Innovation leader, researcher, and practitioner.
A leader who has done the work — redesigning innovation systems by aligning purpose, structure, governance, processes, and digital capabilities around a shared mission.
Anita Friis Sommer is an Associate Professor in Innovation Management and Chief Operating Officer of the Novo Nordisk Foundation CO₂ Research Center. Her work sits at the intersection of rigorous research and hands-on industrial leadership — turning academic insight into operating models that hold up under real-world pressure.
She spent over a decade in senior leadership at the LEGO Group, leading sustainable operations and technology innovation. There she experienced first-hand why proven methods alone aren’t enough, and what it takes to align strategy, governance, leadership, and digital capability behind a shared mission.
Anita is the award-winning co-creator of the Agile–Stage-Gate® model together with Dr Robert G. Cooper, and an internationally recognised expert on mission-driven innovation.
Chief Operating Officer of the CO₂ Research Center.
Innovation Management and R&D — bridging theory and practice.
The Mission-Driven Innovation System builds on more than a decade of published research — from the first studies of how manufacturers combine Agile with Stage-Gate®, through portfolio management and virtual experimentation, to how mission-driven technologies mature. The practical guides on this site introduce each component: Agile–Stage-Gate, portfolio management, simulation and AI and the rest of the system.
Full list on Google Scholar, ResearchGate and dblp.
Anita Sommer combines rigorous research, practical leadership experience, and a deep understanding of technology innovation into a framework that is both timely and highly actionable.
Everything Anita has learned across research and industry, distilled into one practical system for leading innovation under uncertainty.