Building alliances with big tech

Innovating together: How Novo Nordisk is building alliances with leading tech firms.

Pharma meets tech: Novo Nordisk is building strategic partnerships with the world’s leading tech companies

"Move fast and break things” might be the motto of Silicon Valley, but in the pharmaceutical industry, speed takes a back seat to precision and responsibility. In a regulated field like pharma, being a first mover doesn’t automatically mean gaining a competitive edge. That advantage comes from possessing deep technological expertise, delivering tangible improvements, and making sure that everyone is on board with the change. This is the ambitious goal for a small team of three at Novo Nordisk, who have been tasked with building strategic partnerships with the world’s leading tech companies.

During the past year, the ‘big tech alliance team’ at Novo Nordisk has been tasked with the challenge of building bridges between pharma and tech. That means exploring possibilities of tech alliances and strategic partnerships that can bring the unique capabilities of global tech companies closer to Novo Nordisk’s employees. The intention? Leveraging the best of both worlds into life-changing solutions for patients worldwide.

"Working in tech at Novo Nordisk right now is really exciting. You get front-row access to some of the most cutting-edge technologies from the big techs — and the innovation potential it brings us."

Vincent Jagota, Principal Tech Alliance Lead.

AI in action

Let’s call a copilot

The first standout example of the big tech alliance team’s work is Novo Nordisk’s growing alliance with Microsoft – focused on exploring the power of AI in pharma. The team have gently been laying the foundation to what has now developed into a company-wide effort. Since the summer of 2024, Novo Nordisk and Microsoft have focused their collaboration on adoption of AI in a formal AI Alliance, which has already resulted in a set of promising AI use cases.

Each of these projects touches on areas that are too complex to crack alone. By collaborating closely with Microsoft, Novo Nordisk can tap into Microsoft’s knowhow on solving problems at scale and gain access to their newest technology. And it is all happening in integrated teams with both sides learning from each other.

Teal background with navy geometric shapes. Text reads: "Seamless clinical data flow. Tackling complex trial data by harmonising and organising it with AI."

Yellow background with a blue bar chart icon and text: "AI-Powered financial reports" and a brief description of automation benefits.

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“Novo Nordisk is a very tech literate company; you can hardly get your science PhD without knowing how to code and as such we can do many things ourselves. But a company like Microsoft knows how to build scalable technology.”

Henrik Gottlieb Helsinghoff, Principal Tech Alliance Lead.

For Microsoft, the partnership is a chance to tailor their solutions more effectively for the pharmaceutical world. And for Novo Nordisk, being part of that process means helping shape the future tools of the entire ecosystem.

Brewing relationships

Microsoft isn’t the only tech giant in the mix though. The alliance team is in conversations with many other leading tech companies like AWS and Nvidia. Many partnerships begin with getting to know each other and building trust… meaning that many coffee-fueled meetings are taking place before things actually become concrete.

“My job is to know big tech inside and out, and there’s only so much a Google search can tell you. Face-to-face conversations are key."

Vincent Jagota, Principal Tech Alliance Lead.

And building relationships with key contacts within the tech companies is key to building fruitful alliances. From a distance, these large companies might all look similar. They have incredible market dominance, sky high valuations, and they build solutions that dominate ecosystems worldwide. But finding the key contacts and establishing mutually beneficial points of discussion, opens the avenues for future collaboration.

“When we approach these tech firms on a global and corporate level, we’re able to get closer to the to the unique capabilities and cultures that set them apart, and it enables us to find and explore the good matches that can bring us forward”

Henrik Gottlieb Helsinghoff, Principal Tech Alliance Lead.

Inside-out partnerships

The big tech alliance team isn’t just building bridges to the outside world; they also act as internal matchmakers within Novo Nordisk. By staying up to date with internal business needs, and identifying the right tech capabilities, they’re a key part of making sure Novo Nordisk stays an exciting place for tech talents. Advanced technology is changing business operations across the world, and life sciences – with it’s large research, development, business management and supply chain orchestration – isn’t exempt. And thus, the big tech alliance team within Novo Nordisk is working on ensuring that healthcare, data, and digital come together – with key partnerships from the leading tech companies in the world.