The budgets for pharma digitalisation continue to expand at a pace where operational reality is struggling to keep up. In just four years, AI spending will nearly triple to $11.12bn, up from $4.79bn in 2026.
Yet these numbers don’t tell the whole story. Looking at what’s actually happening on the ground – 70% of digital projects are stalling and 89% of workflows are still trapped in spreadsheets. The industry is facing an “execution gap” that needs to be addressed before it gets even wider. The skill shortage becomes one of the main barriers that’s holding pharma back from reaching digital excellence. Bridging this gap requires direct dialogue between those who build the tech and those who use it on the shop floor.
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Where is digital transformation becoming faster?
AUTOMA+ 2026, the closed-door pharmaceutical automation and digitalisation congress, explores the pace of digital transformation across every stage of pharma operations. Each track addresses a specific challenging point where the gap between ambition and execution is the widest.
The first and most visible area is Generative AI. According to a survey of senior biopharma leaders, 89% were unable to scale more than half of their AI initiatives, and only 5% of AI solutions made it beyond the pilot phase to production.
The Executive Opening Panel “AI: Exploring New Frontiers, Facing New Challenges” at AUTOMA+ 2026 features cases that can help companies successfully integrate this technology. The speakers on the panel are discussing the relevant questions: collaboration models between humans and AI, the real risks of moving fast in the industry and the shift from treating AI as a novelty to adopting it as a standard tool.
Among the presenters offering an answer is Scarletred — a global leader in standardised skin imaging and AI-powered skin analysis. Its CEO Harald Schnidar and business developer Avani Gupta show the real case on how they’ve moved beyond the “human vs machine” debate and how AI helped them to enhance human decision-making.
The next area where digital excellence is needed is R&D. In many high-throughput lab environments, scientists still spend up to 10 hours per week manually processing experimental data. Saving that time is crucial for efficiency. That’s why during AUTOMA+ 2026 participants are looking into predictive modelling and accelerating drug development from the lab bench to the clinic.
Devendra Ridhurkar, CEO of RidNova Pharmaceuticals, is leading this conversation with AI/ML-driven smart formulation approaches that are actually working. Alongside him, Tobias Rosenkranz, director of AI and Digital Products at Merck Life Science, is sharing how predictive formulation is replacing the old trial-and-error approach that has been dominating for decades.
Another blind spot for digitalisation is pharma supply chains as companies face internal resistance. A 2025 LogiPharma Report based on a survey of 100 senior leaders across Europe and North America revealed that 65% have limited confidence in using AI for supply chain resilience.
Despite that cautiousness, digital tools can evidently help with disruptions. Big pharma company GSK has demonstrated this firsthand and shares its journey at AUTOMA+ 2026. Cedric Colon, Global Supply Chain Strategy Programme Management Global Process Owner at GSK, presents on the AI-powered transformation of pharma logistics, revealing how the company is building resilience through strategic digitalisation.
Joining the speaker on the agenda is Takeda, bringing another successful case study. Aliz Cser (Global Process Expert – SC Performance) and Olga Drozdova (Supply Chain Associate Director) deliver a presentation on global supply chain data and digitalisation, examining data-driven decision-making as a tool reshaping pharma logistics.
The Industry Dialogue as the Implementation Accelerator
Technology is only effective if the people operating it are qualified. Skills, governance and the willingness to share both failures and breakthroughs are what separate successful digital transformations from stalled investments.
This is why AUTOMA+ focuses on quality of 1:1 networking. Every participant is carefully pre-vetted and holds genuine decision-making influence, ensuring that connections made on the first day move into actionable partnerships. The audience includes the full operational profile: top management, packaging and labeling specialists, manufacturing and plant experts, heads of technical departments (IT, SCADA, Excellence, Innovation, Maintenance), leading technical specialists and others from relevant sectors.
By uniting diverse expertise and bridging the skill gap, AUTOMA+ creates the conditions under which the billions flowing into pharma digitalisation can finally deliver returns at scale. For leaders ready to move beyond spreadsheets and pilot projects, it is the event helping the future of pharma operations take shape.
Request the full participant list to see who is joining on 16-17 November 2026 to Zurich
