Annual report 2023

COLLABORATION ACROSS DISCIPLINES AND PROJECTS

The possibility of harvesting synergies between projects and competence exchange is one of the benefits of being part of the Centre for Digital Life Norway. We encourage projects in the centre to collaborate across disciplines and projects.  

Funded cross-project activities

The cross-project activity call is an incentive that several of our projects are utilizing to expand collaboration between the projects at different institutions and across different research fields.  In the 2023 call, we funded three cross-project activities:

• A collaborative workshop between Marma-detox and CCBIO with iPSC research as the topic 
• A pilot project to establish T-cell killing assay in microfluidic systems between SiD and CellFit 
• An experimental PoP: Extension of a bone-marrow 3D-model for incorporation of macrophages, to enable evaluation of substances that target the immune system in combinatory therapies, between 3DLife and CCBIO

As in previous years, we see that the DLN cross-project initiative provides an opportunity for closer collaboration between projects within DLN across different institutions and fields.  

Digital Frukost seminar series

The Digital Frukost series has gone fully digital in 2023. This year we have organized three seminars, all in the spring semester. Topics for the seminars were: 

How biotechnology contributes to a sustainable solution for the future, Jan. 27, 2023

Communicating science in uncertainty, Mar. 10, 2023

Deep Fakes & Future Steaks, Apr. 28, 2023 

You can find recordings from all events on our YouTube channel.

INNOVATION AND INDUSTRY COLLABORATION

The DLN centre competence area for innovation supports research projects to drive innovation that responds to society’s grand challenges.

A roadmap for academic research-intensive innovation

Since 2019, the Centre has run “A roadmap for academic research-intensive innovation” the groundbreaking 6-year innovation project financed by the Research Council of Norway (30 MNOK). The objective of the project is to design and initiate a change process in the Norwegian innovation system with the aim of increasing innovation from academic research within transdisciplinary digital biotechnology. 

2023 was the first full year of phase II of the Innovation Roadmap project. The focus has been to execute pilots on how to test different ways of conducting innovation and commercialisation activities in DLN. Two experienced senior advisors were recruited to DLN in 2023, to both replace open positions as well as to strengthen innovation and commercialisation work in the centre.  

The Innovation Roadmap project – Activities in 2023  

During Phase II, Innovation Roadmap was formally integrated into the DLN Centre, with projects reporting to RCN included in the Annual Report alongside other centre activities and under the DLN Board. In 2023, all DLN partners were officially recognised as partners in the Innovation Roadmap. Since the commencement of Phase II in 2022, there have been activities across 17 pilots, encompassing both pre- and subpilots (See Figure for a comprehensive overview). Below are the activities in 2023 listed for the individual pilots. 

Read more about Innovation Roadmap here.

Academic Business Developer: several pilots

The AS IS and TO BE reports identified the opportunity for early-stage innovation to be spearheaded by entrepreneurial individuals within research groups. This series of pilots provided funding to DLN research projects, enabling them to support a designated "champion" for 6-12 months, tasked with focusing on the business development of specific ideas arising from the projects. The aim was to upskill the champion and research team, attract post-pilot funding, and embed the principle of researcher-driven innovation in participating universities. The AC4 pilot program was structured into four sub-pilots implemented across partnering institutions:  

• AC4-1, PROVIZ at NTNU, was successfully concluded in 2022, serving as a precursor for the subsequent three pilots; 
• AC4-2, Innofree, was established at NMBU in conjunction with the DLN project OXYMOD;  
• AC4-3, MUSICAL, was initiated at UiT alongside the DLN project nanoRIP; and  
• AC4-4, Calinhib, was integrated into the DLN Calinhib project at UiO/OUS. 

Each of these pilots underscored the imperative to cultivate competence and foster an innovative culture within both the research groups and the institutions themselves. Moreover, they illuminated the time-intensive nature of innovation and commercialisation endeavors, emphasising the necessity for close collaboration among all stakeholders to facilitate project progression. The findings and insights obtained from these pilots will be synthesized into an overarching final report for the AC4 pilot(s) in 2024.

Not-for-profit business models for data driven ideas

Several projects in DLN are working in the field of systems modelling. Such models have a potential for value creation within health, aquaculture, industry, and agriculture. However, a prerequisite to exploiting these models is that they need to be widely shared and maintained. This relies on sustainable sources of funding and contributors who are prepared to share their data. A business model to generate such funding also needs to balance the values of open science with the interests of industrial actors. This pilot will thus explore how a not-for-profit business model could be developed to ensure a sustainable funding source to maintain computational models developed in academic research.  

In 2023, this pilot was kicked off with a workshop between a DLN project ‘DigiSal’, ARD Innovation (TTO NMBU), and NCE Seafood innovation from Bergen. The workshop was used as a test bed to explore transdisciplinary ways of working in the Norwegian salmon community. The specific goal of the workshop was to identify the needs and roadblocks that should define this type of business model.   

Project Funding - Proof of Principle DLN project (FU1 and FU4)

The AS IS and TO BE reports noted that the Norwegian system lacks adaptable soft funding mechanisms to bridge the crucial initial "valley of death" encountered by many research projects as they transition from pure research to innovation. Consequently, the objective of this pilot is to establish flexible, milestone-based grants tailored for DLN research projects. The aim is to facilitate their progression from concept to a more refined stage suitable for further funding opportunities. The grants must complement existing RCN funding and TTO support, enhancing project readiness for securing additional funding and TTO assistance. As part of the planning phase for the FU1 pilot, a pre-pilot initiative, FU4 Overview of Funding Instruments for Innovation and Commercialisation, was completed in 2023. Its primary goal is to compile an exhaustive overview of existing funding instruments for innovation and commercialisation, with the intent of identifying gaps inadequately addressed by other available funding sources. To find suitable projects for proof of principle funding, the DLN Innovation team then conducted a review of projects in DLN portfolio. Several potential projects were identified and the Innovation Team will work with the project PIs in 2024 to develop pilots that provide insight into opportunities for impactful funding interventions.

Transdisciplinary workshops

A core objective of DLN is to facilitate the transformation of the Norwegian biotechnology landscape and one of the ways in which they are doing so is by creating spaces i.e. a transdisciplinary setting where academic, as well as non-academic stakeholders can collaborate towards a common goal. The goal of the pilot is to facilitate the convergence of digital sciences and life sciences by bringing together top-tier researchers in Norway to convene and collaborate on targeted challenges. By addressing industry-related issues, these workshops aim to enhance researchers' comprehension of demand-side problems and requirements.  

In 2023, two transdisciplinary workshops were held as part of this pilot.  

The first workshop brought together key experts working with CytOF data to explore how transdisciplinary forms of working can streamline the uptake and reuse of CyTOF data. The workshop was aimed at enabling knowledge-exchange between two DLN projects - CellFit and AML-PM, as well as other relevant experts on scientific methods, tools and techniques, as well as practices of data management and sharing around working with Cytof data.  

The second workshop under this pilot was organised in collaboration with AC9 where members of the Norwegian salmon community were brought together to exchange experiences and share ideas on a not-for-profit business model for a computational model ‘Digital Salmon’ developed by the DLN project DigiSal.  
 

Innovation in the Age of Disruption (IA4)

Biotechnology innovations seem to emerge at lightning speed. At the same time, countless grand societal challenges demand resources and cultural shifts. What does 21st century innovation look like in the context of ongoing crises such as climate change, as well as short-term shocks like covid, macroeconomic constriction, and war in Europe? In such times, big companies shrink their ambitions; what about emerging ventures? The Centre for Digital Life Norway and The Life Science Cluster co-hosted a webinar on the topic "Innovation in the Age of Disruption" as part of the Innovation Roadmap project. Jerome S. Engel (Adjunct Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business at Berkeley), an internationally recognized expert on innovation, entrepreneurship, and venture capital, lecturing and advising business and government leaders, presented on how the biotechnology ecosystem responds to shocks and challenges. Professor Engel was joined for a expert panel discussion with Natsai Audrey Chieza (founder and CEO at Faber Futures), Anita Patel Jusnes (Patient Journey Chapter Lead at Roche)  and Professor Jeanette Hammer Andersen (head of Marbio and Professor in Marine Bioprospecting at the University of Tromsø – the Arctic University of Norway). Learn more here. 

DATA MANAGEMENT

As in previous years, The Data & Models competence area of the Centre for Digital Life Norway (DLN) focused on building competencies, developing infrastructure and engaging in policy work. These three pillars have helped to further advance DLN's mission to promote responsible and sustainable use of data in life sciences research. 

Policy engagement

In 2023, The Centre for Digital Life Norway (DLN) hosted a pivotal event during Arendalsuka, titled "Regler for åpen deling av data - til hjelp eller hinder?" on the critical theme of balancing openness, protection, and utilization of research data in society.  

Followed by an introduction from Margareth Hagen, Rector of the University of Bergen. Ingeborg Winge, node coordinator of ELIXIR Norway, elaborated on the complexities surrounding research data infrastructure. During the debate moderated by Martin Gundersen of NRKbeta, the distinguished panelists including Sunniva Aagaard (Senior Advisor at the Norwegian Environment Agency), Ana Delgado (Associate Professor in Science and Technology Studies, University of Oslo), Bjørn Remseth (Vice President of Electronic Frontier Norway), Benedicte Løseth (Area Director for the Research System and Internationalization at the Research Council of Norway), Ragnhild Holst (Senior Advisor in the Department of Health Law and Biotechnology at the Norwegian Directorate of Health), and Ole Kristian Tørresen (Researcher at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo) explored how Norway can ensure a proper degree of transparency in data sharing to benefit society at large, while also considering the implications for the environment, health, technology, and bioeconomy. 

FAIR Data Award 2023

Also, this year DLN will reward the effort of providing scientific data in as FAIR a way possible. As the third award of its kind, we received much positive feedback on the lighthouse effect of recognizing research outputs beyond classical journal publication.  

This year’s deadline for applications will end 31st of March, 2024 

Read more about the award here. 

Competence workshops

After several virtual workshops, DLN held another in-person software carpentry workshop in September in Bergen together with ELIXIR Norway, NRIS and the UiB library. This workshop aimed to provide attendees with hands-on training in open-source software development and data visualization, thereby improving their competencies in these areas. In addition, DLN organized a data management planning workshop and the first extensive data management course over several dates with practical exercises together with the institutions and ELIXIR Norway. The Data & models team also contributed to two PhD courses with lectures on Research Data Management (RDM) aspects. These initiatives have helped to build the competencies of the wider life science research community, enabling them to handle and manage their data more effectively.  

Infrastructure development

DLN has again enabled further development of the use of Norwegian e-infrastructure for Life Sciences through the SEEK platform user interface and generating projects in SEEK from machine actionable data management planning documents, thus boosting the efficacy for researchers and service providers. 

Data management events

Below is a list of DLN Data management events in 2023: 

• Webinar: Open Data requirements for Life Science Projects 

• FAIRDOM User Meeting  

• Bring Your Own Data workshop 

• Arendalsuka 2023 - Regler for åpen deling av data - til hjelp eller hinder? 

• Life Science Data Management: Planning workshop  

• Software Carpentry course in research computing skills: Shell, R or Python for reproducible analysis, Git 

• Life Science RDM course 

RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION (RRI)

In 2023, the efforts of the RRI competence area have focused on exploring the concept in three contexts of the Norwegian biotechnology landscape: training and competence building; innovation; and research policy. 

Training

Science, Technology, and Society: RRI Course Digital Life Norway (KULT8880) 

This year, DLN and DLNRS organised the course on Science, Technology, and Society for doctoral candidates and early-career researchers in biotechnology, life science, and related scientific domains. Prof. Roger Strand led 15 participants from microbial ecology, molecular biology, neuroscience, biomechanics, and computational biology through the academic foundations supporting the concept of RRI. Participants indulged in engaging discussions of research, policy, and reflected on routine practices from a distinct perspective. As one participant explained,  

“Previously I thought that RRI meant that I’m honest and I didn’t lie in my data, or that I have safety guarantee from my lab.. that’s what I thought ‘responsible’ was.. but this is the first time I realised that it also means that we have to be aware of the social consequences of our research. Research does not only exist in the PC, it can be be used in reality and how you view your research where do you stand when it comes to the social responsibility.”  

Read more about the course here. The picture on the left is from this course, and features course leader Prof. Roger Strand (DLN); Naz Karadag, Phd UiO; Anna Mikelsen Kollstrøm, PhD NTNU; Fei Song, PhD NTNU; Emily Maria Denny, PhD UiB; Photo credit: Anamika Chatterjee (DLN).  

Competence Building

Think-a-thon at the DLN Conference 2023
In collaboration with the AFINO network, we conducted a scenario building workshop. The workshop aimed to help attendees envision how their innovative research could transform both themselves and their environment, fostering critical introspection in the context of biotechnological advancement.

Read more about it here. 

The Impact funding call 2023

This year, we challenged members of the DLN Research school to step out of the ivory tower and think transdisciplinary. Biotechnology is increasingly aimed at tackling the so-called "grand challenges" such as climate change and healthy communities. These challenges are complex and difficult to solve from within the halls of academia. We invited applicants to depart from ‘business as usual’ and propose their ideas to engage with academic and non-academic communities relevant to their research. 

We have now selected two winners: Viviam Bermúdez' activity SPARK (NTNU) and Komal Agarwal's activity Farm-a-see (UiT). They will receive 30 000 NOK each to carry out their planned activities within 2024.  

You can read more about the call here. 

RRI and the Innovation Roadmap

Keeping with the remit of Responsible Innovation (RI), as part of the Innovation Roadmap, we organised two workshops with the aim to disrupt traditional modes of collaboration. We did this by creating spaces and facilitating dialogue between members from the same community where this dialogue was lacking. 

Research Policy

Evening talk at the DLN Conference 2023
A panel of key researchers working with CRISPR explored how the potential future use of gene editing might have altered the trajectory of the aquaculture and agricultural industries, alongside considerations of potential use, possible risks, and ethical questions in medical treatment and research. 

Learn more about the debate here. 

Engagement

DLN at the Annual Contact meeting for the Norwegian Biochemical Society (NBS)
DLN talked about E-RRI-ng on the side of caution: Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in translational biomedical research at the NBS 2024 Annual meeting. 

Read more about the talk here. 

DLN at the Green Data Lab conference
In June, DLN co-organised the Green Data Lab Conference held at the NMBU Campus, Ås. We invited Kelly Rijswijk from the Wageningen University, Netherlands to add a flavour of RRI to the conference. She talked about the promise of digital transformation and its role in addressing concerns of sustainable food production and other practices.  

Read more about the conference here. 

DLN at the AFINO annual meeting 2023 – Responsibility for Transformative Futures

In June, DLN joined the annual meeting held by AFINO along with members from the broad AFINO network. The meeting was organised as a collaborative exercise to explore the desirability of the possible futures that are enabled by AI and other new and emerging technologies.  

You can read more about the aims of the meeting here. 

DLN at the AFINO autumn school

DLN INDUSTRY INTERNSHIP

2023 was the fourth year of DLN’s successful and highly popular Industry Internship programme. This programme gives PhD students an opportunity to explore biotechnology outside the academic setting. This year there were nine internships. 

Nine internships at eight different companies 

A total of 11 companies, both Norwegian and international, showed their interest in the programme by sending in 19 different project proposals. Eight companies were lucky to host an intern over three months, and one company hosted two interns in separate divisions. The Industry Internship programme is run as a collaboration between the DLN research school and DLN Innovation, and all PhD students who are members of the research school can apply. DLN received 31 applications from eligible students. DLN covered eight stipends, in addition to one collaborative NTNU-stipend financed by NTNU Biotechnology. The host organizations are recruited through the DLN industry network and other relevant organizations.     

The participating companies for 2023 were: Acies Bio, AstraZeneca, Bioinnovation Institute Fonden, Cealtech AS, Testa Center, DNV AS, GreinDX and Vectron Biosolutions. 

Feedback from the participating companies

As in previous years, feedback from the companies was overall very positive. They reported back that having a DLN intern was valuable for them, because the DLN interns were highly qualified and brought much competence with them. In general, the companies thought it was important to give the students insight into what it is like to work in industry, and to promote cooperation between industry and academia. There were several other important motivations for participating in the program: Company representatives appreciated the opportunity to contribute to increased recruitment to their industries. This internship also let the participating companies allocate a person to a project otherwise not prioritized due to lack of resources. They also commented on the value in challenging the students to step a bit outside of their comfort zones. In this way they contributed to raising the students’ self-esteem and helped them acquire a better insight into their own competences gained through academic training, and how this can be useful in other settings as well. A general comment from several hosts is that they think that there should be more programs like this to train people more for the working world outside academia. Overall, they are grateful for contributing to the program with their projects, both for the students' sakes and for the benefit of having the students’ skills available at their company for the internship project. 

DLN Industry Internship Experiences

When the interns are finished with their internship, they are required to write a blog post or other publishable text to communicate their experience of working outside of academia. Currently six blog posts are out, and as the students finish their internships more will become available.  The students also present the program and their experiences to different institutional boards and committees to establish the importance of such internships as an integral part of a PhD educational path.

The picture on the left is of Anna Bergan Dahl, who had her internship at Testa Center.

Read about the interns' experiences and feedback below: 

• Parveen Gartan: Computational drug design at AstraZeneca 
• Marion Berrocal: My experience in the DLN industry internship program at GreinDX 
• Anna Bergan Dahl was at Testa Center, a testbed for both academia and businesses with a project on the purification of adeno-associated virus 
• Elisa Márquez Zavala was fascinated by AciesBio's multifaceted approach to microbial technology development 
• Belén García Pascual had one of the best experiences during her PhD at DNV 
• Clizia Russotto had a transformative journey at Vectron BioSolutions 

TRAINING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT - DIGITAL LIFE NORWAY RESEARCH SCHOOL 

Science based on convergence in line with the Digital Life mission is challenging, intellectually as well as culturally. It requires that talented young researchers are given opportunities to explore new horizons and embark on challenging scientific and societal problems, perhaps at the risk of failure. In addition, they will meet the intellectual challenge of scientific work in true transdisciplinary research groups, integrating knowledge across boundaries. Excellent researcher training and networking through the research school is a main success factor for the entire Digital Life mission.  

Promoting transdisciplinary integration

The main goals of the research school are to promote transdisciplinary integration, build a culture for innovation, and create a new collective team spirit among all younger scientists who are connected to digital biotechnology. An important challenge for the research school is to create a distinct scientific profile and a feeling of belonging and commitment in a large and highly transdisciplinary group of PhD-students, postdocs, and their supervisors. The most important networking activities are PhD-courses, generic courses, and the annual conference for members. Trying to bring together young researchers with such diverse and transdisciplinary backgrounds is challenging, but in many ways, we have already succeeded in creating fora where PhD-students and post doctors can broaden their horizons and networks. There are good reasons to be optimistic of the Digital Life-concept among young researchers.  

Membership

The research school opened for memberships December 2016, and currently has 581 members and >400 alumni. The research school offers an arena for networking and career development to 395 PhD-students and 186 post doctors, whereof 349 females and 232 males. Our network also includes PhD-supervisors and newsletter subscribers. The members come from a wide variety of scientific fields, from humanities, medical physics, and computer science to more classic disciplines of biotechnology.  

Events

The primary objective of the research school is to foster a community for PhD students and postdoctoral researchers within the Digital Life Norway disciplines. This is primarily achieved through physical gatherings where young scientists can network and build relationships, supplemented by a range of digital courses. In 2023, we coordinated and supported over 20 events, with approximately 335 participants benefiting from these opportunities. Additionally, we distributed around 19 travel grants to facilitate attendance. A comprehensive overview of the events held in 2023 can be found on our website. Furthermore, we allocated seats for nine events to various research institutions, including TNNN, NORBIS, NRSN, NRSGH, and SPARK.  A complete overview of the 2023 events can be found on our website. The picture on the left is from a poster design workshop. 

The 7th Annual Research School Conference

The annual conference organized by the members of the research school took place at Solstrand Hotel & Bath in Os (near Bergen) from September 6th to 8th. The primary goal of this conference is to facilitate the gathering of young scientists from diverse backgrounds and locations to exchange experiences, ideas, and aspirations. Attendees had the opportunity to reestablish connections, forge new friendships, and envision future endeavors. Notably, this year marked the first joint hosting of the Digital Life conference and the Research School conference. The thematic focus centered around strategies for career advancement, effective science communication, and innovative research aimed at making a tangible impact. 

COMMUNICATION AND THE DIGITAL LIFE NORWAY COMMUNITY

In order to reach the goals of Centre for Digital Life Norway, effective internal and external communication is crucial. This includes communication between and across the competence hub, the projects, owner institutions and other stakeholders. The Centre also encourage member projects to communicate across disciplines and to make their research accessible to the public through popular science communication.

Monthly newsletters & social media

Information about the centre's activities are published on our website digitallifenorway.org and shared through monthly newsletters and on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.

In 2023 we saw an increase in followers and subscribers on all platforms.

Digital Life Conference 2023

Centre for Digital Life Norway would like to thank all participants and contributors to the annual Digital Life 2023 conference at Solstrand outside Bergen. Under the heading "The DNA of Innovation," the conference grappled with the innovation theory that identifies five actors - governments, industry, academia, civil society, and citizens/individuals. If these collaborate we can create a more holistic and effective approach to research and innovation and foster the development of new ideas and solutions that can benefit society. The first presentation of the conference was held by Virginijus Šikšnys who is widely known for his contribution to the development of CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology.

You can find a summary of the conference and videos of selected presentations here. The picture on the left is of Professor Virginijus Šikšnys holding the Volterra Lecture.

Poster & Scientific Image competition session
More than 45 posters and 15 images were part of the Poster & Image competition session. At the conference, all participants were encouraged to present a poster showcasing their research, whether it was completed results or planned work.

Public event at University Museum in Bergen

Popular science helps to increase the participation of more people in society in research and allows them to contribute with their own perspectives. 

Centre for Digital Life Norway encourages our member projects to share their research widely and make it understandable for other disciplines and the public in general. This is an important part of working towards the Centre's overall goal to foster transdisciplinary collaboration and contribute to responsible and sustainable creation of value for Norwegian society.

On the evening before the Digital Life 2023 conference, the Centre organised a science challenge at a public event in Bergen. The challenge was tackled head-on by young researchers from Digital Life Norway-affiliated projects, who are working on improving antibiotics and aquaculture.