The nucleus of the Ministry for Research is the state research councils and the Council on Research Policy. The research councils have as their task to advise public authorities on the development of research and to support Danish research. The councils were established by a Folketing Act in 1972, though the Technical and Scientific Research Council was formed as early as 1946. In 1991 the Danish Fund for Basic Research was founded, which with a start capital of 2 billion kroner is to support outstanding Danish research on an international level. The total publicly financed research system has as one of its aims to cooperate with private companies to further technological developments.
Danish businesses use less on research and development than the European average.
The reason must be sought in the limited number of very large concerns. A pioneer in the efforts to use research in the service of industry was the founder of the Carlsberg Breweries, J.C. Jacobsen. From his youth he was preoccupied with science, and in 1875 he founded his own brewery. In 1876 he established the Carlsberg Foundation, which became the owner of Carlsberg and thereby a significant source of finance for Danish research. The executive board of the Carlsberg Foundation is appointed by members of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters.