Søren Carlsen is the managing partner of Novo Ventures and Novo Seeds, corporate venturing units of Denmark-based drugs company Novo. In 2000, he moved to his present position in Novo to establish Novo’s new venture activities.
Carlsen is on the board of PTC Therapeutics and Santaris Pharma, and was previously a board member of 7TM Pharma and Arpida.
In 1994, he was made head of Novo Nordisk’s enzyme business as corporate vice-president and chief science officer, responsible for 400 scientists in Denmark, US, Japan and China. In 1991, Carlsen established Novozymes Biotech, a research-based company focusing on the development of enzymes and other bioindustrial products.
He was granted the Danish Chemistry Prize in 1988. He was appointed vice-president of biotechnology of Novo Nordisk in 1986. Carlsen joined Novo Nordisk as a research scientist in 1979.