Women’s Health Is a Billion-Dollar Market – and Denmark Has an Opportunity to Lead

A billion-dollar market lacks data, structure, and strategic coordination – and it is holding back Danish innovation. Now, DKK 1 million is being invested to change that.

The Danish Prime Minister highlighted an issue in her New Year’s speech that Nordic Women’s Health Hub has long been working to put on the agenda:

Women’s health has been systematically underprioritised in research, innovation, and investment. Not because the need is lacking, but because the male body has historically been the default in health research, data, and decision-making.

The consequences are well documented. Women across the Nordic countries spend up to 25 percent more of their lives in poor health than men. Yet only around 4 percent of global research funding is allocated to women’s health conditions. The result is significant knowledge gaps, too few solutions, and a field that lacks structure. Among the consequences is that, across 770 diseases affecting both women and men, women are diagnosed an average of four years later than men.

This stands in sharp contrast to a market with enormous potential and a Denmark that is currently gaining momentum within women’s health.

A Turning Point

Nordic Women’s Health Hub has received DKK 1 million from the Danish Industry Foundation to unite and accelerate women’s health as a Danish business and innovation sector. The ambition is clear: to position Denmark as the centre of Nordic women’s health and as an international frontrunner in the field.

A Billion-Dollar Market Without the Right Framework

Women’s health represents a global market worth more than USD 1 trillion (McKinsey). At the same time, analyses show that significantly improving women’s health could contribute up to DKK 30 billion annually to the Danish economy through higher productivity and fewer years lost to illness (Confederation of Danish Industry / McKinsey).

Despite this potential, the sector remains structurally immature. Knowledge is fragmented, data is scattered, and collaborations emerge on an ad hoc basis rather than through long-term strategy. This makes it difficult for Danish companies to navigate the ecosystem, collaborate, and scale their solutions, resulting in lost opportunities for both better health outcomes and economic growth.

“Innovation is not what’s missing. But without structure, data, and a shared direction, the potential will not translate into growth for Denmark or the Nordic region. That is why we are investing in bringing the women’s health ecosystem together and creating better conditions for Danish companies,” says Charlotte Kjeldsen Krarup, Director of Development at the Danish Industry Foundation.

From Grassroots Movement to Shared Infrastructure

The grant has been awarded to Nordic Women’s Health Hub, which has grown rapidly from a grassroots initiative into a unifying organisation with more than 40 volunteers and a strong Nordic and international network. Behind the organisation are four co-founders who together bring a unique combination of expertise in investment, design, entrepreneurship, and leadership: private investor Malene Enø, FemTech designer and PhD Vanessa Julia Carpenter, women’s health founder Charlotte Langer, and CEO Sara Al-Dafaee.

Before the funding came, the people came.

In less than a year, Nordic Women’s Health Hub brought together stakeholders from research, industry, investment, and public policy—long before women’s health truly entered the political agenda. The new funding will now help scale and anchor that work by building a shared business infrastructure for women’s health.

“Women’s health is one of the most underinvested fields of innovation we have. Not because the need is lacking, but because the system has failed women. That has come at the expense of knowledge, better solutions, and quality of life. We have already shown that this ecosystem can come together. With the support of the Danish Industry Foundation, we can now build the infrastructure that makes knowledge sharing, collaboration, and innovation possible in practice,” says Sara Al-Dafaee, CEO and Co-founder of Nordic Women’s Health Hub.

Turning Knowledge into Action

The funding will strengthen the competitiveness of Danish companies by creating a shared foundation for women’s health as a business sector. This will be achieved through:

• Further development of the Nordic Women’s Health Ecosystem Map 2.0 and an accompanying database, providing greater transparency and a comprehensive overview of organisations, initiatives, and collaboration opportunities across the Nordic region.

• The publication of Women’s Health in the Nordics 2026 — a report bringing together data, insights, and trends to provide companies with a stronger strategic foundation for decision-making in an otherwise fragmented field.

• The establishment of more meeting places across the ecosystem, where startups, researchers, investors, and established companies can connect, share knowledge, and accelerate new solutions.

• A strengthened and coordinated communications effort to ensure that knowledge does not remain in silos but is translated into action. Through newsletters and professional channels such as LinkedIn, insights, data, and experiences will be shared continuously so that companies, investors, and decision-makers can act on them.

The goal is to make women’s health a field where knowledge does not gather dust but is transformed into innovation, growth, and new market solutions.

This funding marks a shift—from awareness to action, and from potential to measurable impact.