The development of new drugs is a long and expensive process taking many years and costing billions of pounds. New and disruptive technologies are urgently needed to reduce the cost and shorten the timelines for drug development as well as creating more sophisticated, efficacious therapies for the health challenges of the 21st century. Chemistry is the central science in drug development and whilst biological sciences have seen a massive and paradigm shifting incorporation of automation technologies, this has not been replicated in the chemical sciences, which continue to rely on highly skilled scientists using largely manual processes unchanged since the early 20th century. Chemify is a startup company based in Glasgow that has developed an artificial intelligence driven robotic automation platform for chemical discovery that can increase productivity by 10x in chemical discovery, accessing more sophisticated drug therapies and doing so at a lower cost than traditional drug development programs. This project will develop, improve and deploy this discovery platform to our state-of-the-art operations facility in Glasgow and in doing so, Chemify will create nearly 60 new jobs to support this deployment, ranging from apprentice engineers to PhD level scientists. Completion of this project will deliver a ground-breaking new technology, deployed at scale and supporting not only commercial drug development programs, but in development of chemical technologies from agrichemicals to catalysts to pigments. This project is vital in the transition of Chemify from a start-up to a global organisation, based in Glasgow, playing a leading role in the discovery of new chemical technologies for the 21st century and beyond.

Chemicals are needed for drug discovery, manufacturing, new materials, farming, and green energy solutions, yet most new chemicals are made by hand in geographically sensitive areas of the world and are easily affected by supply disruptions. Lead times are long, and the shelf life of most chemicals is short. Automation can improve safety, reduce pollution, and lower energy requirements. Chemify Ltd., a new Glasgow University spin out with over 25 employees, is developing the automated technology of chemputation: universal chemical synthesis controlled by computers. As part of its ~£25M series A investment aiming at expanding the company to \>100 people, Chemify will undertake research and development to build a prototype of a scalable pilot plant capable of becoming a chemical 'giga factory' for the manufacture of trillions of chemicals on demand. By developing plug-and-play chemical reaction, process, and purification units, Chemify will develop a new standardized technology that will set the basis for chemical manufacturing for the next decades. Chemify will disrupt the centuries old tradition of chemists making molecules in dedicated laboratories with fume hoods. Based in Glasgow, Scotland, Chemify will leverage its collaboration with the world leading Digital Chemistry team at the University of Glasgow, and exploit its geographical location with respect to many of the world leading pharmaceutical manufacturing centres located in the Greater Glasgow area.

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