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Committee on Novo Nordisk Foundation’s Innovation Grants

The Committee implements the Board of the Foundation’s granting decision for awarding the Foundation’s Pioneer Innovator Grants (former Exploratory Pre-Seed Grants) and Distinguished Innovator Grants (former Innovation Fellowship Program). These initiatives are targeted at the research communities and aims to accelerate the commercialization of application-oriented research findings and ideas within biomedicine and biotechnology that have the potential to be turned into new diagnostic methods, therapies, medical devices and technologies.

The Board has established an annual grant budget of DKK 65 million. The awards are made for the two Grant types twice a year based on applications in open competition. See calls for proposals below.

The Board of the Foundation established the Committee in 2012. It comprises professors with commercial experience and experts from the Seed Investments department of Novo Holdings A/S, which has experience in establishing small early-phase life-science companies. The Board selects the committee members in accordance with the general rules covering the Foundation’s committees.

The current members of the committee are listed below.

Ulrik Nielsen

Chair

PhD in Molecular Biology. CEO, founder and President of Tidal Therapeutics.
Has been a member since 2020

Jakob Eyvind Bardram

Member

Professor, MSc., PhD. , Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark
Has been a member since 2019.

Simon Glerup

Member

PhD in molecular biology,Associate Professor, Dept. of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark
Has been a member since 2019.

Ole Thastrup

Member

Professor Emeritus, Dept. Drug Design and Pharmacology (SUND)., University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Has been a member since 2019.

Jeroen Bakker

Member

Principal, Novo Seeds, Novo Holdings A/S
Has been a member since 2022.

Camilla Petrycer Hansen

Member

Principal, Novo Seeds, Novo Holdings A/S
Has been a member since 2018.

João Ribas

Member

Principal, Novo Seeds, Novo Holdings A/S
Has been a member since 2019.

Thomas Grotkjær

Member

Partner, Novo Seeds, Novo Holdings A/S
Has been a member since 2023

Dina Petranovics Nielsen

Member

CPO and CSO, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability
Has been a member since 2023

Niels Kristian Sørensen

Member

Owner, NKS consult, CEO Nikris ApS, Founder and chairman of the board, ProteinFrontiers ApS
Has been a member since 2023

Cathal Mahon

Member

CBO at Deep Tech Lab — Quantum, Bioinnovation Institute Foundation (BII), PhD Electromagnetics, MsC Physics, HD Organisation
Has been a member since 2024