Key Players Join the AUTOMA+ Congress to Showcase Their Innovations in Research & Development and Lab Automation
As the pharmaceutical industry evolves, digital transformation is reshaping every stage of research and development – from early molecule discovery to test automation and clinical trial optimisation. AUTOMA+ 2025 brings together industry leaders from Merck, Pfizer, Automators and other major companies, who are redefining the future of pharma through AI, digitalisation and data-driven decision-making.
Smarter QA for a Smarter SAP
Automators GmbH, a leader in Test automation and QA consulting services focused on Tricentis products and SAP, has decided to host one of the Congress sessions – dedicated to digital-driven R&D and lab automation.
Automators develops AI-driven products like DataMaker, TestPilot or Connector, and Helmut Stueber (Associate Partner at Automators GmbH) is joining AUTOMA+ 2025 to talk more about their solutions.
“As enterprises integrate Business AI capabilities into their SAP ecosystems, quality engineering and test automation plays a crucial role in that space due to continuous deployment, which leads to a dramatically increased number of changes happening almost every second week”, – Helmut Stueber.
In his talk, Helmut Stueber is going to explore how SAP Business AI is getting more common within the SAP S/4HANA environments, and how quality engineering and test automation is essential for such organisations.
Revolutionising Drug Discovery: Merck’s Vision
Merck, a leading global science and technology company aimed to enrich people’s lives with solutions in Life Science, Healthcare and Electronics, is enhancing the way drugs are discovered with SYNTHIA® Retrosynthesis Software – a groundbreaking software for computer-assisted synthetic planning that reduces risk, supports sustainability and enables ingenuity.
The Head of Product Management at Merck Dr. Ewa Gajewska is joining the AUTOMA+ 2025 to share how the company is revolutionising molecule discovery with its digital solutions. SYNTHIA® Retrosynthesis Software, developed over 21 years by a collaborative team of chemists and computer scientists, is driven by sophisticated algorithms. These algorithms allow chemists to tap into and utilise vast databases of chemical synthesis knowledge accumulated through decades of research.
“Drug discovery entails substantial costs and time investments, often accompanied by failures during lab execution. Our software streamlines the ideation-to-execution timeline in the lab”, – commented Dr. Ewa Gajewska on the company’s website. (Source: https://www.merckgroup.com/en/research/science-space/envisioning-tomorrow/future-of-scientific-work/synthia.html)
Harnessing over 110,000 carefully curated reaction rules, the tool systematically explores retrosynthetic pathways, taking into account historical successes, potential future strategies and accessible starting materials. This strategy lowers costs, decreases the number of steps required and enhances the chances of successfully producing the target molecule with ideal properties. Consequently, it greatly accelerates the process of identifying a practical laboratory synthesis route.
During the Congress, Dr. Ewa Gajewska, together with other professionals from Merck, is going to tell more about the SYNTHIA® technology and share insights on how this tool is changing the process of drug discovery for the better.
Accelerating Drug Discovery with CSP and GenAI
Traditionally, for identifying a promising drug candidate, scientists’ve used X-ray crystallography, a labor-intensive process that involves converting the compound into crystals and analysing them with X-rays to determine their 3D structure.
Now, with advances in computing, researchers are increasingly turning to crystal structure prediction (CSP) – a virtual method that uses quantum physics to model electron behaviour and predict a molecule’s shape and properties. While CSP is extremely computationally intensive, often taking months, a collaboration between Pfizer and pharmaceutical tech company XtalPi has drastically sped up the process.
“Thanks to a recent strategic research collaboration with XtalPi, Pfizer scientists are performing these calculations in a matter of days”, – is stated on the Pfizer’s website. (Source: https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/how_quantum_physics_and_ai_is_disrupting_drug_discovery_development)
With CSP, scientists can predict key molecular properties like shape, solubility and melting point – enabling them to virtually screen hundreds of thousands of molecules. This lets them narrow down candidates based on predicted performance rather than relying solely on physical experiments.
Pfizer Inc., one of the world’s premier biopharmaceutical companies, dedicated to discovering, developing, manufacturing and distributing healthcare solutions, is joining the AUTOMA+ 2025 to share its experience in smart analytics and utilising GenAI. Erbin Lim (Engineering & Development Director at Pfizer) and Charis Keramidas (GenAI Tech Lead at Pfizer) are going to disclose how the company uses digital tools for recruitment, feasibility and development.
AUTOMA+ 2025: The Epicenter of Pharma Innovation
The Pharmaceutical Automation and Digitalisation Congress (AUTOMA+) 2025 is taking place on 24-25 November in Vösendorf, Austria and gathering the full pharma value chain to foster digital maturity, facilitate successful digital transformation across all pharmaceutical processes and drive advancements in the digital landscape.
As technologies continue to reshape the pharmaceutical industry, the AUTOMA+ 2025 becomes a vital platform for collaboration, innovation and progress. With leading companies like Automators, Merck and Pfizer showcasing how AI, automation and data science are transforming everything from molecule discovery to lab operations and clinical development, it’s clear that the future of pharma lies in smart, connected and agile R&D ecosystems.
Learn more about AUTOMA+ 2025:https://sh.bgs.group/33x