- Novartis announced it has established an AI innovation lab and selected Microsoft as its strategic partner for the effort
Novartis announced it has established the Novartis AI innovation lab and it selected Microsoft as its strategic artificial intelligence and data science partner for this effort. This new lab is aiming to significantly bolster Novartis’ artificial intelligence capabilities from research through commercialization and help accelerate the discovery and development of transformative medicines for patients worldwide.
As part of the strategic agreement made, Novartis and Microsoft committed to a multi-year research and development effort. And this strategic alliance will focus on two core objectives.
The first objective is around AI Empowerment where the lab will aim to bring the power of artificial intelligence to the desktop of every Novartis associate. The lab will also aim to create new AI models and applications that can augment our associates’ capabilities to take on the next wave of challenges in medicine.
And the second objective is AI Exploration where the lab will use the power of AI to tackle some of the hardest computational challenges within the life sciences starting with generative chemistry, image segmentation and analysis for smart and personalized delivery of therapies, and optimization of cell and gene therapies at scale.
“As Novartis continues evolving into a focused medicines company powered by advanced therapy platforms and data science, alliances like this will help us deliver on our purpose to reimagine medicine to improve and extend lives. Pairing our deep knowledge of human biology and medicine with Microsoft’s leading expertise in AI could transform the way we discover and develop medicines for the world,” said Novartis chief executive officer Vas Narasimhan.
Microsoft and Novartis are also going to collaborate to develop and apply next-generation artificial intelligence platforms and processes that support future programs across these two focus areas. This overall investment will include project funding, subject-matter experts, technology, and tools.
“Our strategic alliance will combine Novartis’ life sciences expertise with the power of Azure and Microsoft AI. Together, we aim to address some of the biggest challenges facing the life sciences industry today and bring AI capabilities to every Novartis employee so they can unlock new insights as they work to discover new medicines and reduce patient costs,” added Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
