INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Knowledge sharing and global networks accelerate innovation

Things are going well for the bio and life science industry. The explanation lies, among other things, in a global focus on health and sustainability, believes Lise Skaarup Mortensen, CFO at Chr. Hansen. If the success is to continue, it requires knowledge sharing and a digital competence boost in the industry, she believes.

Text by: Jannie Iwankow Søgaard / Photographer: Sofie Hvidtved

While the corona pandemic mercilessly trampled over a significant part of the Danish business community and plunged many industries into financial crisis, there are also some that came through the crisis both dry-shod and more resilient. This includes the Danish bio and life science industry, which did very well overall and, unlike many other industries, wa not bleeding red numbers on the bottom line.

One of the companies that performed well despite a worldwide crisis is the global life science company Chr. Hansen, which develops natural solutions for the food, beverage, supplements and pharmaceutical industries as well as the agricultural sector. The company's CFO Lise Skaarup Mortensen is in no doubt where to find part of the answer to why the bio and life science industry has been successful even through the corona crisis.

"We are an industry that is less sensitive to economic cycles. We make ingredients for the food and healthcare industry. And in times like these, we still need food and, to a large extent, we still need to take care of our health," she says.

Health and sustainability on the global agenda

Looking at the bigger picture, Lise Skaarup Mortensen believes that the success of the bio and life science industry in recent years is due to a growing global interest in health, sustainability and good food. For Chr. Hansen specifically, the company is experiencing a high demand for nutrition without chemical additives. Something that speaks to what is one of the company's core products.

"We may be a company whose existence is an offshoot of the fact that for many years we have been able to produce healthy bacteria that can develop good cheese and yogurt. But we've come a long way since the company was founded almost 150 years ago. This technology with natural bacteria can be used widely in the entire food industry today - for example, to protect crops instead of pesticides and to reduce the use of antibiotics for farm animals by using natural bacteria instead," she says.

In recent years, Chr. Hansen has had particular success with natural bacteria, which can give a number of foods a long lifespan in a natural way, says Lise Skaarup Mortensen. This means that in the future, these will in many cases be used instead of artificial additives, so that foods such as yogurt can be given a longer shelf life in a natural way. This aspect is also in line with the global agenda to address food waste and reduce the use of the earth's resources, she says:

"Statistics say that approximately one third of the total amount of food globally is wasted. If you can use nature's own good bacteria instead of additives and chemicals, it's amazing from a global perspective. That's one of the things that fascinates me about the industry: that you can do something good for the world and run a healthy business at the same time. It's a big part of our DNA, and I believe that this is the path we need to take to contribute to a good economy in Denmark," says Lise Skaarup Mortensen.

Knowledge sharing and networking are the way forward

In addition to considering sustainability in relation to the earth's resources, Chr. Hansen also hopes that in the future, other industries will realize what natural bacteria can do. For example, in the pharmaceutical industry, where they have already teamed up with a player in the market in a so-called joint venture.

"We have teamed up with the Swiss pharmaceutical company Lonza to try to develop and produce actual drugs based on live microorganisms - 'bugs as drugs', which is the more down-to-earth term for live therapeutic products. What we bring to the table is our vast knowledge of bacteria, and of course we do this because we believe there is a market for this in the future," she says.

The collaboration with Lonza was named Bacthera and was initiated in 2019 as a result of a long-term plan that was launched back in 2013. As part of Chr. Hansen's business strategy to develop and utilize the company's microbial platform within the Health & Nutrition division, they established the human microbiome as a strategic focus area. Research indicated that there were exciting commercial opportunities at the intersection of health and disease, and that live, good bacteria could play an important role in the development of future medicines for a range of diseases.

"When we joined forces with Lonza in 2019 to establish Bacthera, it was because we believed that in this way we could maximize our strategic investment in these special bacteria towards a market that is expected to amount to more than EUR 1 billion in 2031 for commercial production of approved products and clinical trials combined," says Lise Skaarup Mortensen.

Lise Skaarup Mortensen sees collaborations like the above as one of the keys to continued success in the bio and life science industry. In her view, it is crucial for development that there is a focus on building fruitful networks where you make your own competencies available and share knowledge with other obvious partners.

"It is crucial that we each contribute our specialties in constructive networks when we are going beyond the ramp. This is the only way we can really speed up innovation," she says, pointing out that she sees a need for a skills boost within the industry in one area in particular.

"I myself come from a world where I have experienced the digital transformation of many organizations (L.S.M comes from a position as CFO at Microsoft Germany, ed.) And I'm sure there's something for our industry to gain from this. We don't have the digital imagination to see where it can take us. That's also one of the things I personally would like to contribute with here at our company - momentum in terms of digitalization," she says and elaborates:

"Over the last period, we as a company have launched a number of solutions that are digitally based and that strengthen the dialog we have with customers about products and solutions. The interaction we have with customers on digital platforms is something we can continue and build on."

Legislation is a hindrance

Despite her optimism, Lise Skaarup Mortensen believes that there are external barriers that stand in the way of the progress and innovation in the bio and life science industry, which she believes can help create economic growth in Denmark. One of these is that legislation has not kept up with developments.

"We are a global company, and the EU in particular is not geared for that. It can take five to seven years to get a product approved, let alone a product that is completely natural and chemical-free. At that pace, you slow down innovation and the development of sustainable solutions. You have to make it much less complex if we don't want to be overtaken by other countries," she says, drawing a parallel to the corona crisis.

"There was an agility and speed of change during the corona crisis that was exemplary - in the healthcare system, but also in our industry, where we had to figure out how to get our goods to the furthest corners of the globe when the planes didn't fly. It's not just a matter of switching to water and land transportation, as our products are living and need to be stored in very cold temperatures. As early as January 2020, we began to anticipate global transportation challenges and actively sought out alternative options. Our good relationships with strategic freight suppliers played a crucial role here, and our employees made a huge effort and showed exemplary commitment and positive attitude to make things work under very difficult conditions," says Lise Skaarup Mortensen.

Positive side effects

Necessity, as the Danish saying goes, teaches a naked woman to spin, and although much has been and still is difficult due to the global ravages of the corona virus, there have also been positive side benefits, says Lise Skaarup Mortensen. For example, at Chr. Hansen, it was previously a problem when holding large information meetings for employees that employees outside Denmark did not have the opportunity to meet top management directly and hear presentations directly, but instead had it reproduced from their own local manager. The corona crisis has changed that. Now, for example, quarterly financial announcements are livestreamed to the whole world at once, and everyone has the opportunity to ask written questions in the chat function.

"Despite the fact that there may be language issues, as everything is in English, we have received very positive feedback that the visibility of top management has actually increased and that all employees, no matter how far away they are physically from the head office, now have the opportunity to interact directly - and that all employees worldwide now receive the same information at the same time," says Lise Skaarup Mortensen.

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