Already making a mark as director of the Center for Regional Development, the Capital Region of Denmark, Diana Arsovic Nielsen has taken on a new role as the CEO of the cluster organization Danish Life Science Cluster.

Denmark’s new national business cluster for life science and welfare technology was officially established as an association under the name Danish Life Science Cluster (DLSC) in December 2020. NLS asked its new CEO, Diana Arsovic Nielsen, about the new cluster and her new role.

The DLSC is newly established. Could you please describe the purpose and goal of the new cluster? 

“We want to make Denmark a hotspot for international development of life sciences and health tech. On that journey we want to promote a more individualized healthcare for citizens worldwide. In order to be able to reach that we need to facilitate cooperation between researchers, the health system and the private sector. Denmark has a public health system with different sectors that citizens meet when they need treatment, rehabilitation and care. Therefore, we need a holistic view in developing solutions that puts the citizen in the center. Life science and health tech solutions have to support the individual throughout a lifetime where they live their daily life from cradle to grave, in their own homes and from time to time visiting a general practitioner, a hospital, therapists, or other healthcare professionals.”

“We want to make Denmark a hotspot for international development of life sciences and health tech.”

“We as a cluster have to make sure that partners in life science ecosystems collaborate even more in order to build a flexible system that promotes health for everyone – not least for all the chronic patients dependent on the health system throughout most of their lives. We have to bridge the gap between state-of-the-art research and companies developing the best products and solutions.”

Are there any ongoing or planned activities you can tell us more about?

“In general we’re focusing on digitalization. We have a huge program in health data – we want to promote a beneficial access to, and use of, health data. Earlier this year the Danish government announced a new life science strategy in which it’s clear that they want the Danish Life Science Cluster to make partnerships working on these issues. We need to facilitate and bridge the gap between academia, the health sector and the private companies in order to develop solutions based upon data from which citizens benefit.”

“We have a huge program in health data – we want to promote a beneficial access to, and use of, health data.”

“We have to discuss ways to get around the challenges of collecting data. In the case of patients with chronic illnesses, we need to set up to monitor them at home and develop new ways of delivering services. More patients are accessing services remotely and we need to know how to make it easier and more extensive. We want to improve available treatments and enhance personal care with data. We have to have means to support decisions based upon what a patient needs.”

What are your hopes and expectations for your new role at the Danish Life Science Cluster?

“My hope is that the Danish life science industry becomes more visible globally, that we can showcase our solutions internationally and become a bigger part of health solutions worldwide. Denmark is a small market, a perfect test market, for many global solutions, and we want to attract more investments from across the globe.”