uncertain, elements of mitigation strategies. Our ambition is to make sure that the research and findings in the centre are used to ultimately guide policymaking. Our close collaboration with UNEP through our UNEP-DHI Centre enables us to spread our findings even wider on a global scale for positive impact on climate change mitigation’, says Christian Tøttrup, Senior Project Manager and expert on earth observation of hydrology at DHI.

In 2023, we initiated the Innovating phase of our DHI+ strategy to ensure that our innovation power continues to fulfil the needs of the market for science-based technology and digital solutions. It is crucial for us that our research and innovation help solve our clients’ water-related challenges and create positive impact.

To help guide our innovation efforts to maximum impact, we defined a top-20 list of the most important client challenges that DHI will look to solve with innovations in the years to come. The top-20 list is based on extensive market outreach performed during 2023, which enables us to further sharpen our focus on the most critical water-related challenges faced by the planet and our clients, and innovate on solutions to address them.