Innovation and entrepreneurship are about trying, failing, and trying again. This is exactly how Marianne Thellersen views both her career and her passion for innovation and entrepreneurship as a discipline. Therefor she has throughout her working life, carried with her a sentence from her childhood: “My father had a saying he often used: better to miss the mark than to not shoot at all,” she says.
Already as a student, Marianne Thellersen was driven by the desire to create change and benefit society. At that point, she thought she was going to solve the riddles of cancer. “I thought I would solve that easily, but it was probably a little more complicated than that,” Marianne Thellersen says with a smile.
In 1989, she graduated as a chemical engineer from DTU, and then started her career as an R&D manager at Novo Nordisk. After Novo Nordisk, Marianne Thellersen continued her career at Novozymes, where her main focus was still development. After more than 20 years in the industry, it was time to explore a different industry. That she ended up in the academic world was a bit of a coincidence.
“When I saw that DTU was looking for a Director and Senior Vice President for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the job seemed to be made for me. I understand the field, and innovation is my discipline. And after a few good talks with my mentor, a CBS professor, I decided that this was a job where I could make a difference,” says Marianne Thellersen about the move to DTU.
Career highlights
Marianne Thellersen emphasizes two particular highlights from her career. The first highlight was way back in 1995, when she was pregnant and was asked whether she wanted to be department manager for a group of 15 employees.
“I hadn’t sought out the opportunity, and being a pregnant woman in the 1990s, it wasn’t a given that I would get a promotion. It was a huge pat on the back and an inspiration to have a manager lead the way in this manner,” she says. In general, she believes that a career will be a success if you create opportunities without knowing exactly where they will lead you and if you are ready to seize them when they arise.
When she joined DTU in 2012, an idea for an innovation hub at DTU was presented to her, which later became DTU Skylab. We experimented a lot in the development of the project that became DTU Skylab, and it still inspires me today.
When I’m overwhelmed by the politics and bureaucracy of my work, I head over to DTU Skylab. Here, I can see the future and a lot of talented young people who, with innovation, skill, and creativity, are trying to create solutions that can help save the planet,” states Marianne Thellersen proudly.
The development of DTU Skylab is the second highlight of her career, and an achievement she is incredibly proud of. DTU Skylab is a living laboratory for innovation and entrepreneurship, where students, researchers, and companies meet to exchange knowledge and develop visionary solutions for use in the real world.
Her career is far from over, and Marianne Thellersen is looking forward to the future, for which she has a lot of hope despite the current crises. “We need to find new ways to collaborate. Together with industry and the public sector, we must contribute jointly to solving the planet’s challenges. We must rise above the crisis and move the agenda through collaboration,” concludes the 60th birthday celebrant.
