Trusted AI at scale: UCB accelerates innovation for patients with Microsoft Foundry

UCB, a global biopharmaceutical leader headquartered in Belgium, is dedicated to improving the lives of people with severe neurological and immunological conditions. To meet this mission, the company faces a growing challenge: how to manage rising data volumes, ensure compliance in a highly regulated industry, and accelerate the delivery of science to patients. To overcome this, UCB is combining world-class science with cutting-edge digital innovation. Today, AI—powered by Microsoft Azure, built on Microsoft Foundry, and using Azure OpenAI as a core capability—has become central to this strategy, enabled through UCB’s close collaboration with Microsoft.

After introducing Microsoft Copilot to support everyday productivity, UCB created SKAI, its internal platform for generative and agent-based AI. Built securely on Azure, SKAI protects intellectual property and patient data while enabling fast, scalable deployment of AI assistants.

But SKAI is more than technology. It is UCB’s enterprise-ready AI foundation—combining compliance, governance, and scalability with the agility to go from concept to production in just months. This proves that even in a highly regulated industry, AI can accelerate innovation while maintaining trust and scientific rigor.

UCB’s three levels of AI impact

For Pieter Deurinck, Head of Digital Technology Strategy & Solutions at UCB, AI is not a side project—it’s a lens through which the company reimagines how it works and how it serves patients. “AI is an enabler for UCB. It helps us be more productive, but it also opens up completely new possibilities in research and development,” he explains.

UCB looks at AI on three levels, each unlocking a different kind of value:

1. Everyday productivity: Making every employee more effective through tools like Microsoft Copilot, so time and energy can shift to higher-value tasks, reflecting the growing confidence and tangible impact of AI in daily work. “With Microsoft 365 Copilot, we anticipate going soon from 50% of employees as active users to 80%. That shows how fast AI is becoming part of the way we work every day,” says Pieter Deurinck.
2. Trusted domain assistants: Enabling specialized use cases in clinical and regulatory contexts, where accuracy, compliance, and transparency are non-negotiable.
3. Transformational impact: Challenging UCB to fundamentally rethink how value is delivered to patients, opening entirely new ways of conducting science and driving innovation.

A secure and scalable AI platform 

“SKAI provides the framework to implement AI in a reliable and fully controllable way,” explains Nassim Haddad, Head of Digital Technology Artificial Intelligence at UCB. “All data, models, and applications run within our own secure cloud. That’s essential for protecting intellectual property and safeguarding patient data in a regulated industry like biopharma. With SKAI, we channel the latest AI innovations into a coherent framework that makes them reliable, controllable, and ready for real-world impact.”

Built on Microsoft Azure and powered by Microsoft Foundry, SKAI combines a modular architecture with the flexibility to integrate both open-source and custom models. Microsoft Foundry delivers end-to-end capabilities—including model governance, monitoring, secure deployment, fine-tuning, and policy enforcement—so every assistant can operate with trust, reliability, and compliance at scale.

SKAI also integrates a broad range of Azure services, including Azure OpenAI, Cosmos DB, Azure API Management, and Entra ID—among others. Together, these services provide enterprise-grade security, role-based access control, and the scalability needed to accelerate AI adoption across the organization.

Everyday impact: AI assistants supporting UCB teams

From medical writing to clinical statistics, SKAI powers a family of AI assistants that transforms daily challenges into opportunities for speed, accuracy, and innovation.

AI assistant Milton supports UCB’s medical writers by generating structured first drafts based on validated sources. Writers then refine and validate these drafts, ensuring every detail is scientifically accurate and regulation-compliant. By removing the repetitive burden of first drafts, Milton helps experts focus on nuance and judgment—resulting in faster turnaround, greater consistency, and a seamless balance between the speed of AI and the rigor of human validation.

Programmer Mike assists UCB’s clinical statisticians by translating and maintaining large volumes of statistical code across platforms. This not only accelerates migrations but also increases transparency, auditability, and collaboration.

“With Milton, medical writers can start from a quality draft, and Programmer Mike helps statisticians work faster while learning new languages. It saves time and strengthens expertise at the same time,” says Elisa Rebentisch, Digital Technology Lead AI for Clinical Development at UCB.

Together, Milton and Programmer Mike demonstrate how SKAI helps improve productivity, strengthens compliance, and frees experts to focus on the science that matters most.

A global culture of AI adoption 

At UCB, adopting technology is not only about access—it’s about mindset. The company fosters a culture of curiosity, responsibility, and collaboration to ensure AI is applied with purpose and real-world impact.

“We have a culture of curiosity and collaboration, but always with responsibility. We don’t innovate for the sake of it—we innovate for real impact,” says Julie Lescut, Head of Digital Technology Experience & Product Services at UCB.

This mindset comes to life through UCB’s global AI community and Tech Studio approach, where employees co-create assistants, share learnings, and accelerate adoption across the organization. By connecting people across functions and geographies, UCB builds trust in AI and accelerates learning at scale.

A trusted partnership, a bold future

At the heart of SKAI is Microsoft Azure. But Microsoft’s role goes far beyond technology: as a trusted partner, it offers its expertise, adapting to UCB’s needs, and collaborating on solutions that help deliver innovation to patients.

“It’s a true partnership. Microsoft listens, adapts, and brings in experts to co-solve real challenges. That gives us the confidence to pursue bold goals,” says Nassim Haddad.

Today, SKAI is reshaping workflows across the organization: employees save time, gain confidence in decisions, and focus on higher-value work. Moving from concept to production in under six months shows how AI—built on Microsoft Foundry and Azure OpenAI—can deliver enterprise-scale impact quickly, even in a regulated environment like biopharma.

To sustain this momentum, UCB also launched SKAI Labs—a bold step to push the boundaries of experimentation and innovation. Here, teams can safely test new capabilities, combine multiple large language models, and explore advanced use cases—all within a secure, governed framework. SKAI Labs fosters curiosity and innovation, while ensuring every step aligns with UCB’s standards for privacy, compliance, and scientific rigor.

“And this is just the beginning. What excites me most is how AI is opening up new frontiers—helping reshape how we’ll deliver value to patients in the future,” adds Pieter Deurinck.

Discover more about UCB on LinkedIn and their official website.