The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, DTU, has hired Dina Petranovic Nielsen as CPO. The newly appointed CPO will be in charge of the Center’s efforts in establishing strategic partnerships with both academia and industry and comes from a position as Senior Scientific Manager at The Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Over her diverse career in research and innovation within the life sciences, Dina Petranovic Nielsen has received numerous awards for her efforts, including the Chalmers Innovation Award in 2016 and the Female CEO Excellence Award in 2017 for her work as a CEO of the non-profit organisation Molecular Frontiers, which aims to raise the appreciation of science and technology and their importance in addressing sustainability challenges. She holds a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from University Paris XI, and became a Docent in the field of Cell and Molecular Biology from Chalmers University, Gothenburg, in 2012.
In 2018, her scientific education was supplemented with an Executive Master of Business Administration from the School of Law, Business and Economics at Gothenburg University with the final thesis focusing on industrial foundations’ support of life science research based on her model of ‘collateral benefits’.
Focus on collaborative efforts
Dina Petranovic Nielsen will use her experience to establish strategic partnerships with great importance for The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability and the field of life sciences as a whole.
"“My goal is to create, establish and nurture collaborative efforts between the Center and colleagues at DTU, as well as other national and international partners, in academia and industry"
Dina Petranovic Nielsen, CPO
“My goal is to create, establish and nurture collaborative efforts between the Center and colleagues at DTU, as well as other national and international partners, in academia and industry. The projects of interest will include different types of tasks related to biosustainability as well as methods, approaches and platforms supporting this concept, as defined by the vision and mission of The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability,” she says.
To be successful in this quest, the new CPO sees it as a great advantage that she knows the daily challenges that scientists at all career levels face, but also that she has, for the last many years, observed the Center’s development.
“The Center has a lot of talented people and great potential to play a key role in the transition towards a more sustainable society. My task will be to support this process and see how we can make even better science and innovation by collaborating strategically with others. One example could be in the field of microbial foods, which is a new application area for the Center, but something that both academia and industry have worked with for a while. Clearly, our approaches to this topic are novel, but there is a lot of knowledge out here to learn from,” says Dina Petranovic Nielsen.
Dina Petranovic Nielsen has started her new position February 1, 2021 and is very much interested in hearing from people who could be interested in collaborating with The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability.
Photo credit: J-O Yxell, Chalmers