Bevica Scholarship Programme Ambassador Bo Rygaard: We were not born in a factory — and there is great potential in this

As humans, we are not born in a factory. We are different, and some of us function a little differently than the vast majority. For many years there has been a slightly negative focus on all those who don't fit into the boxes that we as a society have set up -- in the school system or in business.

This is the opinion of Bo Rygaard, who has been described as one of Denmark's most influential board chairmen, and who for more than ten years — after a long career in business — has striven and continues to contest numerous chairmanships, including in the IT company Netcompany and GladTeknik.

Although today he feels that business and society have become better at looking at diversity in a different and more constructive way than they have in the past, he still believes that there is a long way to go.

“I think that over my many years in business, we have known far too little about the huge potential that lies in the work of inclusion,” he says.

That is why he also believes that it is absolutely vital that we as a society boost interdisciplinary research and development in the field of inclusion, and that is why he has agreed to be involved in the work of the Beivca Scholarship Programme 2025-2026 as an ambassador.

“I think it is essential for our social development. That we develop it and, above all, that in business we get something done about it. It is foolish to wait; it is stupid not to seize the chances that are there,” he notes.

A personal commitment
Both in his board work at Netcompany and GladTeknik, where the tasks often require very special skills, and from his personal life, Bo Rygaard has become aware of how important it is to arrange the framework to suit the people at work — rather than finding people who fit into some predefined framework.

His personal engagements fueled by his experiences as the father of Sebastian Bull, an established actor both nationally and internationally, who as a child was diagnosed with ADHD.

The experiences have been a driving force in Bo Rygaard's involvement in the public conversation in recent years, where he uses them in relation to business to highlight the resources behind the diagnoses and thus marks himself as a strong voice for social responsibility and for greater equality in society.

Rhymes at the Bevica Scholarship Programme
Bo Rygaard's long professional career combined with his great commitment to society makes him an obvious ambassador for the Bevica Scholarship Programme 2025-2026, where it is about taking a multidisciplinary look at our society and asking the question: How do we create an inclusive society for all?

The ambition of the Bevica Scholarship Programme is to support the development of an interdisciplinary research field among students and lecturers at Danish universities, professional colleges and design schools in the field of universal design and to use it as a lever for the promise of the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the Leave No OneBehind agenda.

Participants can come from all disciplines - from social sciences and humanities to political science, law, IT, design, occupational therapy, architecture, engineering and environmental studies. Past winners of the Bevica Scholarship Programme come from such diverse disciplines as climate, fashion design and teaching.

The Bevica Scholarship Programme Award Show 2025-2026 will be held on the 9th. October 2025 At Industriens Hus in Copenhagen. Here you can meet the participants of this year's programme and watch them pitch their ideas in front of a live audience and an international jury.

It is free to attend, but registration is necessary as seats are limited. You can sign up here: https://www.bevicafonden.dk/arrangementer/bevica-scholarship-award-ceremony-2025

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