Glaxo’s site, which opens today, will initially house 30 scientists and engineers who will collaborate with their new neighbours including the Francis Crick and Alan Turing research institutes. Chief executive Emma Walmsley told the Standard she hoped the move would help it tap into the “huge London tech talent pool” and attract scientists to GSK who might traditionally look to the Silicon Valley tech giants. She added: “Using technologies like AI is a critical part of helping us to discover and develop medicines for serious diseases.”
Nvidia, a US tech giant that makes some of the most powerful chips for computer games and other applications will second a team of engineers to the King’s Cross hub to explore ways of collaborating to discover new drugs.
Glaxo was expected to announce the AI launch later today at London Tech Week. It will also unveil a partnership with another US group, Cerebras, to use its AI “supercomputer” which uses the largest chip ever built and is a thousand times faster than standard machines.
The King’s Cross scientists will be part of an 80-strong team of AI experts across the world at Glaxo. The company’s chief scientific officer, Dr Hal Barron, said: “We are convinced that both the talent and the ecosystem will enable us to build a very vibrant hub.”
