Novartis Offers Online Educational Programs to All Employees Via Coursera

Novartis announced a collaboration with Mountain View, California-based Coursera, an online learning platform. The biopharma company will utilize Coursera’s enterprise platform, Coursera for Business, to offer educational programs to its 108,000 staffers around the world. Coursera indicates it will “deliver critical digital skills, establish a culture of learning that increases employee retention, and promote innovation across the company.”

A peek at the Coursera Blog shows that the platform offers educational opportunities ranging anywhere from note-taking to a Data Science Academy, as well as career training and a number of business specializations.

Novartis employees will have unlimited access to Coursera’s 3,600 courses associated with university and industry educators, as well as customized curriculum focuses on data science, digital technologies and the so-called soft skills, such as teamwork, leadership, and problem solving.

Earlier this year, Novartis conducted a pilot program with more than 2,000 employees.

“At Novartis we believe that curiosity fuels innovation and we are on a journey to provide the best opportunities to learn and develop,” said Simon Brown, Novartis’ chief learning officer. “This collaboration, providing all associates access to learning and certificates from leading global universities, is an important part of our efforts to unleash the power of our people and reimagine medicine in new and powerful ways.”

Although apparently any of the courses will be available to Novartis employees, the company is emphasizing digital capabilities and data science. Coursera points to a report by KPMG, “Digitalization in Life Sciences,” that indicates about a quarter of biopharma companies believe that digital technology will play a key role in finding new drugs.

The KPMG report notes, “By fully embracing the concept of digital transformation, life sciences companies can achieve superior patient outcomes while also providing care in a cost-effective manner. The effects of this digitalization will be far-reaching, breaking up old structures and shattering traditional value chains.”

The effects of this can be seen in the waves of biopharma companies teaming with artificial intelligence (AI) companies. For example, this week alone, AI company Atomwise signed collaboration deals with four biopharma companies to assist in identifying and developing new drugs: OncoStatyx, SEngine Precision Medicine, Atropos Therapeutics, and Hansoh Pharma.

Recently, Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine, working with WuXi AppTec, a contract research organization (CRO) and drug discovery company, developed GENTRL, an AI system for drug discovery. In tests, GENTRL could identify and generate a new molecule from beginning to end in 21 days. In fact, in its study, GENTRL found and created six molecules. All were aimed at inhibiting DDR1, a protein target associated with fibrosis and other diseases.

Couple that with an increasing interest in using real-world evidence (RWE) and real-world data (RWD) in clinical trials, and the biopharma industry has embraced data science and the digital transformation.

A 2019 report by Deloitte’s Human Capital Trends notes that 54% of all employees require significant “reskilling and upskilling” in only three years, which shows just how fast technology changes the workplace.

In addition to the Coursera offerings, Novartis has launched a “Curiosity Chapter” to encourage employees to pick up new skills.

“We’re honored to be collaborating with Novartis in its pursuit of becoming a learning leader,” said Leah Belsky, senior vice president of Enterprise, Coursera. “Novartis is setting an example for its peers by using talent transformation as a means to compete and pioneer new forms of medicine. As the opportunity for digital transformation among pharmaceuticals companies continues to grow, Novartis’ strategy will be the one to emulate.”