If you are interested, participate in the HealthX 2021 challenge where we will post our problem statements, and seek your help in identifying the solutions.
Check out the problem statements and put on your thinking cap.
Environmental sustainability- thermal renewable energy
The combustion of natural gas, diesel and other fossil fuels emits carbon, which is then depleted in the atmosphere, increasing the carbon load on the planet. Novartis has comprehensive, innovative and robust plans to achieve our climate neutrality ambition; we are exploring solutions to the carbon generated by the thermal power generation process.
We are looking for alternatives to natural gas, diesel and other carbon-generation sources to produce thermal energy. This new alternative must act as good source of thermal energy – with no carbon emissions associated with fossil fuel combustion – and therefore be environmentally sustainable (carbon neutral or close to neutral) for the environment. It should also be compatible with existing equipment (such as boilers).
As major thermal energy users with ambitious commitments to reduce GHGs, we need easier access to cost-effective, responsibly sourced, renewable and lower-carbon thermal energy solutions, including solar, bio-based energy, landfill biogas, hydrogen and more
Current situation:
- To stimulate Novartis’s climate neutrality ambition, we aim to reduce our demand in our operations and switch to renewable energy sources to reduce our overall environment footprint. Renewable thermal energy contributes significantly to our energy demand – including on-site heat generation and the steam we purchase to run our site operations
- Nearly half of the energy needs of our sites is thermal energy and is widely used in our manufacturing sites, labs and offices, in a variety of forms such as boilers, stream, sterilization, and treatment plants
- Natural gas and diesel are two of the largest sources of thermal energy generation and contribute modestly but significantly to our unsolved sources of carbon emissions. Our manufacturing sites require thermal energy at high temperatures for many processes but since some processes are heat sensitive they require sustained temperatures. Thermal supply must meet all production needs: availability, load flexibility and management simplicity, reliability and energy efficiency
Possible Solution Requirements / Expectations:
- Be able to replace the fuel requirements with minimum modifications to existing equipment or infrastructure and eliminate the carbon we currently generate through these activities.
- Energy savings potential
- Clean energy supply
- Energy savings potential
Digital biomarkers derived from speech and voice analysis
The widespread use of consumer/ medical grade voice recognition and voice assistant products (e.g. Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri) coupled with conventional devices (cellphones) has created the opportunity for large scale interrogation of vocal data for the purposes of health analytics. One such possibility lies in the analysis of live streamed or recorded content to identify digital biomarkers which correlate vocal signatures and patterns with specific disease states. For example, progress has been reported on the correlation of speech patterns with symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease [doi: 10.2196/16790] and additional applications may be possible.
Current situation:
The diagnosis and monitoring of diseased states often relies on assessment using clinically validated biomarkers. Conventional biomarkers are typically biogenic substances, which provide quantified indicators of a specific biological state or condition. In contrast, the emerging class of so-termed digital biomarkers are defined as ‘objective, quantifiable physiological and behavioral data that are collected and measured by means of digital devices.’ A benefit of digital biomarkers lies in the ability to capture continuous data within a few weeks through deployment of passive and non-invasive technologies. This may be particularly useful for the monitoring of diseases where there is latent disease activity characterized by subtle changes which build over time before clinical symptoms are manifested.
Expectations:
- Survey of voice signatures associated with symptoms of neurological diseases.
- Development of algorithms capable of identifying digital biomarker events using baseline information.
- Proof of concept using recorded voice content from control & symptomatic subjects.
- Assessment of digital biomarker under real-time livestream conditions.
- Evaluation of the potential combination of markers for identifying specific diseases/ progression.
- GDPR compliance.
- Health Authority approval, if any.
- Availability in the different languages/dialects.
- Platform for data aggregation/analysis, including potential adverse event reporting.
Creation of digital and interactive game for onboarding of associates
Seeking digital implementation partners with experience in creating/ implementing innovative and interactive learning solutions for creation of a game based onboarding module integrated with scorecard methodology and optional leader board module.
Current situation:
Current onboarding of associates is through documents/ power points, and we are evaluating to replace the documents with innovative interactive digital game based module.
Possible Solution Requirements / Expectations:
- Expertise in developing learning modules.
- Ability to gamify the content.
Eliminating PVC in Primary packaging
Currently, a number of internal packaging sites switching to PVC free alternatives in the secondary and tertiary packaging. However, we still have the challenge to eliminate PVC completely from primary packaging material. Looking forward to technically effective and affordable alternatives to PVC in primary packaging that help us in eliminating PVC in primary packaging (technically and commercially) in all products.
Current situation:
To drive towards our ambition to be a catalyst for positive change and the leader in environmental sustainability, we want to eliminate all use of PVC (Polyvinyl chloride) in our packaging.
Expectations:
- Develop sustainable alternatives to PVC in primary packaging in pharma manufacturing (technical and commercial effective.
- Capabilities and processes need to redefine in GMP environment.
- Ease of use and implementation in our packaging lines.
Novartis Biome India Startup POC engagement success stories:
In Silico – PharmaFlow
Sandoz Novartis team has engaged with selected startups and successfully completed the POC.
Problem statement details:
It is imperative to use innovative data modelling/analytics-based solutions to enable scientists to draw useful insights with limited experiments, thus saving time and resources Which is why we want to develop and suggest novel proposals for employing predictive data analytics/AI/ML on our datasets (from past and ongoing generic drug development projects) to accelerate generic drug development with higher probability of success.
Current situation:
The conventional approach to generic drug development requires multiple experiments that are time consuming and cost-intensive.
The challenge being addressed:
- Structure data from experiments for data science approaches.
- Identify ML/AI, analytics-based solutions that best fit the purpose of modelling pharmaceutical development workflows.
- Develop fit for purpose models that reduce the extent of conventional experimentation.
Digital Logistics Hub
NTO Novartis team has engaged with selected startups and successfully initiated the POC which is in progress.
Problem Statement details:
We are looking to explore partnership opportunities with external advisers who can help us in building our digital Logistics Hub – data, process, technology, capabilities. Having a digital logistics hub will enable seamless flow of information, having visibility and control at all timesreal time planning and execution. We look to innovative and intuitive options that helps in transforming our material sourcing process and enable us in achieving our operations benefits – reduced cost, lower inventory, better flexibility and agility and improved service reliability.
Current situation:
We have multiple manufacturing sites across seven different platforms. Lack of a control tower result in limited visibility of the entire chain hindering meaningful collaboration, information delay as it moves through each node, different planning cycles resulting in delays and unsynchronized responses across multiple tiers. To address this problem, we are looking at a new operating model for our logistics.
The challenge being addressed:
We are looking at innovative and intuitive options that helps in transforming our material sourcing process and enable us in achieving our operations benefits – reduced cost, lower inventory, better flexibility and agility and improved service reliability.
Contact us to participate
Write to [email protected] with following details:
- Name of the startup company, email ID and phone number
- Name of the founder
- Brochure of the company
- What are their strengths and how do they plan to make an impact on health and tech ecosystems?
- The case study that your team would like to work on, along with a write-up on the proposed plan.
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