Broadly speaking, Industry 4.0 refers to the ongoing automation and digitalization of manufacturing and industrial practices, benefiting from smart tech. In biopharma, it offers the chance to improve quality and supply as well as reducing costs.
And yet the sector is behind other advanced manufacturing industries when it comes to adopting these disruptive technologies.
Helping drive the industry forward will be a change of mindset among biopharma professionals. And this is not just about getting grips with new tech or new ideas – it’s about being attentive to emerging ideas from around the world, as well as being prepared to look outside the biopharma industry for inspiration.
And it’s also about being willing to work together and collaborate with stakeholders across the board.
Embrace global collaboration
The pharma industry has long been known as being particularly protectionist. There’s been something of a shift in recent years – driven by continued globalization and then the pandemic, with companies willing to work together to share tech and help develop medicines as quickly as possible – but a protectionist element remains embedded in the industry.
Those working in digitalization need to challenge that way of thinking: with Bioprocessing 4.0 by definition being about new ideas and new technologies.
“Where do you find these ideas? That goes back to globalization, and thinking about not being in a protectionist environment,” Mohamed Noor, digitalization manager for Ireland’s National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, told us ahead of his presentation during BioPharma-Reporter’s free-to-attend ‘Bioprocessing 4.0’ webinar next week.