Toolpoint’s annual CEO Event at Novartis Campus in Basel on 29.05.2009, was dominated by the SiLA standardisation project. Novartis was hosting 35 attendees, mostly CEOs or top management representatives of Toolpoint member companies and -this year for the first time- guests from the SiLA members circle.

Novartis’ global head of the Center for Proteomic Chemistry, Sylvain Cottens and Peter Fürst, Head of Lead Finding Platform Basel, were pointing out the criticalityof standardisation allowing rapid integration and flexibility in adaptation to new application or workflow requirements. Looking at the complexity and the high number of different lab automation systems Novartis was building for their lead finding platform, the need for standardisation becomes more than obvious.

Fürst and Cottens both appealed to the managers of lab automation equipment manufacturing companies to strongly support the SiLA project and thereby making sure that new products will meet the true needs of the pharma industry for being able to build and maintain reliable, flexible and cost effective systems.

Peter Schleiffer, managing director of Toolpoint and SiLA’s president, and Dieter Speidel, CTO of SiLA, promised Novartis to keep up and even increase the strong pace in which SiLA is moving forward towards establishing the global standard for rapid integration.

SiLA’s scope and actual work-in-progress status were presented and discussed April 27 on the 15th annual SBS conference in Lille during a session organized by the Special Interest Group Automation Quality Control. The presentation was held by Dr. Carsten Etzold, Director Marketing and Customized Solutions at Hamilton Bonaduz and Board Member / Chair Supplier Committee of SiLA.

More than 60 attendees were informed about SiLA’s mission, scope, roadmap and current work-in-progress status. 

Participants confirmed the need for standardisation in lab automation and appreciated the fact that competitors like e.g. Tecan and Hamilton can cooperate in SiLA supporting a future common standard without losing their unique product features.

Representatives of applier (pharma) companies requested SiLA shall foster the interface standardisation specifically for devices providing new technologies. 

All comments and suggestions collected through this meeting were reported and discussed on SiLA’s recent core team meeting May 09. We like to thank the SBS organisators for having provided us with this forum.