Novartis has founded the Novartis AI Innovation Lab, announced a statement. In a strategic partnership, the Basel pharmaceutical company will work with Microsoft on research and development with two core objectives. Firstly, it will empower every Novartis employee to apply and use AI applications. Secondly, it will use AI to tackle existing challenges in life sciences.

To achieve these aims, Novartis and Microsoft will develop AI platforms to support future programs, while investing in projects, experts, technologies and tools. Novartis wants to continue evolving into a focused medicines company powered by advanced therapy platforms and data science, according to CEO Vas Narasimhan in the statement. “Pairing our deep knowledge of human biology and medicine with Microsoft’s leading expertise in AI could transform the way we discover and develop medicines for the world,” he said.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, explained that the strategic alliance would address some of the biggest challenges facing the life sciences industry today and could help discover new medicines and reduce patient costs.