How 1,500 Novonesis employees across the globe accelerate research with Benchling

Novonesis is leading the era of biosolutions. By leveraging the power of microbiology with science, they transform the way the world produces, consumes and lives. Their biosolutions enable feeding and fueling the world more sustainably, from healthy and sustainable nutrition to biofuel. Their biosolutions also reduce the use of fossil-based resources, chemicals, energy and water.

Following the recent combination of Novozymes and Chr. Hansen, Benchling is being rolled out to Novonesis’ 1500 employees in R&D, providing a unified platform to manage the new scale, complexity, and speed of biosolutions R&D. With a combined expertise in enzymes and microbial technologies, Novonesis has a broad biological toolbox and a diversified portfolio.

Novonesis brings together 10,000 people worldwide, with expertise that spans more than 30 different industries, and operates ~38 R&D centers, and 30 production sites. Establishing a digital data foundation and unified data model with Benchling is key to integrating these teams and accelerating innovation.

“Our R&D goals at Novonesis are more ambitious than ever, and a strong digital strategy is essential for achieving them,” says Martin S. Borchert, Sr. Director, Scientific Data Strategy and Systems at Novonesis. “The extension of our partnership with Benchling sets us up to work at speed and scale. We’re able to automate key aspects of R&D and create a unified foundation for advanced data tooling. Thanks to AI-ready data and integrated systems, we can apply machine learning techniques to our work today.” Here’s a look at how the global biosolutions leader is using Benchling to power discovery, development, and testing for its R&D operations. 

Evolving the lab of the past

As Novonesis grows and expands, so does the scale of its science, requiring a new approach. “When I started at Novonesis more than twenty years ago, the laboratory work looked very different,” Martin shares. “While DNA sequencing was still at its infancy, today this is part of our daily job.” With the evolution of the modern lab, immense amounts of data are now being generated throughout a single working day, calling for new tools and workflows that enable scientists to manage such growth efficiently. 

Historically, Novonesis has relied on a number of different platforms for R&D. While these point solutions offer distinct benefits, the siloed tech landscape led results to be stored in various databases, increasing the time it took to locate, validate, and link the correct results. “When we started using the Benchling notebook, we saw an opportunity to consolidate many of the tools into one,” shares Vignir Isberg, Senior Department Manager at Novonesis. Achieving a central place for R&D was core to solving for pressing bottlenecks to data management. By establishing a platform that streamlines and standardizes the collection, organization, and storage of data, while incorporating access management with granular permissioning, Novonesis would create inroads for innovation.

Adopting a centralized, unified system

To address such barriers, the global leader in biosolutions needed a solution that would not only be effective but would also be quickly and readily adopted. “I think it’s important to have a method software that is easy to use so that people want to use it”, asserts Gemma Lindemann, Associate Scientist at Novonesis. “That allows for the biggest impact.” In rolling out Benchling to 1,500 employees in R&D, Novonesis was intentional in implementing a platform that improved the user experience for everyone in the lab.

“If you are managing an R&D organization, you're very focused on your return on investment. The more we can do to limit the cost factor by having efficient systems to support our scientists, the better." - Martin S. Borchert, Sr. Director, Scientific Data Strategy and Systems at Novonesis

Solving the biggest limitation, Benchling’s prime opportunity lies in the benefits of a unified platform. “With a centralized system, we are able to host all of the relevant information in one place. This means that users no longer have to switch from one system to another,” explains Marzena Gozdecka, R&D IT System Specialist at Novonesis. “The centrality of the data storage and accessibility is a huge advantage". 

One area that Novonesis is especially invested in is positively impacting the connectivity of the dry lab and the wet lab. Computational scientists working in the dry lab, for example, identify predictors for optimal thermal stability of molecules, a process likened to finding a needle in the haystack. This knowledge is then transferred to the wet lab, enabling the production and confirmation of such candidates. “Only then can we close the circle and make even better predictions in silico based on the shared data,” Martin attests. By investing in seamless data transfer and improved infrastructure with Benchling, Novonesis is able to accelerate research.

Managing large, diverse data sets

Implementing a solution that organizes information allows Novonesis to tackle the complexity of today’s data. A key enabler at Novonesis is a common data model, which is designed to ensure that every data point created during the R&D process — from initial target to launched product — is both findable and accessible. Scientists can easily translate proprietary data into downstream analytics, driving high confidence in decision-making. Data consistency, uniformity, and ease of access in Benchling eliminates bottlenecks and improves organizational data quality. The full platform implementation is expected to impact Novonesis’ high-throughput R&D teams and improve efficiency and faster innovation.

Benchling’s adaptable technology also balances enforcing organization-wide FAIR data standards with the flexibility to model diverse use cases across teams. As Novonesis continues to grow and collaborate with internal and external partners, Benchling enables data and regulatory compliance through its controlled access and audit features. “It's important to us to have FAIR data so that we can make sure that different parts of our R&D organization can work together and exchange data in an efficient way,” says Vignir.

Since the adoption of Benchling, the team at Novonesis has already seen an impact from the renewed data infrastructure. With end-to-end traceability, scientists can follow a product or sample throughout the entire process, gaining insight into the full innovation process. “Working with this framework allows us to see the data move throughout the organization,” Martin expresses. By gaining immediate context for microbes, and enzymes in industrial application tests, the identification of lead product candidates is swift, and speeds up time to market.

A long-term partnership to power the future of R&D

With the world's most advanced biotech toolkit, a deep commitment to R&D, and in-depth application expertise, Novonesis is developing ever more innovative biosolutions to better our world and create impact for their customers. To mirror such impactful change, the team is pursuing an equally transformative data process. With the recent roll out of Benchling, the company is on its way to making better decisions based on better data. 

Aligned with Novonesis’ digital agenda of unified scientific data on shared platforms, Benchling is bringing people together to work on the same platform, cutting time that is typically lost in translation when moving between systems. “I'm really optimistic that through our collaboration, Novonesis and Benchling can find great solutions for structuring our data. That will free up valuable time, allowing for more time spent in the lab, finding promising biological solutions of our own,” reflects Mary Stringer, Science Manager, at Novonesis.

“I will very much look forward to seeing how we, together as Novonesis with Benchling, can leverage this information and this innovation power together, in order to create impactful biosolutions of tomorrow.” - Martin S. Borchert, Sr. Director, Scientific Data Strategy and Systems at Novonesis

“Novonesis shows how innovation in biology is key to creating the sustainable and safe products we all rely on — from circular plastics and nutritional proteins to dairy alternatives, alongside processes like carbon capture,” said Sajith Wickramasekara, CEO and co-founder of Benchling. “We’re proud to support their scientists every day, helping them drive smarter, faster, and more connected R&D.”