In the biopharmaceutical industry the utilization of miniaturized and parallelized high throughput techniques, continuous bioprocessing and continuous data acquisition as well as the utilization of data- and knowledge-driven tools for process analysis, forecasting, monitoring, control and digital twin creation are now becoming more common. In order to eventually enter fully in the industry 4.0 era, these methodologies and technologies must be further developed so that they can be fully rolled-out across the biopharmaceutical process industry.
Throughout the past years, several digital solutions for the analysis, modelling and interpretation of cell culture processes based on advanced engineering statistics, hybrid modelling approaches and advanced spectral data processing methods have emerged. We show how they can successfully be integrated into upstream and downstream process development workflows in several collaboration projects with the biopharmaceutical industry. Based on these industrial collaborations we will share our insights into central challenges in digitalization and data analytics in biopharma. We will demonstrate the potential to provide systematically technological and business value through integration of smart technologies as digital twins into the work stream of upstream and downstream development and tech transfer.