A new director at NOVUS is driving innovation at the intelligent nutrition company.

Gaurav Shah recently joined NOVUS as the new associate director of innovation and business development. He is responsible for routing Novus’ innovation pipeline and strategy in the newly created role.

“While we’re working internally on new projects, services and solutions, we know there is a whole world of innovation beyond our labs,” said Abishek Shingote, associate vice president of global strategic marketing, technology and innovation. “It’s not enough for us to say we will be innovative; we have to do it. Gaurav’s focus is on business development that will drive new growth and support our customers globally.”

At NOVUS, Shah is updating the company’s innovation capabilities by leveraging its open innovation model.

“Something that can slow down innovation is being stuck in your competencies or feeling the need to fully own new competencies before developing something,” Shah said. “With open innovation, the goal is to work closely with start-ups, universities, established companies, and even customers that are already competent in what we want to do. We’re joining forces with those partners to deliver value to the industry.”

Understanding that new ideas, technology and services can come from many different places, Shah said NOVUS is looking for partnerships that match its strategic interests: animal nutrition and health feed additives that lead to better performance.

“NOVUS has a good track record of delivering disruptive technology – like the first liquid methionine, the first bis-chelated trace minerals, and now embedding functional additives in corn kernels with INTERIUS technology,” he said. “So, finding partners that can help us deliver something new through INTERIUS technology is certainly a goal.”

Shah said for NOVUS innovation is not a “good to have,” it’s a “need to have,” and that the new open innovation platform coupled with his efforts to connect the company to external partners will mean big things for customers and the feed additive industry in the years to come.

“The fact that we’re investing in new and expanded technologies and that we’ve created a very clear structure to evaluate ideas and partnerships and bring products to market shows NOVUS is serious about innovation. We’re ready to talk with others who are too.”

Shah comes to the leader in intelligent nutrition after serving as business development manager for BioResource International Inc. (BRI), and as global director of the feed digestibility category at Adisseo. His education includes a master’s degree in microbial biotechnology from North Carolina State University and a post-graduate degree in patent law and intellectual property.