Speaker : Isa Kristina Kirk — GR Digital Lead, Novo Nordisk

Zifo’s SiEE event 2026, Basel

Isa explains how Novo Nordisk is working to involve the line of business (LOB) more directly in research’s digital transformation. Following a reorganization that brought research and development together, the company faced a contrast between the structured, regulated environment of development and the more exploratory research environment, where data governance, guidelines, and processes were less established.

At Novo Nordisk, Isa said within legacy research there are two main branches: Global Research focuses primarily on biology, while Therapeutic Discovery focuses on chemistry, compounds, and formulations. Although the two areas operate in the same early part of the drug-development value chain, they have historically used different applications, storage systems, data foundations, processes, and terminology. Digital tools had also sometimes been introduced without a clearly articulated business need, contributing to what Isa describes as “digital tech fatigue” among colleagues.

To address this, Novo Nordisk introduced digital lead roles for the respective research areas. The digital leads connect the business with Research IT, digital application teams, data foundation and governance teams, and laboratory support. However, because a single digital lead cannot represent the needs of hundreds of colleagues, the areas created matrix structures supported by business representatives known as topic leads.

Topic leads bring a bottom-up business perspective to digital transformation by defining needs, identifying priorities, and setting medium- and long-term direction.

Topic leads are typically people from the line of business, such as senior scientists or department managers. They do not perform the technical implementation. Instead, they articulate the business vision and work with digital leads, product teams, and Research IT to determine what should be pursued. Subject-matter experts (SMEs) then contribute to testing, functional improvements, and decisions about scientific vocabulary and ontologies.

Isa illustrates this through cell-line registration and management. The business vision is to increase digitization and automation, reduce manual registration, and make information about available cell lines more accessible. The topic lead defines the direction, while digital application teams and Research IT manage execution, supported by scientists who test and refine the solution.

The broader ambition is to bring data, digital, and science together on a solid data foundation. The capabilities identified include laboratory and sample management, digital registration of scientific entities, research data capture, modelling, analytics, visualization, and more structured and harmonized workflows where appropriate. Isa emphasizes that standardization should be applied selectively because research remains exploratory and legitimate differences between scientific activities will continue to exist.

The operating model differs between the two research areas at Novo Nordisk, Isa said. Therapeutic Discovery has a more established structure involving topic leads, subject-matter experts, and solution leads who act as highly experienced users of specific applications. Global Research is less mature in this respect and is developing business-led communities around workflows such as qPCR, flow cytometry, and functional assays, alongside FAIR ambassadors who support data FAIRness initiatives.

Isa said she is also working on bringing topic leads from the different research areas together for common upskilling. The aim is to establish a shared vocabulary and provide the tools needed to engage effectively with Research IT and technology teams, including an understanding of business cases, business value, value quantification, industry practices, and standards.

The approach shifts digital transformation away from imposing technology on scientists and towards collaboration around clearly expressed business needs.

The governance model is still evolving, Isa said. Product managers and product owners manage products within the digital organization, while the line of business owns the supported process and is responsible for ensuring that the product delivers value. Isa acknowledges that the organization is still working through the precise boundaries of ownership, accountability, responsibility, and technical feasibility.

The central lesson is pragmatic: involve the business early, create representative roles that prevent digital leads from becoming bottlenecks, and combine scientific direction with the delivery expertise of digital and IT teams. This creates a clearer connection between business needs, digital investment, and the value that technology is expected to provide.