Danny Keenan
Birthplace: Worksop, United Kingdom
Head of Patents – Nutrition, Unilever
“Transforming the global food system to ensure a sustainable future will need new technologies. IP is a key tool to allow partners to collaborate with confidence to deliver these technologies.”
Danny Keenan initially trained as a chemist and completed a DPhil degree on food biopolymers before joining Unilever in 1996 as an ice cream scientist. Through protecting inventions he made while developing new ice cream technologies, Danny saw the value of IP to innovative industries, and switched careers to become a patent attorney in 2003.
He now leads the global patent team responsible for protecting Unilever’s nutrition innovations. The team aims to deliver on the Future Foods Commitments that underpin the company’s nutrition business and its ambition to help shape a fair global food system. Danny is also President of the UK IP Federation.