ELPIS – Leading Industrial Science

leads the course progress over the 4 days, and invites the participants to analyze and reflect on what to fall back on when your current personal leadership capabilities fail (or are not applicable in the current societal and business developments heavily influenced by political changes and instability, policy re-orientation (from green to dual use), regional armed conflicts driving demands etc.), and with that your ability to ensure an effective and flexible innovation strategy. She addresses how to be resilient in both your personal and team-related leadership and how to address the organizational culture of your company when doing so. What competences ultimately will and can make a difference for you and your company, when you need to gear up for the investments in science and research, and move ahead with vital changes to business strategies and models through the application of technology.

will lead the discussions on how to address the need for radical innovation with deep tech through a combination of cases from both university research startups and company R&D. He will talk about why it is difficult for established companies to incorporate or create the needed space for innovation through technology, and how to overcome these difficulties. He will bring live startup cases from DTU into the room with specific mention of developments through the application of Quantum Computing and Power-to-X.  With his extensive experience from university research and leadership, and his application of business management to research, he will guide the participants into the field of interdisciplinary approaches to advancement of science and research to commercialization.

will ensure the red thread throughout the 4-day course when it comes to understanding the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to leadership, innovation, and technology. He will take point of departure in understanding the convergence of technologies more broadly (The 10 Critical Technologies of the EU), and more specifically, he will address the role of AI in innovating new business models. He will describe why working across industries and through novel ecosystem partnerships is vital to get on top of current societal and political developments. He draws on the most recent examples from across Europe and the US through his close contacts with leading European and US universities and business schools.

The talk ”Experiences in investing and leading quantum computing and biotech as business opportunities – Lessons for leadership” will take on topics related to the leadership needed for highly complex environments related to technology and science, and more specifically the challenges related to high-risk projects in a company. Jeroen Bakker will provide examples from his own work and lessons learned from the fields of biotech and quantum technology, where the leadership of teams often deals with experts, specialists and other highly trained professionals with technical skills in R&D, and this provides special challenges that will be discussed. What team to build in highly technical, but also interdisciplinary projects? How to talk solutions instead of technology or science – how to pitch to executive levels? How to ensure competitiveness providing perspectives on state of the art in quantum tech and the related industry challenges, and finally, Jeroen Bagger will discuss what the industry prospects are now.
 
Jeroen Bakker is a Partner at Novo Holdings since 2018, where he’s driving NN’s Global Quantum Investment Strategy targeting companies that operate on the intersection of quantum technology, human and planetary health. He has over a decade of investment and board experience from early-stage company creation to clinical-stage Series B. He worked previously at M Ventures, the corporate VC group of Merck KGaA, and Syntaxin Ltd, an Oxford-based biotech which was acquired by Ipsen. Jeroen is currently Board Member at Commit Biologics, Adcendo, Rappta Therapeutics, Antag Therapeutics Board Observer at Phasecreaft and Sparrow Quantum. He completed his PhD in Immunology at the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam, has a MSc Biomedical Sciences from University of Leiden and a BSc in Life Science and Technology from Delft University of Technology. He has an Executive Certificate from IMD in “High-Performance Board Program” and from London Business School in “Financing the Entrepreneurial Business”.

As keynote speaker at the ELPIS programme on “Leading Industrial Science and Critical Technology in a Fast-changing Environment”, Preben Haaning will share his leadership philosophy on industrial transformation and scaling global manufacturing in a rapidly changing world. Drawing on more than three decades of international industrial leadership, he will offer perspectives on how organizations can navigate technological disruption, industrial transformation and increasing global complexity while building organizations capable of sustainable long-term performance. Preben Haaning believes that industrial transformation begins with people long before it begins with technology. Throughout more than 25 years of leading global manufacturing organizations across Europe, North America and Asia, he has built his leadership on one enduring conviction: when people feel respected, trusted, and challenged, they achieve far more than they believed possible.

Over three decades, Preben has led complex manufacturing organizations through periods of rapid growth, global expansion and large-scale transformation. His international career spans senior leadership roles in Denmark, the United States and China, culminating in twelve years as Senior Vice President at Novo Nordisk, where he led global manufacturing organizations through strategic expansion, operational excellence and industrial transformation across multiple production platforms.Today, Preben serves as professional Chairman and Board Member across Life Science, MedTech, Food and Manufacturing, advising companies on industrial transformation, governance, and long-term value creation. He is Chairman of Them Dairy A/S and Alnovex A/S and serves on the boards of DBI Plastics Group A/S, Fayrefield Foods A/S and Xellia Pharmaceuticals. He has also served on the Council of the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation.

Prof. Anne Hauch originally trained as a chemical engineer at Aarhus university, but moved to DTU for a PhD, where she went on to have a long career has a long in leading university research as a Professor at DTU Energy. Moving to the private sector in 2021, she now shares her experiences from industrial science and research leadership in her specific strategic technology area Power-to-X, and will especially focus on how to make leadership for industrial science matter for green transition in business. Now Senior Manager at Topsoe, Prof. Hauch will give the Keynote Talk “Leading the Green Transition from lab scale R&D to industrial”.

LinkedIn Profile: Anne Hauch

BII is a philanthropic life-science accelerator funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Christian is responsible for BII’s business development, international scaling and leadership at these sites, including CardioMetabolic Bridge (CMB), a Novo Nordisk Foundation funded pan-European cardiometabolic drug-discovery accelerator with hubs in UK, Germany and Italy. Before BII he held senior R&D, CMC, innovation and manufacturing leadership roles at Novo Nordisk, most recently as Vice President for Data Orchestration in R&D, as well as leadership experiences from other innovation and project organizations. 
 
Christian will talk about his own leadership experience across research, the armed forces and the life science sector in Denmark, and provides examples of leadership as it plays out in the context of BII that hosts startups and university spinouts.

For more information about BII: We are here for the changemakers.

LinkedIn Profile: Christian Rank

Mrs. Sander is an experienced business coach both for groups and individuals guiding his/her personal leadership journey at the infliction point of innovation, technology, and business. Berit Sander is running the personal leadership journey for the students at the DTU executive MBA, and as an independent consultant, she facilitates and coaches personal leadership development and advises on academic work where technology and business are addressed together. She will accompany the group during the 4-day course in order to assess the topics related to personal leadership are addressed both in sessions and in group work and peer reflections.  

LinkedIn Profile: Berit Sander