Envisioning Tomorrow

One of the greatest challenges facing humanity today is to manage the natural resources required for the well-being of nine billion people by 2050. At the same time, we need to keep environmental impacts within acceptable limits. 

The human race is currently using resources at a rate 50% faster than they can be regenerated by nature. By the early 2030s, we’re projected to need more than two planets’ worth of resources to meet demand.[1]

Why does this matter to us?
Innovations made in this field have world-changing - potentially world-saving - capabilities. As a vibrant company and leader in scientific exploration, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to drive those innovations. Our research includes focuses such as clean meat, synthetic agar, and precision agriculture.

From smart homes to assembly lines, consumer and industrial devices are having chips inserted into them to collect and communicate data. Around 29 billion connected devices are forecast by 2022, of which around 18 billion will be related to the Internet of Things (IoT).[2]

By combining these connected devices with automated systems, it is possible to gather and analyze huge quantities of previously inaccessible data. Take fitness trackers as an example - the data they gather could offer the healthcare industry unprecedented levels of insight into the health of millions of people. 

Why does this matter to us?
The advent of the Internet of Things is set to both revolutionize the way we carry out research and transform our daily lives. 

The technological innovations we are developing are prerequisites for harnessing the power of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, 5G and the IoT. They will allow, among other things, faster processors, smaller chips and higher digital storage capacities that are both cost and energy efficient.

Precision medicine is set to fundamentally change the delivery of healthcare. We are moving away from a ‘one size fits all’ approach to managing patients with a particular condition, towards prevention and treatment strategies tailored to individuals to achieve the best outcomes.

At the same time digitization and the development of new analytical technologies are giving us patient data and insights that would have been unheard of just a few years ago.

Why does this matter to us?
As our understanding of diseases grows and our data improves, very soon doctors will be able to much better tailor medicines to their patient’s needs. Now is the time for us to get ready for this fundamental change to the pharmaceutical industry and to make sure we can seize the benefits that come along with it. 

Our research includes a focus on developing biomarkers that will yield actionable insights at every stage of the development of sophisticated new targeted therapeutics.

We’re also looking at integrating electronics with the human body using novel biosensors and interfaces, through which we can develop a variety of personalized therapies or discover fresh insights into human biology.

Scientific work is changing at a staggering rate. Not only is knowledge far more accessible, but equipment costs are falling. At the same time, cloud-based working is becoming increasingly popular and ‘democratizing’ technologies, like CRISPR, are putting powerful scientific tools, which used to require significant funding, into the hands of the research community at large.

In addition, new technological breakthroughs from 3D metal printing to cloud-based Artificial Intelligence technologies[3] are opening up exciting research possibilities.

Why does this matter to us?
We want to empower the scientific community. We provide tools, services and platforms that make research simpler and more exact. To stay at the forefront in this field, we want to drive new innovations. We can do this by taking advantage of breakthroughs like AI, making them accessible and useful to researchers everywhere.