Santen’s Hikari Research Initiative Advances Transformative AI for Life Sciences
Santen announces Hikari, a research and co‑innovation initiative for pharmaceutical Artificial Specialized Intelligence capabilities together with the LifeFactFuture (LFF) consortium. LFF is coordinated by the Finland Futures Research Centre (University of Turku) and funded by Business Finland, bringing universities, leading life‑science manufacturers, technology companies and the medicines regulator into one ecosystem.
Hikari – Japanese for “light”– evokes enlightenment and understanding, reflecting the initiative’s purpose to illuminate complex ecosystems and co-innovation through research on AI in life science industry. The name also nods to the Hikari Shinkansen ultra-fast bullet train, symbolizing speed, efficiency, and innovation that inspire the initiative’s scientific ambition.
Business Finland’s role is pivotal
Business Finland’s funding enables ambitious, interdisciplinary research and university–industry collaboration at national scale, positioning Finland to lead in data‑driven life‑science ecosystem. The support under the LFF initiative catalyzes transformative research, co-innovation, and collaboration – creating the conditions for long‑term capability building and open innovation across the life science ecosystem in Finland.
Hikari research will focus on transformative AI in life science
Hikari research initiative explores how trustworthy AI and agentic workflows can transform life science organizations and ecosystems while meeting global regulatory compliance and GxP requirements in life science ecosystem. Hikari’s research objectives are:
- AI and agentic foundations for regulated environments (insights, assistants, agentic processes and workflows) studied in realistic pharma contexts and aligned with Santen’s platforms and policies.
- Regulatory‑aware digitalization – exploring how evolving guidance on computerized systems and AI can be operationalized responsibly in life science organizations and GxP‑relevant settings within the LFF community.
- Human‑centered adoption – investigating skills, practices, and organizational readiness required to embed digital innovations and AI in life science organizations.
- Collaborative research and co-innovation with academia and industry – interdisciplinary work across LFF’s excellence streams, including foresight, industrial engineering, and AI and agentic use‑cases.
Hikari collaboration in the LFF ecosystem
Hikari advances ecosystem co‑innovation within LFF, collaborating with universities, life‑science manufacturers, technology partners, and FIMEA (Finnish Medical Authority) to explore transformative and trustworthy life science specific AI and agentic applications. Cross‑organizational research sprints and testbeds examine feasibility, risks, and compliance using representative data and processes, supported by ongoing compliance‑by‑design dialogue with regulatory experts. Initiative emphasis will be on the interoperable AI and agentic architectures and joint applications that will be shared within the consortium.
About LifeFactFuture (LFF)
LifeFactFuture is a Business Finland‑funded consortium led by the Finland Futures Research Centre (University of Turku), together with the University of Helsinki and Finland’s leading life‑science and technology companies. The goal is to accelerate the adoption of digital solutions and better use of data and to make Finland a global focal point for data‑driven life‑science manufacturing.
Pasi Kemppainen
Director, Head of Global Supply Chain Traceability and Digital Strategy
Santen Pharmaceutical
