EVENTS

The Pharma Innovation Programme Singapore (PIPS) Programme Office extends a warm invitation to the inaugural PIPS 2 Webinar Series, scheduled to run from September to October 2023. This year's series will be distinct, featuring a session dedicated to the PIPS Operating Philosophy. This session will benefit both new and existing members, offering valuable insights. Additionally, esteemed members of the Advisory Research Team will showcase their universities and institutes in exciting sessions.

The series will comprise five one-hour webinars, each with an interactive Q&A segment, encouraging active participation to enrich discussions. To secure a virtual seat, participants will be asked to complete the straightforward registration process using the provided links. After successful registration, an exclusive Zoom link will be shared for access.

Participation in this series will be pivotal for expanding knowledge and reinforcing the collaborative spirit within the PIPS community. The PIPS Programme Office will eagerly await the virtual presence of attendees. It will be an enriching experience for all who join us!

On 17th July 2023, PIPS Programme Office organized a landscaping workshop in sustainability at Fusionopolis Two. The workshop brought together researchers from A*STAR, NUS and NTU, alongside industrial experts from PIPS core members including Pfizer, MSD and GSK to explore the collaboration opportunities in sustainability.

Researchers presented their research interests and expertise in a broad area, including photochemistry, catalysis, process development, automation, waste treatment and many others. Representatives from industry also shared their ambitions and insights in addressing the challenges in sustainability to enable the pharma industry to achieve net-zero. The workshop was concluded with a brainstorming session where both academics and industry exchanged their views and ideas. A visionary sustainability roadmap for the pharma industry in the areas of water, energy, process and waste was proposed.

This workshop stands as an inaugural step in a series of activities which will lead to a strategic positioning of PIPS 3 with an ambitious target to facilitate the pharma industry to achieve net-zero over the longer term.

PIPS Programme Office has organised an in-person year-end workshop for the PIPS Community after a gap of 3 years due to COVID-19. The workshop was attended by around 100 industry experts which includes PIPS Steering Board Members, Leadership Team, Technical Workstream Leads, Subject Matter Experts from core company members (GSK, Pfizer, MSD, and Syngenta), Extended Members, PIPS 1.0 Principal Investigators and potential Principal Investigators of PIPS 2.0 from A*STAR and Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs). Visits to laboratories located in NUS, NTU, CARES, and ISCE2 were also organised. As an Extended Member, Siemens hosted a visit to their Advance Manufacturing Transformation Centre (AMTC) in Tuas. 

The PIPS Technology Transfer team was formed in April 2022 with the objective to “Develop Systems and Processes to enable effective Technology Transfer of projects from PIPS Research Programmes into beneficial use in local manufacturing facilities and/or global R&D/manufacturing networks”. The Team includes a representative from each core company (GSK, MSD, Pfizer, and Syngenta), I&E A*STAR, and PIPS Programme Office.

The following are the purposes of the PIPS Technology Transfer Team:  

• To bring clarity and transparency to the transfer process

• Accelerate technology transfers of innovations developed for Research & Development and Manufacturing into beneficial use
• To develop a process that will help with the implementation of the technology such that the value can be manifested
• To assess a potential framework for implementation tracking. For PIPS to consider the governance TBD

The 5-day workshop was facilitated by Mr Andrew Rutter from rutterdesign. Subject Matter Experts from the core members and Extended Team dialed in from the US, Europe and Singapore to participate in the fully online workshop which focused on exploring gaps and tools to accelerate the design of manufacturing processes within the pharmaceutical industry. The Extended Team members also shared their expertise and capabilities in this space to address and bridge the identified bottlenecks. Although the workshop mechanism was via an online platform, it did not hinder the participants from robust discussions where the norm was challenged from various angles. The output of the workshop will be synthesised subsequently to form problem statements in preparation for the future of PIPS.

The objective of the Emerging Themes Workshop is to identify new areas and themes which are important to the pharmaceutical industry within the next 5 years. The thematic areas, for e.g., factory agility, processing technologies, etc, which have been surfaced will then be crystallised into workstreams for further exploration. Facilitated by Mr Andrew Rutter, Senior Director, Primary Engineering Platforms, GSK, the workshop attracted 30 local and international participants from GSK, MSD, Pfizer, EDB, ICES, ARTC and I3. Overseas participants flew in from UK, US and Ireland. In addition, site leaders from GSK, MSD and Pfizer were present at various segments of the workshop to share their views and experience.

The Digital Factory Workshop was facilitated by Dr Antonio Feraco, Managing Consultant Industry 4.0 and Vice President Digital Service, TÜV SÜD Asia Pacific Pte Ltd. The objective of the workshop is to convene subject matter experts across GSK, MSD and Pfizer to crystallise problem statements in the context of digitisation efforts, challenges and ambition within the plants to achieve a Digital Factory. The workshop was attended by 35 local and international participants from GSK, MSD, Pfizer, EDB, BMRC, BTI and ARTC. Overseas participants flew in from UK, US and Ireland. Extended Members (with some flying in from Europe) were invited to attend the last segment of the workshop to understand the crystallised problem statements and share how they could contribute.

Organised in the domain of Plant Operations, the workshop was a platform for industry partners to share their challenges and thoughts in the context of cleaning and operations with the end goal of crystallising compelling problem statements for addressing and resolution. 

Well attended and strongly supported by over 100 industry leads and subject matter experts, the workshop was organised to congregate service and technology providers, potential extended members and the local research community. The event also showcased research achievements of the community which had been seeded by the projects through the PIPS platform.

PIPS Innovation Day 2018 was facilitated by Mr Steven Pang, Managing Director, Life Sciences Lead SEA, Accenture Pte Ltd and Mr Sid Haralalka, Principal Director, Innovation Lead Industry X.0 SEA, Accenture Pte Ltd at Accenture’s Innovation Hub. Bringing together 45 participants across GSK, MSD, Pfizer and A*STAR, it was a day focused on exploring the art of the possible for digital and data analytics and visualisation. With pre-workshop interviews in the lead-up to identify priority areas, the day comprised sharing of a detailed case study, live demonstrations and immersive design thinking – resulting in the generation of more than 100 pain-points, 80 solutions and 14 prioritised use cases for PIPS. All the output has been packaged into a microsite for sharing across PIPS. Please refer to the microsite here.

As an integrated transformative platform to showcase innovative ideas and business cases, ITAP brings together a conglomerate of manufacturers, government agencies, industry partners and businesses ranging from MNCs to SMEs. Along with our industry partners, PIPS officially signed the membership agreement during the event, hence marking the start of a fruitful and synergistic partnership.  

For the pharmaceutical industry to continue on an upward trajectory, a steady stream of talent has to be discovered, nurtured and grown within. With this impetus in mind, the workshop was organised to solicit and consolidate ideas and mechanisms on how to launch the talent development platform in direct relation to the resources and needs of the public sector, industry partners, academia and government agencies.

The workshop was organised to congregate stakeholders from the public sector, industry partners, academia and government agencies to identify key overarching challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry and how Singapore can leverage our strengths to address the gaps to further align ourselves.