novo nordisk foundation magazine 2015

20

15

NO

VO

NO

RD

ISK

FO

UN

DA

TIO

N : W

HY

AN

D H

OW

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

WHY AND HOW?

WHY?The world is facing many major challenges. The global population is both increasing and ageing and growing numbers of people have lifestyle-related diseases. Natural resources are dwindling and the environmental challenges are increasing.

In a global society, Denmark and the other Nordic countries must help to take responsibility and initiative. More research and new techno logies are required that can promote innovative solutions to improve the combating of disease and use scarce natural resources more intelligently.

The starting-point is positive, but retaining and expanding the strong position of the Nordic region within bio-medicine and biotechnology require further strengthening of research and innovation – especially because the inter-national competition is intensifying.

HOW?The ambition of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is that our companies will create renewal and world-class business results. They achieve this by generating research-based products and services that improve how disease is combated and support the sustainable use of natural resources.

The Foundation awards grants that advance and promote research, innovation and edu cation of the highest inter-national quality within the health sciences and biotechnology, primarily at universities and hospitals. The perspective is long term, and the goal is to support the development of a knowledgebased society that contributes to long-term economic activity and to creating jobs with the aim of improving people’s health and welfare.

This is how the Foundation contributes to developing more new solutions for the challenges of the future – to benefit indivi duals, Denmark and the global society.

WHAT IS THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION?

The Novo Nordisk Foundation is an independent Danish foundation with corporate interests. Its history goes back more than 90 years.

Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Novo A/S, the Foundation owns a controlling interest in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Together, Novo A/S, Novo Nor-disk A/S and Novozymes A/S comprise the Novo Group, which is committed to follow a common set of values – the Novo Group Charter.

The Foundation has two objectives – one commercial and one societal:

1: to provide a stable basis for the commercial and research activities conducted by the companies in the Novo Group; and

2: to support scientific, humanitarian and social purposes.

The vision of the Foundation is to contribute significantly to research and development that improves the health and welfare of people.

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVEThe Foundation’s commercial ambition is for the compan-ies in the Novo Group to position themselves as internationally recognized and significant actors for combating disease and for improving the use of natural resources.

The Foundation awards grants that mainly support scien-tific purposes and uses its independence and flexibility to promote world-class research, innovation and education, primarily in biomedicine and biotechnology in Denmark and the other Nordic countries. The Foundation strives to ensure that the region develops and is recognized as an international powerhouse in the health sciences and biotechnology. The Foundation’s strategy is that world-

class research is best achieved by providing long-term funding for developing knowledge environments, includ-ing at universities and hospitals, in which top researchers and innovative talents have the best possible conditions to enable them to carry out groundbreaking research of the highest quality.

The Foundation’s commercial and grant-awarding activ-ities are separate. The Novo Nordisk Foundation awards grants, and its subsidiary Novo A/S manages the Founda-tion’s commercial activities.

ALL COMPANIES IN THE

NOVO GROUP MUST

DEMONSTRATE THAT

THEY ARE WILLING

AND ABLE TO MAKE A

TARGETED EFFORT TO

MEET THE FOLLOWING

CRITERIA.

COMPANIES IN THE

NOVO GROUP THEREFORE

COMMIT TO:

THE NOVO GROUP CHARTER

Company products and services make a significant difference in improving the way people live and work.

The company is perceived to be an innovator – in technology, in products, in services and/or in market approach.

The company is among the best in its business and a challenging place to work.

The company delivers competitive financial performance.

Value-based management

Open and honest dialogue with their

stakeholders

Continuous improvement of:

• financial performance

• environmental performance

• social performance

Reporting in accordance with relevant

internationally approved conventions.

INTRODUCTION

4 NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

Through the Foundation’s activities, we strive to contribute to strengthening the research and development within biomedicine and biotechnology in Denmark and the other Nordic countries to benefit people’s health and wel-fare and to drive value creation in the Region."

A STABLEBASIS

RESEARCHFUNDING FOR

STEN SCHEIBYE, CHAIR, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION AND NOVO A/S

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION 5

THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION GROUP

THE FOUNDATION'S INCOME

THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

NOVO A/S NOVOZYMES A/S

RETURN

DIVIDENDS

NOVO NORDISK A/S

RETURN

INVESTMENTS

RETURN

The Novo Group

The Novo Nordisk Foundation awards grants for scientific, humanitarian and social purposes based on dividends received from Novo A/S.

The income of Novo A/S originates from:

- companies; and

- other investments

The Novo Nordisk Foundation and the companies in the Novo Group comprise the Novo Nordisk Foundation Group.


The Board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation has nine members: six members elected under the Foundation’s Articles of Association, two of whom must have insight into the medical or natural sciences, and three employee representatives from Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S. Of the members elected under the Articles of Association, three are independent of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Group.

The Chair and Vice Chair of the Foundation also serve on the Board of Novo A/S.

Blue circles indicate persons representing Novo A/S.

BOArdS

KarstenDybvad

LarsFugger

BoAhrén

Anne MarieKvernelandEmployee

Representative

Lars BoKøppler

Employee Representative

Karen LaubergLauritsenEmployee

Representative

MariannePhilip

BirgitteNauntofte

CEO

StenScheibye Chair

SteenRiisgaardVice Chair

JeppeChristiansen

Per Wold-Olsen

CEO

GöranAndo

SteenRiisgaard

StenScheibye Chair

Eivind Kolding

Henrik Gürtler Chair

LenaOlving

MathiasUhlén

Jørgen BuhlRasmussen

Heinz-Jürgen Bertram

AgneteRaaschou-Nielsen

Vice Chair

LarsGreen

Lena BechHolskov

Peder HolkNielsen

CEO

Anders HentzeKnudsen

Lars BoKøppler




Sylvie Grégoire

Göran Ando Chair

JeppeChristiansen Vice Chair

BrunoAngelici

Thomas PaulKoestler

LizHewitt

EivindKolding

Anne MarieKverneland


Employee Representative Employee

Representative

SørenThuesenPedersen

Mary Szela

Stig Strøbæk

Lars RebienSørensen

CEO

LiselotteHyveled

EmployeeRepresentative


THE FOUNDATION’S STRATEGYAs a result of the positive trend in the financial results of the companies in the Novo Group, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has been able to increase its annual grants substantially in recent years.

In 2014, the Foundation awarded DKK 975 million (€130.8 million) in grants and paid out DKK 733 mil-lion (€98.6 million), primarily for research – a threefold increase in the amount paid out during the past 5 years.

The Board of the Foundation has decided to increase its total annual payout incrementally to DKK 1.5 billion (€201 million) by 2018 – to benefit research and society.

In addition to the assets in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novo-zymes A/S, the Foundation had accessible capital at the end of 2014 of DKK 31 billion (€4.1 billion) that can be used for new grants and investment. Further, the Foun-dation has a capital reserve for the commercial activities of the Foundation’s subsidiaries and it maintains a liquid reserve of DKK 25 million (€3.3 billion) for participating in a capital increase of Novo Nordisk A/S, Novozymes A/S and other companies in which the Foundation’s wholly owned subsidiary Novo A/S owns a significant stake.

The Foundation’s ambition is to increase the annual amount paid out while simultaneously expanding its oper-ational and administrative competencies. The Foundation continually strives to maintain highly professional assess-ment of applications within existing and new grant areas in accordance with the Foundation’s aim of supporting projects of the highest quality and world-class research.

STRATEGIC GOALSIn 2014, the Board of the Foundation adopted a series of goals for the activities of the Foundation.

The Foundation thus has an overall societal goal covering all the its activities. In addition, the Foundation has three strategic goals for its commercial activities and six stra-tegic goals for its grant-awarding activities.

The goals reflect the fact that the Foundation takes its responsibility seriously and continually strives to support

research, thereby contributing to creating a knowledge-based society that contributes to long-term economic activity and creating jobs with the aim of improving people’s health and welfare.

The Foundation’s grants and investment comply with the strategic goals.

SOCIETAL GOALS

COMMERCIAL GOALS

GOALS FOR GRANT ACTIVITIES

THE FOUNDATION’S STRATEGIC GOALS

With Denmark as the Foundation’s centre of gravity the prime focus is:

To promote world-class research and innovation in the medical, biotechnological and natural sciences and help to foster a world-class educa-tion system

To help to develop a knowledge-based society that contributes to long-term economic activity and job creation for improving general health and welfare.

Be a strong owner of the companies in the Novo Group

Generate attractive investment returns for the Foundation on its financial investment portfolio

Make investments with the main goal of promo-ting knowledge and world-class research

Strengthen biomedical and biotechnology research in selected fields

Fuel cross-disciplinarity

Advance individual scientific excellence

Spur imagination, inspiration and knowledge about science and technology

Build bridges between scientific discoveries and their commercial applications

Achieve social and humanitarian impact

THE FOUNDATION IN THE LONG TERM


2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0

The columns show the amounts awarded.

The curve shows the amounts paid out.

Since some grants extend over periods up to 10 years, the money for such grants is paid out over several years rather than as a lump sum in the year the grant is awarded.

BILLIONS OF DANISH KRONER

ANNUAL GRANTS AWARDED AND PAID OUT BY THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION


THE FOUNDATION’S GRANTS

HOW THE FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANTSThe Novo Nordisk Foundation awards funds in areas that are specified in its Articles of Association – and espe-cially for research within biomedicine and biotechnology carried out in public institutions.

The Foundation supports research of the highest inter-national calibre. The Foundation’s ambition is that the grants facilitate the emergence of new, original frontline research in the Nordic countries and that dynamic inter-national research environments develop that can attract and retain the very best researchers.

Grants are awarded in four categories.

1: Open competition The Foundation awards grants for research based on applications submitted to the Foundation’s scientific committees in open competition. 2: Research centresThe Foundation supports a cluster of prominent interna-tional research centres at public knowledge institutions in and around Copenhagen.

3: Stand-alone grantsThe Foundation awards funds to a range of short- and long-term research-related stand-alone activities. The themes are broad – including developing scientific talent, diabetes and cancer rehabilitation – and cover research, education, communication and inspirational projects.

4: Humanitarian and social causesThe Foundation supports activities at the Steno Diabetes Center and at recognized charitable organizations that work to promote the health and welfare of people.

All decisions on research grants made by the Board of the Foundation are based on expert assessment of the applications received.

FULL PUBLISHING FREEDOMAll grants are awarded such that researchers have full publishing freedom and can decide their research prior-ities. No company in the Novo Nordisk Foundation Group

COMMITMENT

PROFESSIONALISM

RESPECT

TRUST

In awarding grants, we strive to contribute significantly to research and development that improves the health and welfare of people, and we believe that research benefits the development of society.

In awarding grants, we consult with experts to ensure that the research we support is of the highest international quality with the aim of generating new in-depth knowledge and innovation.

In awarding grants, we take an international perspective; we support free and independent research and publishing freedom.

In awarding grants, we trust that researchers will strive to ensure that the results of their re-search will benefit as many people as possible.

has preferential access to the research results funded by grants from the Foundation. The Foundation’s active sup-port of free and independent research should be viewed as supplementing government-funded research at public research institutions.

The Foundation also supports the development of appli-cation-oriented research discoveries that have commer-cial potential with the aim of supporting the formation of new biotechnology companies in Denmark and the Nordic region.

The Foundation bases its grants on a set of values ex-pressed in four cornerstones: commitment, profession-alism, respect and trust. The Foundation informs every recipient of a research grant about these. Further, grant recipients agree to abide by the Foundation’s standards for good research practice and thus to use the funding responsibly.

CORNERSTONES IN THE FOUNDATION’S GRANT ACTIVITIES


HOW THE FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANTS

BIRGITTE NAUNTOFTE, CEO, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

We support free and independent research of the highest quality especially research at universities and hospitals. The research results belong to the researchers and the public research institutions".

RESPECTTRUST

PROFESSIONALISMCOMMITMENT


The Novo Nordisk Foundation has a long history of awarding grants to high-quality researchers and re-search projects on the advice of its scientific commit-tees. The funds are awarded based on applications in open competition. Over the years, the Foundation has increased the number of funding areas so that, today, the Novo Nordisk Foundation has 35 award instruments and 13 committees on which almost 50 experts from Denmark and the other Nordic countries serve.

In 2014, the Foundation received about 1,300 appli-cations for grants, including research projects, scholar-ships and research leader programmes. The Board of the Foundation sets the rules of procedure and the annual framework for the work of each of the commit-tees, including the specific instruments and the grant amounts for these. In 2014, the Foundation awarded more than DKK 640 million (€53.7 million) to 237 grants for research based on applications received in open competition.

QUALITY OF THE GRANTSThe committees serve as the Foundation’s window to the research communities. Committee members are active researchers: experts in their fields with a valu-able overview of a research field, often supplemented by experience gained as members of research councils or academic assessment committees. The various com-mittees are therefore very qualified to assess the quality, originality and feasibility of projects.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has formulated guidelines for eligibility to ensure that all applications are assessed impartially. The quality of a research project determines if the project achieves a grant.

SCIENCE AT THE CENTREThe primary grant area of the Novo Nordisk Founda-tion is the health sciences. The Foundation’s two oldest and largest committees award grants in this area. The Committee on Medical and Natural Sciences Research awards funds for projects and scholarships for basic bio-medical and clinical research in Denmark, and the Nor-dic Research Committee awards funds for projects and scholarships in experimental physiological, endocrino-logical and metabolic research in the Nordic countries.

The Foundation’s other expert committees award funds for research within biomedicine and biotechnol-ogy; innovation; nursing research; general practice and family medicine; and art history and art.

In 2014, the Foundation awarded six honorary prizes to reward individuals for outstanding research efforts, teaching or other efforts that support research and the natural and health sciences. The prizes are awarded through the Foundation’s committees or in collabora-tion with scientific societies and organizations. In 2015, three new prizes are being added.

THE FOUNDATION’S COMMITTEES

AN OPEN WINDOW TO THE WORLD

The Foundation awards research money in open competition on the advice of its special expert committees.


COMMITTEE ON MEDICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCES RESEARCH

NORDIC RESEARCH COMMITTEE

COMMITTEE ON GENERAL PRACTICE ANDFAMILY MEDICINE RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON NURSING RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON EXPLORATORY PRE-SEED GRANTS

COMMITTEE ON NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION LAUREATE RESEARCH GRANTS

COMMITTEE ON NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNERGY PROGRAMME

COMMITTEE ON NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATIONCHALLENGE PROGRAMME

COMMITTEE ON BIOTECHNOLOGY-BASED SYNTHESIS AND PRODUCTION RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON ART HISTORY RESEARCH

COMMITTEE ON ART HISTORY RESEARCH – MADS ØVLISEN SCHOLARSHIPS

NOVO NORDISK PRIZE COMMITTEE

NOVOZYMES PRIZE COMMITTEE

THE COMMITTEES


GRANTS AWARDED IN OPEN COMPETITION

The Novo Nordisk Foundation’s committees focus on identifying and supporting the most talented researchers and the best research projects. This is carried out through a range of grants awarded annually to individual researchers based on the applications received.

RESEARCH LEADER PROGRAMMESThese grants are awarded to resear-chers at the managerial level – to both young researchers, who are about to establish their first research group, and established researchers at the professor l evel. The grants are awarded based on the merits of the researcher and an as-sessment of the quality and potential of the research project that the applicant intends to carry out.

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPSThe Foundation’s research scholarships and fellowships are awarded as salary to the applicant and for operating costs.They are awarded based on the merits of the researcher and an assessment of the research project that the applicant intends to carry out.

PROJECT GRANTSProject grants are provided for carrying out a research project and cover such expenses as operating costs, equipment and salaries for scientific and technical staff. The funds are awarded based on assessment of the project’s quality and the merits of the applicant.

A BROAD RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES

14 NOVO NORDISK FONDEN

AMOUNT IN DKK DURATION FIELD

4–12 MONTHS

1–3 YEARS

1–3 YEARS

1–3 YEARS

1–3 YEARS

1 YEAR

BIOTECHNOLOGY/BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

NURSING RESEARCH

ART HISTORY RESEARCH

PROJECT GRANTS 2015

POOL OF 12 MILLION

POOL OF 64.5 MILLION

POOL OF 50 MILLION

POOL OF 25 MILLION

POOL OF 1.5 MILLION

POOL OF 1 MILLION

EXPLORATORY PRE-SEED GRANT

ENDOCRINOLOGY AND EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY RESEARCH

MEDICAL AND NATURAL SCIENCE RESEARCH

BIOTECHNOLOGY-BASED SYNTHESIS AND PRODUCTION

CLINICAL NURSING RESEARCH

ART HISTORY RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

ART HISTORY, PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH AND ART AND BIO AND NATURAL SCIENCES

ART HISTORY AND PRACTICE-BASED RESEARCH

GENERAL PRACTICE AND FAMILY MEDICINE RESEARCH

NURSING RESEARCH (CO-FUNDED)

NURSING RESEARCH (CO-FUNDED)

BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2015

150,000 PER GRANT

4 MILLION PER GRANT

1.2 MILLION PER GRANT


1 MILLION PER GRANT




4 MILLION PER GRANT

PRE-GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP* AT THE FACULTIES OF HEALTH SCIENCES

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP FOR RESEARCH ABROAD

MADS ØVLISEN POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

MADS ØVLISEN PHD SCHOLARSHIP

POSTDOC FELLOWSHIP IN GENERAL PRACTICE AND FAMILY MEDICINE RESEARCH

PHD SCHOLARSHIP IN NURSING RESEARCH

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP IN NURSING RESEARCH

BIO-SAP POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

STANFORD BIO-X POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

1 YEAR

4 YEARS

2 YEARS

3 YEARS

2 YEARS

3 YEARS

3 YEARS

3 YEARS

4 YEARS

*Research year student

5 YEARS

7 YEARS

5 YEARS

5 YEARS

5 YEARS

7 YEARS

3 YEARS

6 YEARS

3 YEARS

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL AND BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

ALL GRANT CATEGORIES OF THE FOUNDATION

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

RESEARCH LEADER PROGRAMMES 2015

11 MILLION PER GRANT


5 MILLION PER GRANT


5 MILLION PER GRANT





1 The Challenge Programme is a stand-alone grant awarded through open competition and assessed by an ad hoc committee established by the Foundation.

HALLAS-MØLLER INVESTIGATOR

NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION LAUREATE RESEARCH GRANT

EXCELLENCE PROJECT

ADVANCED GRANT

CLINICIAN SCIENTIST FELLOWSHIP

YOUNG INVESTIGATOR AWARD

TANDEM PROGRAM

CHALLENGE PROGRAM

INTERDISCIPLINARY SYNERGY PROGRAM

1


Everyone is born curious, and therefore we all start our lives as researchers."

LENE ODDERSHEDE, PROFESSOR, NIELS BOHR INSTITUTE


"Major discoveries are waiting to be unearthed on the frontiers between scientific fields," says Lene Odder-shede, physics professor at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen.

In 2014, she received a 3-year grant of DKK 15 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s new Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme. The Programme provides support for innovative, high-risk interdisciplinary research which aims to use biomedical and biotechnological approaches to resolve challenges in relation to health and disease, and for improving the use of natural resources.

Lene Oddershede’s project uses metallic nanoparticles such as gold to improve the treatment of people with cancer.

"A cancer tumour has an Achilles heel. As it grows rap-idly, it creates a network of tiny capillaries that feed and supply oxygen to the tissue. When nanoparticles are in-jected into the bloodstream, some reach the tumour and are captured in and around the tumour because these particles cannot pass through the capillaries of the tu-mour," says Lene Oddershede.

"When irradiated with laser light, the nanoparticles absorb the light and become very hot, thereby burning the tumour away. We have carried out pilot experiments implanting human tumours into mice and demonstrated that laser-irradiated nanoparticles can remove tumours," she explains.

In addition, Lene Oddershede and her group are working on coating the surface of the nanoparticles with drugs, such as chemotherapy drugs, that can be released locally when heated.

"The temperature is only elevated near the nanoparticles, so the surrounding tissue is only harmed slightly. Infrared laser light by itself does not damage biological material, and this method therefore differs greatly from conven-

tional radiotherapy, which destroys all tissue in the radia-tion beam pathway," says Lene Oddershede, who thinks that this method can be useful against all types of cancer and other forms of disease that require killing cells or re-leasing drugs in a specific location in the body.

INTEGRATING SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINESThe partners in the project are: Andreas Kjær, Professor, Nuclear Medicine and PET, Rigshospitalet – Copenhagen University Hospital; Poul Martin Bendix, Associate Pro-fessor, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen; and Naomi Halas, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA. Lene Oddershede believes that interdisciplinary collaboration is needed to make major advances.

"Physicists and physicians often work separately and fo-cus on their own techniques. Synergy is lacking. Progress requires pooling resources, communicating and harness-ing each other’s expertise across scientific disciplines."

During the next 3 years, Lene Oddershede’s group plans to continue working with mice so that the new therapy becomes ready to test on humans.

"We are not sure which nanoparticles are the most suit-able to use and which type of laser beam is best. These are some of the questions we will be examining," says Lene Oddershede.

Lars Fugger, member of the Board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Chair of the Foundation’s Committee on the Interdisciplinary Synergy Programme, says:

"Exploring new paths to discover the best way forward is important. The Programme facilitates research collabora-tion between fields, which can lead to new understanding of, and answers to the important challenges in bio-medicine and biotechnology. The ambition is that the synergy will lead to new solutions that the individual fields cannot achieve independently."

MEET A GRANT RECIPIENT

EXPLORING THE FRONTIERS


KENN GERDES, PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY,FACULTY OF SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN

It is important for researchers to move as it leads to new inspiration and new dynamics."


BATTLING BACTERIA’S SECRET WEAPON


New knowledge and inspiration from abroad is continu-ally required for Denmark to lead in research.

This is why the Novo Nordisk Foundation established the Laureate Research Grants. The 7-year grants of DKK 40 million (€5.5 million) aim to bring international leading re-searchers within biomedicine and biotechnology to Den-mark and strengthen the Danish research environment.

Kenn Gerdes received one of the first of these grants nearly 2 years ago. Since then, he has gradually moved all his research activities from Newcastle University in the United Kingdom to the University of Copenhagen.

"At Newcastle, I was part of one of the world’s best mo-lecular microbiology environments. This provided me with professional knowledge and inspiration as well as insight into how scientists can help each other rather than only compete. I hope to carry forward this knowledge and way of working to my own students and other groups," says Kenn Gerdes.

This internationally renowned professor is one of the world’s leading researchers of bacterial persistence, a common cause of chronic, relapsing or even lethal infec-tions.

"Penicillin is an outstanding medicine for combating bac-teria. However, penicillin cannot kill all bacteria, often re-quiring treatment to be repeated again and again, which risks developing resistance," says Kenn Gerdes.

He explains that one reason why the bacteria stay alive is that they have a secret weapon:

"Bacteria respond when attacked by the body’s immune system. One response involves some of the bacteria going into hibernation, thereby making them unresponsive to the immune system or antibiotics. Not so many bacteria go into hibernation in the initial stages of an infection.

However, our studies have shown that later, especially when the bacteria are stressed, up to one tenth can go into hibernation."

"We have discovered that this hibernation is controlled by a particular molecule that exists in practically speaking all pathogenic bacteria. The molecule is necessary for the bacteria to produce an infection. The molecule controls the mechanisms of the bacteria, which ensures that they remain alive in the host organism."

BETTER TREATMENTKenn Gerdes’ research in Denmark is improving the un-derstanding of how these molecules trigger the bacteria to hibernate with the aim of advancing new methods for combating the recurrence of chronic infections.

"The most important thing for us is to understand the underlying process. Finding a chemical compound that can inhibit the enzyme that creates this molecule may lead us to a new antibiotic and thus better treatment options," says Kenn Gerdes, who has also recently received a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation to establish a centre of excellence to carry out further research on how bacteria enter hibernation and how they emerge again.

After 8 years in Newcastle, Kenn Gerdes was looking for-ward to arriving in Copenhagen:

"The conditions in Newcastle were excellent, but I am a Dane and I would prefer to be in Denmark’s system and help educate Danish students," he says.

Lars Fugger, member of the Board of the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Chair of the Foundation’s Committee on Laureate Research Grants, says: "Being able to attract researchers such as Kenn Gerdes is valuable for Denmark. The presence of internationally leading researchers will improve the quality of Danish research and also inspire young talented researchers."


Through their works, artists help people to reflect about the implications of new technologies."

PERNILLE LETH ESPENSEN, POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW,DEPARTMENT OF AESTHETICS AND COMMUNICATION, AARHUS UNIVERSITY


BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH


In her home in Aarhus, art historian Pernille Leth-Espensen has a drawing produced by a robotic arm. The drawing comes from the artwork MEART – the Semi-Living Artist, in which brain cells from a rat are cultured in a Petri dish with electrodes. Impulses from the cells are sent via the Internet to a robotic arm that makes the drawings there-after. The brain cells are located in a laboratory in the United States, but the robotic arm has been exhibited around the world.

"The work of art explores our perception of what con-sciousness is and the relationship between consciousness and the body. It also explores the phenomenon that a living body is not always an entity in time and space any more. In this artwork, the brain is in one place and the body is somewhere else – if we consider the robotic arm to be a body," says Pernille Leth-Espensen, a postdoctoral fellow at Aarhus University.

In 2014, the Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded Pernille Leth-Espensen a Mads Øvlisen Postdoctoral Fellowship in art and bioscience and the natural sciences. Her project will focus on artists creating living artworks with cell and tissue culture technologies. She will investigate the ways in which the artists thematize how technological devel-opment affects our understanding of the body and our conception of identity and subjectivity. In connection with this, the project will also discuss the ethical and biopoliti-cal implications to which the artworks turn our attention.

"Technology is developing extremely rapidly and has an enormous impact on our lives. As a result, we must also consider the broader philosophical and ethical implica-tions. Works of art provide a good opportunity for doing this because artists use technology differently than re-searchers and focus on aspects that are not as well known to the public," says Pernille Leth-Espensen.

MEMORIES OF A BODYOne artwork Pernille Leth-Espensen will analyse is The Vision Splendid by Australian artist Alicia King. This art-work exhibits live cells from a 13-year-old girl – 40 years after her death. King purchased the cells online and has displayed them together with small handmade glass bones in a bioreactor that drips nutrient medium on the cells to keep them alive.

"The cell lines constitute a concrete material relic of a body, but the subjectivity has disappeared. Similar to a war memorial, the artist is creating a work as an artistic monument or celebration of a person whose body is being used for scientific research," says Pernille Leth-Espensen. She adds that cell culture methods today are standard procedure in laboratories throughout the world, and people may therefore have gradually lost the ability to wonder that cells from a human body can continue to live outside that body.

During the project, Pernille Leth-Espensen will also return to SymbioticA, an art school and research laboratory at the University of Western Australia where artists have opportunities to create artworks in the laboratory. On her last visit there, she cultured cells and genetically modified bacteria.

"This practical laboratory experience is important because it provides me with better opportunities to understand and interpret the works of art," she concludes.

Peter Nørgaard Larsen, Chair of the Committee on Art History Research – Mads Øvlisen Scholarships, says:

"The encounter with bioscience challenges and enriches research in art and the humanities. We need such projects as that of Pernille Leth-Espensen, which can elucidate how this interaction affects and possibly alters our individual understanding and perception of what art is and what it can do."


JENS BUKH (LEFT), PROFESSOR, COPENHAGEN UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL, HVIDOVRE AND UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN, WINNER OF THE 2015 NOVO NORDISK PRIZE ANDBERNARD HENRISSAT, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH OF THE CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE, PARIS, FRANCE, WINNER OF THE 2015 NOVOZYMES PRIZE

The Prize will enable me to continue working intensively on my research. We are en route to cracking the carbo-hydrate code."

The fact that renowned researchers from different scientific fields value my research and believe that it has helped to improve the treatment of patients with hepatitis C and thus other people’s lives is the best reward I can get."


PRIZEWINNERS ON LONG JOURNEYS

MEET TWO PRIZEWINNERS

Bernard Henrissat and Jens Bukh took different paths to end up in research.

Bernard Henrissat was surrounded by research and new inventions from a very early age.

"As a kid, I was fascinated by the functioning of the human body, by technological developments – and by science in general. My Christmas presents included microscopes, science books and chemistry sets. My parents created the perfect environment for the development of a scientific mind," says Bernard Henrissat, who later studied chem-istry at university.

Jens Bukh grew up on a farm and wanted a job that com-bined practical and academic work.

"The obvious thing was to study veterinary medicine, but at the last minute I decided to study medicine instead. Probably because I had noticed my father’s pained look every time he got a bill from the veterinarian. I had not planned to be a researcher. That happened somewhat coincidentally," says Jens Bukh.

As a young doctor at Copenhagen University Hospital, Hvidovre, Jens Bukh was asked to browse medical jour-nals to check for possible hepatitis C virus infections. This began 25 years of successful research on hepatitis C, which causes acute and chronic hepatitis and results in more than 350,000 annual deaths globally.

Jens Bukh was the first researcher to identify that the hepatitis C virus has six major genotypes, and to define their infectious genome sequences. His studies led to novel culture systems and have been instrumental to de-veloping effective drugs, which enable the treatment and usually cure of people with chronic hepatitis C.

Bernard Henrissat’s interest in chemistry developed into a lifelong relationship with carbohydrate-active enzymes. The jewel in the crown of Bernard Henrissat’s research career has been collecting information from researchers all over the world to create a unique database covering

important enzymes and making it available to the scien-tific and industrial communities.

"The classification of enzymes in the database enables us to discover potentially interesting enzymes such as those that can make biofuel production more efficient," explains Bernard Henrissat, who is French.

PIONEERING RESEARCHAlthough their paths into research have differed, the two professors have many of the same qualities that are required to pursue a long scientific journey: they are persistent, systematic and patient and, very importantly, ambitious.

For their pioneering research, Bernard Henrissat and Jens Bukh have been awarded two of the Novo Nordisk Foun-dation’s most prestigious prizes.

Jens Bukh has received the Novo Nordisk Prize, which has been awarded since 1963 to recognize unique med-ical research or other research contributions in Denmark that benefit medical science. Bernard Henrissat is the first recipient of the Novozymes Prize, which recognizes outstanding research or technology contributions by a European researcher that benefit the development of biotechnological science. Both prizes are accompanied by DKK 3 million.

"It is an honour to receive such a major prize, especially originating in the homeland of enzyme research," says Bernard Henrissat.

Some might think that receiving these prizes could make the recipients slow down and rest on their laurels. Think again: the journey continues.

Jens Bukh, who is Director of Research of the Copen-hagen Hepatitis C Program (CO-HEP), says: "There is much research to be done. My goal is to contribute to develop-ing a hepatitis C vaccine and to a situation where each person’s virus can be cultured in the laboratory so that we can tailor future treatment to the individual patient."


GRANTS FOR RESEARCH CENTRES

PULSATING SYNERGY AND SUCCESSSince 2007, the Foundation has awarded DKK 3.3 billion (€448 million) for establishing four large research centres and the Danish National Biobank in Greater Copenhagen. The centres’ re-spective fields of research are proteins, stem cells, metabolism and biosustainability.

The Foundation aims to create a cluster of research centres that comprise outstanding knowledge environments with world-class infrastructure and research. This will make Greater Copenhagen an international beacon within bioscience research by developing and strengthening scientific com-petencies, attracting the best researchers and sowing the seeds for pioneering research results.

The vision is that the centres can contribute to solving some of the challenges threatening global health and welfare such as diabetes and the depletion of natural resources.

The grants extend over at least 10 years and therefore provide a long-term perspective. This, combined with substantial funding, is a vital ele-ment in realizing the ambitions.

The cluster of centres has been established in partnership with public research institutions that confirmed in their applications that they would

house the respective centres. The Board of the Foundation decides whether to award these grants.

GEOGRAPHICAL PROXIMITYThe cluster of research centres is located in Greater Copenhagen, where the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Den-mark and several other research institutions and university hospitals are located and where several biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are headquartered. This provides opportunities for interaction and collaboration.

One objective of the centres’ geographical prox-imity is that this will lead to a dynamic and in-novative environment capable of creating fruit-ful interdisciplinary collaboration based on the centres’ closely related scientific fields. The result is synergy in the form of mutual inspiration and knowledge sharing, which neither the centres nor the individual research groups could other-wise achieve on their own.

In 2012, as part of its strategy of making Copen-hagen a hub for research in the biosciences, the Foundation established the Copenhagen Biosci-ence Conferences.

The Foundation supports a cluster of research centres with the purpose of making Copenhagen an international hub for bioscience research within selected fields.


STEN SCHEIBYE, CHAIR OF THE BOARD, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

The aim of awarding these very large grants is to create a cluster of research centres that can attract and retain the

world’s best researchers, thereby creating the basis for an internationally oriented

and innovative research environment of the highest quality to benefit society."


RESEARCH CENTRE


THE FOUNDATION’S GRANTSJIRI LUKAS, PROFESSOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION CENTER FOR PROTEIN RESEARCH

The Centre has huge potential and provides fantastic opportunities for protein researchers at all levels of career development."

The state of a cell at any given time is reflected in its protein composition. Cell behaviour is largely determined by which proteins the cell produces, how these proteins are modified and how they functionally interact with each other.

Protein-related technologies can potentially be even more revolutionary than genomic approaches for understanding the complex wiring of biological systems and disease processes, but concerted efforts are required to realize this potential. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research aims to assemble all of the required technologies under the same roof at the highest level of excellence.

The vision of the Center is to be the world’s lead-ing center in integrative protein technologies and their application to accelerate understanding of the biological processes underlying health and disease. This is achieved by developing integrated protein technology platforms and management systems for large heterogeneous data to advance the understanding of complex protein networks in fundamental biology and disease, educating the next generation of top-tier protein scientists and becoming an unmatched global partner in protein research.

SYNERGY THROUGH COLLABORATIONThe Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research focuses on four major and complemen-tary research programmes (proteomics, protein structure, protein signalling and disease systems biology), each of which is supported by state-of-the-art protein technology platforms (mass spec-trometry, protein production and characteriza-tion, protein imaging and big data management).

The advantage of assembling this knowledge and technology under one roof is the possibility of creating synergy through collaboration across research groups and programmes. Researchers at the Center also collaborate with many partners in Denmark and some of the best laboratories worldwide in both the public and private sectors.

Jiri Lukas, Executive Director of the Center, says: "Combining cutting-edge protein technologies, big data management and a strong emphasis on mechanistic understanding of protein function enables us to compete at the highest internation-al level in deciphering how proteins function in cells and tissues in health and disease."

"Our focus on protein technology also provides an excellent education portfolio for young and ambitious protein scientists and prepares them for top positions both in academia and industry," says Jiri Lukas.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research was established in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen. In 2007, the Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded a 10-year grant of DKK 600 million (€80.7 million) to the Univer-sity to establish and operate the Center, which opened in 2009. 140 persons currently work at the Center, many of whom have been recruited from outside Denmark.

In 2014, the Foundation awarded the University an additional grant of DKK 180 million (€24 mil-lion) to extend and further strengthen the activ-ities of the Center through 2019.

TAKING PROTEIN RESEARCH TO THE NEXT LEVEL


RESEARCH CENTRE


TORBEN KLEIN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION CENTER FOR BASIC METABOLIC RESEARCH

We do not deliver the ordinary or confirm the familiar. We strive to be innovative and create the unexpected – preferably knowledge that can revolutionize the battles against such global threats as obesity and diabetes."

UNDERSTANDING DIABETES AND OBESITYDiabetes and obesity are among the most rapidly growing global health problems. Type 2 diabetes can lead to incapacitating damage to people’s eyes, kidneys, heart and brain. About 370 million people worldwide have type 2 diabetes, and this number is expected to rise to more than 550 mil-lion in 2030. Nearly 275,000 people in Denmark have been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and estimates indicate that almost the same number of people have type 2 diabetes without knowing it.

The overarching research goal of the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research is to understand the causes of diabetes and obesity by studying the molecular mechanisms underlying the development of these metabolic conditions. The Center’s researchers investigate how the in-teraction between genes and environment affects the human metabolism, including the regulation of the body’s energy expenditure and how factors such as gut bacteria and physical exercise affect metabolic health. The aim of these investigations is to create a basis for developing new ways of preventing and treating diabetes and obesity.

OPTIMIZING KNOWLEDGE SHARINGThe Center strives for excellence in research and education related to metabolic diseases and aims to establish itself as a leading global centre for basic metabolic research.

The Center focuses on the following aspects of how human genes and the environment influence metabolism:

• discovering and validating potential novel methods of treatment and prevention based on human genes and gut bacteria;

• using epigenetics and nutrient signalling to develop the molecular and cellular understanding of how changing people’s diet, weight and level of physical activity can prevent and treat type 2 diabetes;

• studying hormones in the human gut and how they sense nutrients and metabolites as a basis for developing better ways to treat people with type 2 diabetes and obesity; and

• developing new and innovative methods for imaging the regulation of glucose and fat me-tabolism by the human liver and muscles to study how this changes among people with insulin re-sistance and type 2 diabetes.

Torben Klein, Managing Director of the Center, says: "The Center has established research alli-ances with leading research groups at universities worldwide to optimize international knowledge sharing and generate synergy. This will reinforce our research in the future."

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research was established in collabor-ation with the University of Copenhagen. In 2010, the Novo Nordisk Foundation awarded a 10-year grant of DKK 885 million (€119 million) to estab-lish and operate the Center. It opened the same year and today 199 persons work there.


Over the years, Denmark has built up unique nationwide registries with detailed information about all residents. At the same time, Denmark’s health care system has routinely collected biologi-cal material from many individuals.

The Danish National Biobank at Statens Serum Institut gives scientists a comprehensive overview of and access to millions of biological samples in Denmark’s health care system for the first time. In addition, these can be linked with information from the nationwide registries. This will give re-searchers new opportunities for investi gating why disease occurs and how to prevent and treat it.

DETAILED INFORMATIONThe Danish National Biobank is a project with three strands: the Danish National Biobank Registry, a large physical Biobank and a coordinating centre.

The Biobank Registry will contain detailed infor-mation on samples consisting of blood, tissue and DNA. For example, a researcher can find blood samples from people with cancer – taken before they developed the disease – and can use the samples to study markers for the later develop-ment of the disease.

The ultramodern 2400-m² physical Biobank is one of the world’s largest and includes a gigantic freezer room in which robots store, retrieve and deliver the biological samples. The coordinating centre staff are experts at managing and process-ing the biological material and will advise and as-sist researchers on issues arising from the use of the Biobank Registry and the physical Biobank.

Mads Melbye, Director of the Danish National Biobank, says: "The Danish National Biobank will strengthen Denmark’s research infrastructure and create new perspectives for health science research and international research collabor-ation. Denmark’s system of committees on health research ethics will assess all research projects before they permit the biological material from an individual to be linked with information from the nationwide registries."

The Danish National Biobank was established in collaboration with Statens Serum Institut. In 2009–2010, the Foundation awarded a 10-year grant of DKK 118 million (€15.9 million) to establish and operate the Biobank. It opened in 2012. Other contributors to establishing the Biobank include Denmark’s Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education and the Lundbeck Foundation.

HOME TO THE ENTIRE DANISH POPULATION

MADS MELBYE, PROFESSOR AND EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, STATENS SERUM INSTITUT AND DIRECTOR OF THE DANISH NATIONAL BIOBANK

The Danish National Biobank will become the mother of all freezers in Denmark, with the capacity to store 30 million biological samples consisting of blood, tissue and DNA. This will lay the foundation for many important future research results related to preventing and treating disease."


BIOBANK


HENRIK SEMB, PROFESSOR AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION SECTION FOR BASIC STEM CELL BIOLOGY

Pluripotent stem cells can develop into almost any type of cells in the human body, such as brain, blood and skin cells. Because many serious diseases result from conditions in which cells are absent or malfunctioning, considerable thera-peutic potential can be harvested if researchers can understand and mimic the development from stem cells into specialized cells.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Section for Basic Stem Cell Biology (BasicStem) is one of two sec-tions of the Danish Stem Cell Center (DanStem). The Section conducts basic research within de-velopmental, stem cell and molecular biology. Research topics include how to induce stem cells to differentiate into certain types of cells and the specific role of cancer stem cells in develop-ing different types of cancer. The ambition is to generate knowledge that will form the basis for developing more targeted and efficient therapies for diabetes and cancer.

The Section comprises nine internationally renowned research groups, including five re - cruited from Sweden, Switzerland, Scotland, England and the United States. All groups have well- established global networks and partici-pate actively in numerous international research projects.

DanStem’s other section, the Section for Stra- te gic Translational Stem Cell Research and Therapy (TransStem), is supported by the Danish Council for Strategic Research and industry partners. TransStem’s overall aim is to translate promising new research results into the active development of new therapies.

INTERDISCIPLINARITYHenrik Semb, Professor and Managing Director of DanStem, says: "We aim to make important discoveries in basic stem cell research. The Center is also active in educating the next generation of stem cell scientists working both in basic and clinical research, whom we hope will challenge the current scientific dogmas and become the future leaders within the field."

The Foundation established the Section for Basic Stem Cell Biology in collaboration with the Uni-versity of Copenhagen. In 2010, the Foundation awarded a 10-year grant of DKK 350 million (€47 million) to establish and operate the Section. Of this grant, DKK 30 million is reserved for national research collaboration. The Section opened in 2011 and today 110 persons work there.

TAMING STEM CELLS

What attracts me is the enormous challenge involved in developing a stem cell centre that has a real potential to compete with the rest of the world."


RESEARCH CENTRE


Plastic bags, toys, food ingredients and many other products are manufactured from chemical materials based on oil or extracted from plants. Nevertheless, this depletes natural resources and is not sustainable.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Bio-sustainability is the world’s first interdisciplinary research centre within biosustainability. The Center’s ambition is to develop new knowledge and technology that can support the transform-ation from an oil-based chemical industry to a more sustainable biobased industry producing chemicals using highly specialized cell cultures: cell factories. This transformation requires that biobased industrial chemical production can com-pete commercially.

The Center’s research focuses on obtaining the knowledge required to design and construct cell factories for biobased production. In applied and engineering science, the Center will carry out research into new innovative technologies that can significantly reduce the costs of developing cell factories, thereby improving the competitiveness of biobased production. At a more basic science level, the Center investigates which chemicals can be produced biologically. The Center also investigates how to develop robust cell factories for efficiently producing pharmaceuticals.

The Center collaborates with the world’s leading researchers in this field and has entered into strategic alliances with universities in the United States, Sweden, South Korea and Denmark. The Center offers a unique international research

envi ronment with the research depth and breadth that is essential to achieve its goals. The Center gives high priority to innovation and therefore collaborates with biotechnology com-panies and the chemical industry to promote knowledge exchange and application of the Center’s results. Society thereby benefits from the Center’s activities. Production based on cell fac-tories comprises about 40% of the gross added value of industry in Denmark, with many food and pharmaceutical products being produced using specially designed microorganisms.

FOCUS ON TALENTFurther, the Center emphasizes educating and developing talent within this field. One initiative is a new PhD programme that will train future re-searchers to become leaders and pioneers within sustainable industry.

"Humanity needs to find ways of living more sus-tainably to slow the depletion of natural resources . Using cell factories is a fundamental aspect of this process. Denmark has a strong position in indus-trial biotechnology, and ultimately we want to strengthen this position in the biologically based society of the future," says Bernhard Palsson, Professor and CEO of the Center.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded more than DKK 1.1 billion (€150 million) to the Technical University of Denmark to establish and operate the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosus-tainability until at least 2020. The Center opened in 2011 and has 235 employees.

BIOBASED PERSPECTIVE ON THE WORLD

BERNHARD PALSSON, PROFESSOR AND CEO, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION CENTER FOR BIOSUSTAINABILITY

Biosustainability represents a major socioeconomic driver in the coming decades. Designing, constructing and optimizing cell factories are decisive challenges. The Center aims to be one of the world’s leading institutions in this field."


HENRIK SEMB, PROFESSOR AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION SECTION FOR BASIC STEM CELL BIOLOGY

We train the younger scientists by showing them that we can do things differently. We thus hope to change conventional thinking and make things better."


MEET A CENTRE LEADER

Every Thursday, all employees at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Section for Basic Stem Cell Biology (BasicStem) get together in a meeting room at the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. The research groups present their latest findings and current projects. They discuss and support one another with good advice. This is an obvious routine for any research centre but is actually rare.

"I have worked in many places in my career, and I have not experienced such a community since I was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cali-fornia at San Francisco," says Henrik Semb, leader of BasicStem.

Henrik Semb is a Swedish professor who was hired in 2011 to direct and start up a stem cell research centre of the highest international standard in Co-penhagen. He immediately saw the opportunity to do things differently.

"I saw it as an opportunity to rethink what a re-search centre is all about. We have always aimed to base the Center on collaboration and synergy."

"Many research environments are conservative and very hierarchical. The individual research groups may be very strong, but they do not in-teract. They are afraid to share data. We want to create a new norm and demonstrate that collabo-ration and trust are better," says Henrik Semb.

FOCUS ON BASIC RESEARCHBasicStem opened in 2011 as part of the Danish Stem Cell Center at the University of Copenhagen based on a 10-year grant of DKK 350 million from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. The Center per-forms basic research within developmental, stem cell and molecular biology. According to Henrik Semb, the fact that the Center has been given time and funds to perform proper basic research without demands for applied results is paramount.

"Look at the winners of Nobel Prizes. Their dis-coveries do not emerge based on government in-vestment in therapeutic or other applied research. Excellent researchers make these discoveries in a research environment in which they can focus on their interests. History shows that this is the optimal way to conduct research. The Novo Nor-disk Foundation investing in this way is absolutely fantastic."

"The substantial funding has enabled us to recruit top scientists from Denmark and elsewhere. This requires considerable money, since such scientists already have secure jobs. Convincing them re-quired being able to offer them competitive long-term funding and an interesting vision."

"We should not be doing humdrum research. We must strive for pioneering results," says Henrik Semb, a professor of human stem cell biology.

So far, scientists from the Danish Stem Cell Center, the umbrella group that includes BasicStem, have published nearly 100 scientific articles in recog-nized scientific journals such as Nature, Science and Cell.

NEW TRADITIONSIn general, BasicStem does everything enthusi-astically. Creating a well-functioning community is the most important achievement. The weekly meetings demonstrate this philosophy. Henrik Semb adds:

"For me, the high point of the week is listening to people talking about their projects and everybody providing suggestions and good advice."

"We train the younger scientists by showing them that we can do things differently. We thus hope to change conventional thinking and make things better."

COMMUNITY IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS


ROOM FOR SCIENTIFIC DEBATEThe Copenhagen Bioscience Conferences are a series of scientific conferences within biomedicine and bio-technology. Over four days, they bring together top researchers and young talent from all over the world to discuss the latest scientific results and exciting ideas within a particular field. The purpose of the Confer-ences is to enable participants to build and expand their international network and to exchange knowledge and ideas in order to strengthen their future research.

The Conferences are open to researchers at all career levels. Attendance is by application, and the primary selection criteria are scientific accomplishment and a willingness to participate actively during the conference.

TRUST AND OPENNESS To promote a relaxed, trusting and open atmosphere, each conference limits the number of participants, in-cluding the speakers, to 150–250. The Conferences are held less than 1 hour north of Copenhagen Interna-tional Airport in surroundings specifically reserved for conference participants.

No commercial activities or products and services are promoted.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has initiated the Confer-ences and pays for all accommodation, transport and meals during the Conferences. Participants cover their own travel expenses. Delegates from low- and middle-income countries may apply for a travel grant.

Each of the centres in the Novo Nordisk Foundation’s cluster of research centres takes turns in arranging and hosting a conference together with the Foundation. The individual centre chooses the theme of the conference. The Foundation is planning two conferences annually; the first took place in June 2012. Since then, more than 1000 researchers have participated.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES

By hosting the Copenhagen Bioscience Conferences, the Foundation strives to organize some of the world’s best conferences within biomedicine and biotechnology.


JAY KEASLINGProfessor, Joint BioEnergy Institute, Berkeley, United States and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, speaker, third Conference.

RINKI MURPHYSenior Lecturer, Department of Medicine,University of Auckland, New Zealand, participant, fourth Conference.

MEHDI TOTONCHIPostdoctoral Fellow, Royan Institute, Iran, participant, fifth Conference.

ELISABETH M. STORCK PhD Fellow, Imperial College, London, UK, participant, second Conference.

INÊS CHENEditor, Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, United States, participant, sixth Conference.

ELLY TANAKA Professor, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany, speaker, first Conference.

"The talks were really amazing.

The scientists were discussing their newest

research in a very open way, and that

allowed us to think in new directions

that we had not thought about before."

"You really do feel that even if you are not too

experienced you still have a place, and people are

interested in what you have to say. I take home new

contacts and I take home new ideas."

"For an editor it is the ideal setting. It was nice to have a

dedicated place for the people to come and ask questions

[the Editors’ Corner]. I have talked to people, expressed

my journal’s interests – and I hope that when the stories

are ready, the participants will send them to us."

"The location of the Conference is just

fantastic. The conference center is so nicely

done, and it helps people to be creative."

"The quality of the presentations has been

amazing, and the opportunity to comment and ask

questions – not only in the sessions but afterwards

– has been a lot greater than at some of the bigger

scientific meetings I generally go to."

"It is very interactive. You can easily find the

speakers and other interesting people, because

they are here all day and willing to talk."


STAND-ALONE GRANTS

INSPIRATION, INNOVATION AND EDUCATION The Board of the Foundation continuously gives priority to awarding grants to projects with a specific theme the Foundation considers important. These are called stand-alone grants.

The topics for the projects are extremely broad, including talent development, rehabilitation of people with cancer and diabetes research. Each project is funded for up to 5 years. These grants are often awarded in collaboration with both private and public partners.

One of the Foundation’s largest stand-alone grants is the Novo Nordisk Foundation Challenge Programme, established in 2014. The Programme aims to encourage and facilitate world-class research focusing on finding answers to important challenges in biotechnology or health.

The Board of the Foundation decides on the themes of the programme, which vary from year to year. To ensure that the best project proposals and teams of researchers are considered, the grants are awarded based on appli-cations in open competition that are peer-reviewed by a special expert committee. The research groups receiving these major grants of DKK 60 million over 6 years will thus have the long-term financial security to carry out in-depth research on a specific topic. The projects must be based at a public-sector or university-based research institution in Denmark.

The themes in 2014 were research into preventing dia-betes and obesity and research into the complications of diabetes and, extraordinarily, DKK 240 million was awarded. In the future, two grants will be awarded an-

nually. The themes in 2015 are research into the human microbiome and plant microbiome respectively.

SUPPORTING THE WHOLE RESEARCH CHAINAlthough most of the grants are allocated directly to re-search, the Foundation also supports other activities in Denmark that take place earlier in the research chain. In this way, the Foundation helps inspire and enthuse young people and students at primary and lower-secondary schools, upper-secondary schools and at universities and contributes to promoting interest in the natural sciences and research among the general public.

One Foundation initiative aimed at young people is sup-port for the International Biology Olympiad (IBO2015) in Denmark, at which secondary students from all over the world will be competing to solve both theoretical and practical biology assignments. The aim is to stimulate interest in the natural sciences, inspire the most gifted students and present Denmark as a well-functioning and attractive country for talented young people interested in biology from all over the world.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded DKK 4 mil-lion to cover the costs of holding the Olympiad, for de-veloping and carrying out the experimental assignments in the finals and for the subsequent national knowledge sharing and talent development.

Overall, the distinctive feature of the Foundation’s stand-alone grants is that they are ambitious and have promis-ing potential. The Foundation awards grants based on the applications received and after peer review of the relevant research activities.

The stand-alone grants of the Novo Nordisk Foundation support numerous ambitious projects that are important for research. The broad range of fields covers research, educational and communication projects.


EMILIA WODZKA,DTU STUDENT

JOHAN REEH, 7TH GRADER, INGRID JESPERSENS GYMNASIESKOLE, COPENHAGEN

Taking part in the Young Scientists competition provided really good insight into what engineers and researchers do."


TOMORROW’S INVENTORS

EXAMPLE OF A STAND-ALONE GRANT

The Young Scientists natural science talent competi-tion proves that innovative research extends beyond the professors at Denmark’s universities. In recent years, thousands of students attending Denmark’s primary and lower-secondary schools and upper-secondary schools have competed on inventiveness and good ideas.

Johan Reeh was a primary and lower-secondary student in 5th grade when he took part in his first Young Scien-tists competition in 2013 with a project on insulation. He had built a cardboard oven measuring 12 by 12 by 12 cm and used a heating coil with current flowing through it to measure the insulating properties of various materials.

"I used seaweed, newspaper, cotton wool and polystyr-ene foam as insulation. I put a 2-cm layer around the oven and measured how well the material kept the oven warm while it heated up and cooled down. Polystyrene foam was best in the heating phase and newspaper best in the cooling phase," explains Johan Reeh, who won third place for his project.

"I wanted to find an eco-friendly insulating material, es-pecially for buildings. Something that is not toxic, such as asbestos, which was used in the 1970s. I got the idea about seaweed from the island of Læso, which has sea-weed roofs, and I wanted to measure its insulating prop-erties. Seaweed came in third in the heating phase and was in a tie for second place in the cooling phase," says Johan Reeh, who is now 13 years old and in 7th grade at Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole in Copenhagen. He also took part in the Young Scientists competition in 2014.

DEVELOPING TALENTSThe Young Scientists competition seeks to discover, stim-ulate and develop talent and increase the interest of chil-dren and adolescents in Denmark in the natural sciences, technology and innovation. The competition has espe-cially grown in recent years, with 1200 projects registered in 2014. The Novo Nordisk Foundation has awarded DKK 15 million to the Young Scientists competition since 2011.

Participating in the Young Scientists competition con-tributed to the decision 20-year-old Emila Wodzka made about her future education. She participated in the Young Scientists competition in 2013 with a project on using lithium-air batteries in electric cars. These batteries have great capacity but react with carbon dioxide, reduc-ing their output.

"The project focused on measuring the effect of carbon dioxide and on installing a purification system to exam-ine whether investing time and money in developing bat-teries would make sense," she explains.

"I actually developed the project for fun. I never consid-ered that I might enter the academic world and continue working with the project, but after competing in Young Scientists, I decided to study at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Following the competition, I realized that I would like to go into research," says Emilia Wodz-ka, who took the first prize in the technology category and therefore competed in two international research talent competitions.

"It was great meeting so many people with interests similar to mine and great to test whether I would be qualified. The process has developed me considerably," says Emilia Wodzka, who is studying software techno-logy at DTU.

The Young Scientists competition also brought extra focus on natural sciences for Johan Reeh. He is planning to choose a line of study in the natural sciences when he attends upper-secondary school. But why is being involved in research so exciting? Johan Reeh is clear:

"Because the world needs it. At some point, humans will not be able to live if it gets too hot. The polar ice will melt and the sea level will rise. We need to find another way that will reduce the burden on the environment," he says.


GRANTS FOR HUMANITARIAN AND SOCIAL CAUSES


The Novo Nordisk Foundation awards most of its grants for health science research but also provides funds towards the operating costs of the Steno Diabetes Cen-ter and other social and humanitarian causes.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation grants DKK 30.4 million (€4.05 million) annually towards co-funding the operat-ing costs of Steno Diabetes Center, the research hospi-tal of Novo Nordisk A/S for which the Foundation has funding responsibilities under the terms of its Articles of Association.

John Nolan, CEO of Steno Diabetes Center: "The Steno Diabetes Center aims to become a global leader within diabetes treatment and translational research focusing on prevention and the early stages of diabetes. We are organized in four departments that cover patient care, research, education and health promotion, so we cover the entire spectrum of diabetes. This makes the Center a unique place with considerable international impact."

RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONIn addition to funding the operation of the hospital, the Foundation awards annual grants for research and edu-cation projects under the auspices of the Steno Diabetes Center. The Health Promotion Research Department has been awarded DKK 10 million (€1.3 million) for 2015 and is based on the motto "participation creates action com-petence". The Department focuses on some of the great-est diabetes-related challenges: lifestyles and attitudes. Novo Nordisk A/S and the Novo Nordisk Foundation co-fund the Department.

For 2015, the Foundation has also awarded DKK 11.9 million (€1.58 million) for the STAR Programme and DKK 18.8 million (€2.5 million) for the REACH Programme, which train health care personnel in relation to diabetes in low- and middle-income countries. The Center’s

Education Department manages these programmes.Overall, the Foundation's support for the Steno Diabetes Center is increasing from DKK 60.4 million (€8.02 mil-lion) in 2014 to DKK 71.1 million (€9.45 million) in 2015.

In addition to its support for the Steno Diabetes Center, the Foundation awarded DKK 3 million in 2014 to support other humanitarian and social causes. In this respect, the Foundation ensures that the organizations it supports focus on people’s health and welfare, are recognized and file publicly available audited accounts. The Founda-tion awards grants for humanitarian and social causes to projects that promote the welfare of people in Denmark and the rest of the world. In 2015, up to DKK 5 million will be awarded for these purposes.

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE

Every year, the Novo Nordisk Foundation supports a range of social and humanitarian causes as laid down in the Articles of Association. These include the Steno Diabetes Center and several charitable organizations.

IN 2014, THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION AWARDED DKK 3 MILLION IN GRANTS TO THE FOLLOWING HUMANITARIAN AND NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS:

DKK 500,000

DKK 400,000

DKK 300,000

DKK 300,000

DKK 300,000

DKK 250,000

DKK 200,000

DKK 200,000

DKK 175,000

DKK 150,000

DKK 150,000

DKK 75,000

MÉDECINS SANS FRONTIÈRES DENMARK

DANISH RED CROSS

UNICEF DANMARK

BØRNEFONDEN

THE SOLDIERS’ GRANT

YMCA SOLDIERS’ HOME

ENGINEERS WITHOUT BORDERS DENMARK

DANISH REFUGEE COUNCIL

MATERNITY WORLDWIDE

SAVE THE CHILDREN DENMARK

CHILDREN’S WELFARE IN DENMARK

DENTAL HEALTH WITHOUT BORDERS


Every Sunday, Martin Ridderstråle, Head of Clinic at Steno Diabetes Center, sends an email to almost 100 em-ployees. The email contains both historical patient data and data on the patients who are visiting the clinic in the coming week.

"These are not just data from a computer," says Martin Ridderstråle.

"These data come from real people whom we will be examining in the flesh. This week 339 patients will be consulting a doctor at Steno," explains Martin Ridder-stråle, pointing at the monitor.

"Achieving a common sense of the situation is impor-tant. We call this alignment, meaning that we work as a team with a common purpose. Although we may be very experienced and competent in treatment, my experience shows that we can get confused if we do not have a common direction," he adds.

Steno Diabetes Center is a specialized diabetes clinic that annually treats about 5600 people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The Clinic is an integrated part of Denmark’s publicly funded health care system and treats patients from the Capital Region of Denmark, one of Denmark’s five administrative regions.

At the Steno Clinic, treatment is based on a close work-ing relationship between the various types of health care workers – always with the patient in focus.

"We have several interdisciplinary meetings each week at which nurses, doctors, dietitians and podiatrists jointly discuss a specific patient. Our teams are not organized by profession but are based on a patient’s needs," says Martin Ridderstråle, who has headed the Clinic since March 2013.

"We can also offer patients the opportunity to meet a group of therapists collectively: typically a younger and older doctor, a nurse and a dietitian. This situation is ideal

because it involves all five people discussing how to find a solution. This is not only good for patients but also for the employees, who learn from each other and develop competencies," says Martin Ridderstråle.

Only 7% of the people with type 2 diabetes are manag-ing their diabetes well at the first consultation, but after participating in a 9-month programme at Steno Diabetes Center, 32% manage well the three important param-eters: blood sugar, blood pressure and blood lipids.

INDIVIDUAL WEB PAGESThe innovative approach to patient care led to the in-dependent magazine Dagens Medicin awarding Steno the Golden Scalpel Award (Den Gyldne Skalpel) in 2014 for its efforts in developing interdisciplinary and effective care pathways based on an individual patient’s data and personal resources.

"You have succeeded in improving the quality of care for each individual with diabetes so it fits their lives," said Nick Hækkerup, Denmark’s Minister for Health, at the award ceremony.

"We are extremely proud to receive this major tribute to our employees," says Martin Ridderstråle.

Focusing on individuals also means that Steno can offer people group therapy so they can talk with peers about diabetes.

Steno has recently established a "My Steno" website at which patients can log into a personal web page and access all the important data and information in their medical records. They can also create and record their own treatment goals.

"Patients feel secure and free when they are given infor-mation about their condition and treatment. This is what guides my everyday work: how can we contribute to making patients feel secure and free?" concludes Martin Ridderstråle.

INTERDISCIPLINARY FOCUS ON PATIENTS

EXAMPLE OF A HUMANITARIAN GRANT


MARTIN RIDDERSTRÅLE, HEAD OF CLINIC, STENO DIABETES CENTER

Our guiding principle is the patient’s desires and proposed solutions – not a fixed preset programme dictated by doctors."


DYNAMO AND BRIDGE-BUILDER One strategic objective of the Novo Nordisk Foundation is to contribute to building bridges between the exciting discoveries researchers make in biomedicine and biotechnology and their commercial application. The purpose is to accelerate the use of new research-based and innovative knowledge and thus create added value by establishing new life-science and bioindustrial companies and associated jobs to benefit society as a whole.

DRIVING INNOVATION


1. RESEARCH

The Novo Nordisk Founda-

tion supports high-quality

biomedical and biotech-

nology research. The Foun-

dation catalyses the creation

of strong research environ-

ments that focus on crea-

tivity. This is intended to

create favourable conditions

for making application-

oriented discoveries with

commercial potential.

2. EXPLORATORY PRE-SEED

The earliest stage involves

testing whether the dis-

covery will work in practice

and can be commercialized.

Funding is required to both

test and develop a good

idea and to investigate the

potential for patenting

and marketing. Researchers

based at a university or

hospital in a Nordic

country may apply to the

Foundation’s Committee

on Exploratory Pre-seed

Grants for funding for this

purpose. In total, DKK 12

million (€1.6 million) is

being allocated annually for

the awarding of exploratory

pre-seed grants.

3. PRE-SEED

Researchers may apply for

a pre-seed grant from the

Foundation once the scientific

and commercial potential

of a fund or an idea has

been further investigated.

For both pre-seed program-

mes, the Foundation, in

partnership with Novo A/S,

supports the innovation

process on the same terms

as it supports research

– by awarding grants to

the applicant. From 2014

to 2015, the funds for pre-

seed grants has been raised

from DKK 20 million (€2.68

million) to DKK 25

million (€3.35 million).

4. SEED

If an idea is sustainable

and promising enough to

advance to the next stage,

which involves more

extensive technical and

commercial activities,

Novo A/S may decide to

specifically invest in a

seed-stage company.

At that stage, Novo A/S

will exercise influence in

the expanding company

by appointing a member

of the board.

5. VENTURE

If the expanding company

turns out to have promis-

ing commercial potential,

Novo A/S may make a

substantial venture capital

investment to further

develop the concept and

the company. Although

the pre-seed and seed

stages focus on the Nordic

countries, venture capital

investments are also made

in other European coun-

tries and in the United

States.

THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION AWARDS GRANTS

COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION AND NOVO A/S

NOVO A/S INVESTS IN COMPANIES

1 2 3 4 5RESEARCH EXPLORATORY PRE-SEED

PRE-SEED

GRANTS GRANTS GRANTS

SEED VENTURE

INVESTMENTS INVESTMENTS

Different stages of the innovation value chain require dif-ferent types of support because the technical and com-mercial activities change and develop throughout the process. The Foundation therefore supports a range of initiatives – either directly or through its subsidiary Novo A/S – and thus covers the entire innovation value chain from research discovery to commercializing new diagnos-tic methods, therapies, assistive devices and technologies.

However, neither excellence in research nor the op-portunities to fund idea development inherently lead to innovation. This also requires an innovation culture,

with entrepreneurs and researchers capable of moving research discoveries and ideas forward, thereby enabling the innovative and commercial potential to unfold.

Developing and operating a small biotechnology company requires energy, commitment and a belief in sustainability.

The opportunities for investments to pay off in the form of new products and financial returns especially increase at the later stages of the innovation value chain, but this is far from certain and also requires a long-term perspec-tive.


Novozymes A/s

Novozymes is the world leader in bioinnovation. Together with customers across a broad array of industries, the com-pany creates tomorrow’s industrial biosolutions, improv-ing the customers' business and the use of the planet's resources.

Headquartered in Denmark, Novozymes has more than 6,000 employees worldwide. The company markets more than 700 products in 130 countries. In 2014, Novozymes had revenue of DKK 12.5 billion (€1.67 billion).

of the 10 members of the Board, 7 are elected at the annual general meeting, of which 2 represent Novo A/s. The em-ployees elect the remaining 3 members.

Novo NoRDIsK A/s

Novo Nordisk A/s is a global health-care company with more than 90 years of innovation and leadership in dia-betes care. The company also has leading positions within haemophilia care, growth hormone therapy and hormone replacement therapy.

Headquartered in Denmark, Novo Nordisk employs approx imately 41,000 employees in 75 countries and mar-kets its products in more than 180 countries. In 2014, Novo Nordisk A/s had revenue of DKK 88.8 billion (€11.9 billion).

of the 12 members of the Board, 8 are elected at the annual general meeting, of which 3 represent Novo A/s. The em-ployees elect the remaining 4 members.

Novo A/s

CONTROLLING OWNERSHIPNovo A/s is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Founda-tion and is the holding company for Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s. Novo A/s was established in 1999 and is responsible for managing the Foundation’s assets.A key task of Novo A/s is to manage the company to en-able the Foundation to act as a stable basis for the com-mercial activities of the two large publically listed companies in the Novo Group: Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s. Novo A/s should maintain a material influence in Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s and is obligated to retain its controlling interest in both companies.

At the end of 2014, Novo A/s owned A and B shares in Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s equivalent to 26.5% and 25.5%, respectively, of the ordinary share capital of the companies and 74% and 70.4%, respec-tively, of the voting shares. The A shares in the two companies are not listed and cannot be divested. The A shares have voting rights that are 10 times greater than the B shares in both companies.

The special share structure, with the A shares having multiple voting rights, defends the companies in practice

against any hostile takeover and ensures that the com-panies can plan their activities on a long-term basis and remain in Danish ownership. The role of Novo A/s is to manage its controlling shareholding in the best interests of the companies and with due respect for the interests of the minority shareholders.

"It is essential for Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s to have the optimal boards with the right competences. even though we have the majority of votes in both companies, a majority of the board members are inde-pendent of the Foundation and Novo A/s," says sten scheibye, Chair of the Boards of the Novo Nordisk Foun-dation and Novo A/s.

most of the income of Novo A/s comes from its share-holding in Novo Nordisk A/s and Novozymes A/s. In-come from the ownership of the two companies comes in the form of dividends and from participating in the companies’ share buybacks. In 2014, dividends received by Novo A/s from the two companies amounted to DKK 3.4 billion (€456 million). Income from share buybacks amounted to DKK 319 million (€42 million).


GROWTH AND CAPITAL

ACTIVE ASSETMANAGEMENTIn addition to managing the Foundation’s controlling interest in Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, Novo A/S invests in both financial assets and in companies con-ducting application-oriented research in the life sciences. The aim is to consolidate the Foundation’s assets to achieve a return that the Foundation can award as grants for scientific, humanitarian and social purposes.

"Novo A/S has been entrusted with the important task of managing the assets of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Our goal is to achieve a satisfactory financial return with-in the risk profile specified in the Articles of Association," says Eivind Kolding, CEO, Novo A/S.

When Novo A/S was created in 1999, the combined assets of the Foundation and Novo A/S not linked to the assets of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S com-prised about DKK 600 million (€80.4 million). As of the end of 2014, these assets have increased to about DKK 56 billion (€7.53 billion), comprising:

• Long-term investments in the life sciences and bio-industrial companies. These comprise investments in:

large, well-established companies in the biomedicine and bioindustry;

companies in the venture phase; and companies in the seed phase.

• The financial investments are primarily placed in equities, company credits and bonds that can be sold quickly if necessary.

INVESTMENT STRATEGYNovo A/S has several reasons to focus its long-term investments on the life sciences. Historically, the Novo Group has its roots in the life sciences and has built up significant competencies within the field that can be used both when investing and during the subsequent ownership of life-science companies. Through active and long-term ownership, Novo A/S aims to strengthen

the development of companies in its portfolio. The life- science sector is also attractive in investment terms, being based on solid macro trends in the form of increasing global living standards and an ageing population, which creates considerable economic growth in this sector.

"Our investments can not only create excellent financial returns but also contribute to new or better products and solutions to the market to meet global health chal-lenges," say Eivind Kolding.

The Novo A/S Finance Division manages the investments in financial assets with the aim of making a return and creating diversity in the overall investment portfolio of Novo A/S. This ensures that sufficient liquid funds are always available in situations in which Novo A/S may have to provide capital for a company in the Novo Group or other companies in which Novo A/S holds a material equity interest, or pursue new investment opportunities.

In 2014, Novo A/S achieved a return of DKK 3.3 billion (€444 million) on its financial portfolio.

"We invest for the long term, and most of our financial assets are therefore invested in equities, with a smaller proportion in bonds and other credit products. Our equity portfolio is especially global," says Thorkil Kastberg Chris-tensen, Chief Financial Officer, Novo A/S.

Novo A/S manages some financial investments itself but also appoints carefully selected international investment managers to invest on its behalf.

"We spend a lot of time finding the right people to help us. They must invest responsibly and in accordance with principles with which we can identify. Their processes and portfolios must therefore be transparent at all times. Our investment philosophy focuses on long-term value creation in viable companies that have good products and management, not on short-term gains," says Thorkil Kastberg Christensen.


EIVIND KOLDING,CEO, NOVO A/S

We have a solid foundation for creating value by investing in carefully selected companies based on our management skills within the life sciences combined with active and long-term ownership."


HANS SCHAMBYE, TARIQ SETHI AND ULF NILSSON,THREE OF THE FOUR FOUNDERS OF GALECTO BIOTECH


Novo Seeds develops new, small, innovative biotechnol-ogy companies by supporting researchers at universities and early-phase life-science companies in testing the commercial potential of promising research discoveries. One important ambition is to contribute to developing a dynamic and successful biotechnology industry in Den-mark and the Nordic countries.

Novo Seeds, a division of Novo A/S, was established in 2007 and currently focuses on three important areas: participating in awarding Foundation-funded exploratory pre-seed grants; awarding Foundation-funded pre-seed grants; and making seed investments.

The two pre-seed programmes aim to help a start-up bio-technology company establish itself at the earliest stage of its journey. This stage involves testing and developing the commercial potential of an application-oriented re-search discovery. In addition to providing financial back-ing, Novo Seeds supports companies in developing their projects commercially.

Once sufficient positive commercial potential has been shown, Novo Seeds may consider a seed investment. The seed programme invests in projects on commercial terms and is used for supporting a biotechnology company or for developing a new biotechnology start-up company. In addition to the capital, Novo Seeds also provides man-agement, strategic and operational support to the bio-technology companies.

From 2014 to 2015, the funds available for Novo Seeds to invest has been raised from DKK 130 million to DKK 150 million (€20.2 million). At the end of 2014, Novo Seeds had a portfolio of 24 active exploratory pre-seed projects, 16 active pre-seed projects and 17 seed companies.

"We aim to generate value based on research and prod-uct development. We achieve this by developing ideas and projects that have commercial potential, provide important new knowledge and make a difference for people. We want to catalyse the commercialization of discoveries and innovation," says Søren Carlsen, Manag-ing Partner in Novo Seeds and Novo Ventures.

KNOWLEDGE FROM ALL QUARTERSGalecto Biotech is one of the companies in which Novo Seeds has invested.

In 2010, Novo Seeds awarded a pre-seed grant of DKK 500,000 (€67,300) to Hakon Leffler and Ulf Nilsson of Lund University and biotechnology entrepreneur Hans Schambye for research into the potential of TD139, which inhibits the galectin-3 protein, in treating people with cancer. During the project, Tariq Sethi, a collaborating partner at Kings College in London and fibrosis expert, demonstrated that TD139 has great potential in treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease with high mortal-ity. As a result, Galecto Biotech was founded, with Novo Seeds as its first investor. In all, Novo Seeds and three other investors have invested SEK 88 million (€9.3 mil-lion). The company is now focusing on developing TD139 for treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Hans Schambye, CEO of Galecto Biotech, says:"We see Novo Seeds as a supportive and committed in-vestor that uses its network and reputation to raise the profile of our company and to help us to attract new investors. Novo Seeds has played a key role from the mo-ment we launched Galecto Biotech as a spin-out com-pany until today, when Bristol-Myers Squibb has recently agreed to acquire Galecto for up to USD 444 million."

NOVO SEEDS

CATALYSING COMMERCIALIZATION

HANS SCHAMBYE, CEO, GALECTO BIOTECH

Support from Novo Seeds has been one of the main reasons why Galecto Biotech got off to a flying start and continued to develop rapidly."


Novo Ventures aims to invest in life-science companies that have substantial commercial potential based on original product development.

Since 2000, Novo Ventures has invested DKK 6 billion (€808 million) in 102 companies with pioneering new products and technologies that can potentially improve the health and welfare of people worldwide. After a de-velopment stage, some companies are sold to pharma-ceutical and medical technology companies – in some cases with a significant return.

In addition to financial support, Novo Ventures provides strategic support and works actively to develop the com-panies by serving on the boards of directors. Companies can also draw on the extensive network and experience of Novo Ventures as well as its commercial and scientific expertise within the life sciences. As an investor, Novo Ventures has a long-term, flexible time horizon and can therefore support companies until the time is right to sell them onward. Novo Ventures has staff in Copenhagen, London, Boston and San Francisco and invests in com-panies in both Europe and the United States. From 2014 to 2015, the funds available for Novo Ventures to invest have been raised from DKK 1.2 billion to DKK 1.5 billion (€202 million).

"We are looking for international life-science companies that focus on the research and development of drugs and equipment to benefit people and that, with our financial and management support, will be able to create financial value. We believe that value is created best through close cooperation between dedicated investors and talented entrepreneurs," says Søren Carlsen, Managing Partner in Novo Seeds and Novo Ventures.

INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIALOne of the companies in which Novo Ventures has in-vested is Inogen from the United States, which de velops innovative respiratory products for people who require

extra oxygen in their daily lives, such as those with chron-ic obstructive pulmonary disease. One product developed by Inogen is a small device that people can take with them on outings and when travelling that concentrates oxygen from the atmosphere. Novo Ventures has invest-ed DKK 204 million (€27.4 million) in the company.

"Our compact, lightweight and travel-approved portable oxygen concentrators are designed to free people from heavy tanks, managing tank refills or being tethered to stationary systems. We believe that our products allow people receiving oxygen therapy to reclaim their freedom and independence so that they can live life in moments and not in the minutes left in an oxygen tank," says Raymond Huggenberger, CEO of Inogen, who estimates that more than 2.5 million people in the United States and more than 4.5 million people worldwide use oxygen therapy.

"Having Novo as an investor benefited Inogen in multiple ways. Novo’s extensive network and experience in the life sciences enabled us to get strategic support and advice that we might not have been able to obtain otherwise," says Raymond Huggenberger.

NOVO VENTURES

BRINGING INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS TO PEOPLE

RAYMOND HUGGENBERGER, CEO, INOGEN

Novo's long-term time horizon and flexibility makes them an ideal partner for us."


A MAN MAKING USE OF INOGEN PORTABLE OXYGEN DEVICE WHILE WALKING.PHOTO: INOGEN


The growing financial returns at Novo A/S, especially those from Novo Nordisk A/S and Novozymes A/S, has recently enabled Novo A/S to set its sights on even larger investment opportunities within the life sciences. Novo A/S focuses on well-established companies in both Den-mark and Northern Europe, preferably solid and profit-able, with a leading position in their field and good growth potential.

The aim of these large investments is to ensure an attractive financial return in the long term and to create diversity in the overall investment portfolio.

Whereas venture investments by Novo A/S mostly gener-ate financial returns from company exits, the large in-vestments will also generate returns through dividends and long-term asset growth. Novo A/S has no fixed plan on a future exit when making a large investment.

Novo A/S takes a flexible approach to its large invest-ments. This means that both minority and majority equity stakes are of interest, with Novo A/S being able to invest in both listed and privately owned companies.

"The common denominator in our investments is that we use our membership of the board to participate ac-tively in shaping a company’s strategy, major strategic initiatives and the composition of the senior manage-ment. The companies’ values and activities must also be compatible with the Charter for Companies in the Novo Group," says Eivind Kolding, CEO, Novo A/S and Invest-ment Director, Novo A/S Large Investments.

GROWTH AREAIn 2012, Novo A/S acquired a 25.7% stake in Chr. Hans-en Holding A/S, which has developed natural ingredients for the food, dietary supplement, pharmaceutical and agricultural sectors for 140 years.

In 2013, Novo A/S purchased all the shares in New Xelia Group, a specialized pharmaceutical company with many years of experience in developing and producing drugs for treating infections with multidrug-resistant bacteria.

In 2014, Novo A/S acquired all the shares in Sonion, a leading global producer of components for hearing aids. Sonion invests heavily in research and development to continually contribute to improve the development of hearing aid devices to help people with hearing impair-ments lead a normal life.

The investment in these three high-technology know- l edge-based companies contributes to developing and retaining jobs and value-creating production in Denmark. All three companies operate globally from a Danish perspective.

LARGE INVESTMENTS

CREATING VALUE IN THE LONG TERM

• Sonion (formerly Microtronic) was founded in 1974 in

Roskilde, Denmark• A private company fully owned by Novo A/S• Headquartered in Roskilde with divisions in Denmark,

Poland, the Netherlands, the United States, China,

the Philippines and Vietnam• Currently employs more than 3200 people globally• www.sonion.com

SONION


52504_NNF_Historie_indstik_2013.indd 5-8 06/03/13 14.32

PHOTO: SONION




read more

It began wIth a journey

HISTORy OF THe NOVO NORDISK FOUNDATION

in 1922, august krogh, a professor at the

university of copenhagen who had received

the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine

in 1920, went on a lecture tour of universities

on the east coast of the united states.

during this visit, the recognized danish

scientist took a detour to toronto in

canada. this not only changed the

lives of himself and his wife marie

but also became the starting-point

for a unique scientific odyssey.

novo nordisk foundation magazine 2015

Documents