LifeFactFuture Has Served as a Co-Innovation Pilot for Bayer

Within less than two years, the LifeFactFuture (LFF) project has strengthened local data and AI capabilities, developed digital solutions for production, and increased the organization’s capability to renew itself. It has also raised the profile of Bayer Turku within the internal corporate network and among other life science stakeholders.

The project has delivered benefits to Bayer particularly in four areas

 1. Concrete process and technology benefits

The project has laid the foundation for smarter manufacturing by developing a digital twin, contextualized production data and AI-assisted solutions for problem-solving and batch record verification. Through these efforts, Bayer has been able to create a technical foundation for faster and more systematic problem-solving and to build readiness to leverage data and NLP/AI solutions in a regulated manufacturing environment. In addition, the project has succeeded in simplifying the data architecture and shortening the lead time for specific technical changes.

2. New expertise and capability development

The project has expanded Bayer’s capabilities on both technological and organizational levels. New expertise has been built e.g. in ISA-standard production data modeling, the development of agentic and AI tools and the strengthening of organization-level problem-solving capability through use of simulated gamification methods. The project has also combined change management, strategic foresight and practical development work into the foundation of a Future Capability Leadership approach and process, enabling a more systematic way to identify, prioritize, and develop future capabilities across the organization.

3. Organizational agility and readiness for change

The impact of the project is not limited to individual experiments; it has also supported Bayer’s broader ability to renew itself. We have piloted capabilities needed for business process development through process modeling and connected this work to the dependencies, requirements and maturity level of the data ecosystem. In other words, we have gained a better overall understanding of the importance of business process availability as part of defining data needs and of how this affects, among other things, AI’s ability to produce high quality output for its users. During the project, employees’ willingness to try new ways of working has also increased, which in turn has improved readiness to manage change from both a technology and capability perspective.

4. Benefits generated through collaboration networks and the broader ecosystem

A broad collaboration network has also supported working within the ecosystem and leveraging wider expertise. Collaboration has taken place with e.g. the University of Turku, Brightly Works, Dain Studios, and ACE Consulting. Shared industry challenges and practices have been exchanged with other industrial partners such as Orion and Revvity. This has enabled the co-development of new solutions, the use of research-based knowledge, sharing of best practices and increased visibility within the Finnish industrial network.

In addition, the project has strengthened the profile of Bayer by increasing visibility within the global network, supported our position as a frontrunner in digital transformation and improved the opportunities to scale solutions learned locally to other parts of Bayer Product Supply. Although not all business benefits have yet been fully realized, we have built a strong starting point for future Bayer, from which we can continue scaling new solutions, preparing for the factory of the future and developing AI solutions that operate in a regulated environment.

Bayer aims to continue leveraging the results created during LFF by next seeking the position as a Veturi leading company. The current project has created a strong foundation for Bayer in terms of validated partnerships, a research portfolio, digital twins, AI-assisted manufacturing and solutions related to developing organizational capabilities. In the next phase, Bayer’s goal is to take these learnings and solutions from the project level into a broader ecosystem, accelerate industrialization and strengthen Finland’s position as a competitive manufacturing nation also in the future.

Sara Gambier
Digital Lead Manufacturing Processes Pharma Product Supply
Bayer Nordic SE