12 Nov 2010 --- Novozymes is celebrating its 10th anniversary. In the past decade Novozymes has emerged as a world-leading biotech company providing sustainable solutions that allow customers to produce more with less – less raw materials, less waste, less energy, and less pollution. It is a business model that puts the company to the fore when it comes to addressing the world’s increasingly urgent need to preserve resources.

Ten years have passed since Novozymes emerged as an independent company following many years as a division of the healthcare company Novo Nordisk. At the start Novozymes had around 3,200 employees and a net revenue of DKK 5 billion. Today the company employs 5,200 people globally and its revenue for the first nine months of 2010 was DKK 7.3 billion.

This growth is created through a huge dedication to innovation and by running an efficient, well-diversified business. 14% of revenue is spent on R&D, and over the years Novozymes has come up with a large number of game-changing new products in a wide number of industries.

One of these products is Novozymes Cellic CTec2, which enables the production of cellulosic ethanol made from waste materials such as straw and corn stover. A number of Novozymes’ products allow customers to replace petrochemicals with biomaterials, for example allowing producers of detergents to replace surfactants with enzymatic solutions.

In the same period Novozymes has taken its technology to new industries. Its BioBusiness division produces and sells microorganisms and pharmaceutical ingredients, and it is expected to grow significantly in the future.

Since it began Novozymes has talked about sustainability. But today sustainable solutions are becoming more attractive to businesses because of the pressure on resources. And that is new.
“The world’s increasing need for sustainable solutions, coupled with our ability to deliver innovative solutions based on biotechnology, is allowing us to fulfill our ambition to change the world together with our customers,” says CEO Steen Riisgaard. “I am certain these trends will only strengthen in the future. As the saying goes, somebody’s got to decide the future, and it might as well be us.”

The anniversary is being celebrated globally at all Novozymes’ sites, including those in Australia, China, Switzerland, California, and many more.