The Importance of Digitalization for the Future of Life Sciences

This article was originally published online and in print Swedish by Dagens Industri.

One of these industries, Life Sciences, is one of which TECHNIA strives to contribute to, in order to drive sustainable scientific research and innovation – as well as digitalization – forward.

TECHNIA’s modern Product Lifecycle Management solutions, PLM, helps over 6000 customers worldwide – in industries such as the automotive, aerospace, energy, construction, food, travel, retail, telecom, fashion and Life Sciences – to handle product information during all stages of a Product’s Lifecycle. From Development, Design, Simulation and Manufacturing to Sales, Maintenance and finally Material Compliance and Recycling.

“As computer power has become cheaper with each passing year, the opportunities to develop new products and services with the help of advanced digital tools have become increasingly accessible. However, the Life Science industry has been relatively late in taking advantage of digital tools to streamline their product development processes, which has become clear now that the corona pandemic is putting pressure on accelerating product development to a whole new level. That, in combination with the regulatory requirements that characterize this industry, is surprising.”

Rehan Chaudry

Sales and Business Development | TECHNIA

The development of digital twins has made progress in fields such as the manufacturing, and automotive industries. TECHNIA sees the potential in drawing inspiration from other industries in the digitalization of Life Sciences.

“If you look at the automotive industry for example, 3D models have long been used to simulate a vehicle’s behavior, performance calculations, and crash tests without a physical prototype. This not only shortens lead times but also contributes to a reduced waste of resources and a more sustainable society. If you choose to apply the same methodology in Life Sciences, we could eventually be working with an equivalent digital twin of a human individual, where you could virtually test different medical procedures, treatment methods and so on, to determine which method would offer the best outcome for each person.

One such example is Skåne University Hospital, where they – with the help of a digital twin of a child’s heart – are now testing to simulate measures and outcomes during operations. If you could predict outcomes without any physical intervention whatsoever, it would greatly advance the entire field as a whole. 2021 is the year when it is no longer about one individual, one company, but about how we work together in order to make quick progress and achieve results. A digital innovation platform that also helps companies to structure and keep track of regulatory requirements, is what we believe to be a prerequisite for continuing as a successful contestant on the market.”

Annelie Uvhagen

Life Sciences Director | TECHNIA

One of the key success factors today, enabled by TECHNIA’s PLM platform, is a smooth collaboration between people and organizations to promote innovation and product development while complying with regulatory requirements.