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Title
Protecting Crops Today to Feed Billions Tomorrow
…Demo Login Contact Us Try Databricks Customer Stories / Syngenta CUSTOMER STORY Protecting crops today to feed billions tomorrow 200 Data products with more published every week 70% Faster time to value 50% D…
Description
Syngenta built Gaia, the first crop protection R&D data platform for analytics and innovation, on Databricks to unify siloed data across 70-plus countries. The platform cut data access times from as long as nine months to minutes, reduced time to value by 70%, decreased engineering costs by 50%, and now publishes over 200 data products handling more than 2 million queries per month.
…,” the data team brought together R&D use cases and diverse data on Databricks, leading to Gaia, the first crop protection R&D data platform for analytics and innovation. As a result, they’ve cut data access times from months to just minutes, acceler…
…rdized and actionable, and thus AI-ready, across the organization. As a result, the time to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by…
…to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by half — thanks to standardized pipelines, fewer…
Company
Syngenta
…rity and Trust Ready to get started? Get a Demo Login Contact Us Try Databricks Customer Stories / Syngenta CUSTOMER STORY Protecting crops today to feed billions tomorrow 200 Data produc…
Industry
Life Sciences
…eeded to tackle the challenges of global food security. Share this post Details Industry : Healthcare and Life Sciences Use Case : Analytics and Business Intelligence , Artificial Intelligence , Data…
Problem
Syngenta's research and development (R&D) team struggled with siloed data across 70-plus countries, legacy systems and months-long delays to access critical insights. Even experienced analysts struggled to figure out what data existed and where it was stored, and scientists could wait as long as nine months before they had the information needed to start a project.
…ologies to discover, design and develop novel and differentiated products. Yet, Syngenta’s research and development (R&D) team struggled with siloed data across 70-plus countries, legacy systems and months-long delays to access critical insights. Following the mantra “think big, start small, scale fast,” the data team brough…
…t, leaving valuable datasets scattered across hundreds of tools and databases. “Even our most experienced analysts struggled just to figure out what data existed and where it was stored, as well as their provenance and ownership. And once they did, they often had to go through lengthy processes for access, meaning scientists and data scientists could wait as long as nine months before they had the information needed to start a project,” Maks Kiamos Shah, Head of Data Design Authority at Syngenta, explained. Unfor…
Solution
Syngenta turned to Databricks as the foundation for Gaia, the first crop protection R&D data platform for analytics and innovation, built on Databricks and AWS with a federated Data Mesh approach. Delta Lake brought Syngenta's diverse R&D data into one trusted environment, Unity Catalog acted as Gaia's central governance solution, and Databricks SQL became the core engine driving day-to-day work with pipelines, queries and BI dashboards. Syngenta also began testing AI/BI Genie, Databricks' conversational interface for natural language data questions, and Databricks MLflow and MLOps to unify machine learning efforts.
…,” the data team brought together R&D use cases and diverse data on Databricks, leading to Gaia, the first crop protection R&D data platform for analytics and innovation. As a result, they’ve cut data access times from months to just minutes, acceler…
…created Gaia — which would become their proprietary data intelligence platform. Built on Databricks and AWS, the company migrated from their legacy data warehouses and adopted a federated Data Mesh approach as the foundation of their global data strategy. The latter has been based on the pillars of value-driven use cases, data domain…
…value-driven use cases, data domain ownership, self-service and data products. This effort began with Delta Lake, the open source storage layer that makes data lakes reliable for analytics. Serving as Gaia’s foundation, it brought Syngenta’s diverse R&D data into one trusted environment. Whether working with lab results, regulatory submissions, drone imagery or exte…
…istorical snapshots of data for reproducibility, audits and long-term projects. All the while, Unity Catalog acted as Gaia’s central governance solution, managing permissions and access controls while making data products discoverable across domains. It provided the lineage and transparency needed for regulatory and scientific t…
…d been processed, and that it met the standards required for sharing and reuse. Building on that governance framework, Databricks SQL became the core engine driving day-to-day work with the data itself. This component of the platform supported pipelines, queries and BI dashboards while giving Syngenta’s data engineers and analysts a consistent environment to…
…ped retire older bespoke tools and database licenses. To enhance accessibility, Syngenta began testing AI/BI Genie, Databricks’ conversational interface that enables users to ask data questions in natural language and receive instant insights. Combined with Databricks Apps, AI/BI Genie offers a path to embed conversationa…
Business value
The time to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by half. Gaia now handles more than 2 million queries per month, supporting about 320 direct users across R&D, while powering more than 60 downstream systems and applications that reach over 1,200 data citizens across the business.
…rdized and actionable, and thus AI-ready, across the organization. As a result, the time to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by…
…to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by half — thanks to standardized pipelines, fewer…
…e months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by half — thanks to standardized pipelines, fewer standalone tools and the retirement o…
…retirement of legacy databases and licenses, which brought additional savings. Gaia now handles more than 2 million queries per month — averaging 70,000 queries every single day — as scientists, engineers and technical managers access insights in real time.…
…hnical managers access insights in real time. Adoption has also spread quickly, supporting about 320 direct users across R&D, while powering more than 60 downstream systems and applications that reach over 1,200 data citizens across the business. Collectively, these changes trimmed thousands of days of manual engineering an…
AI capabilities
Conversational AI
…ped retire older bespoke tools and database licenses. To enhance accessibility, Syngenta began testing AI/BI Genie, Databricks’ conversational interface that enables users to ask data questions in natural language and receive instant insights. Combined with Databricks Apps, AI/BI Genie offers a path to embed conversationa…
Technology
Databricks, Delta Lake, Unity Catalog, Databricks SQL, AI/BI, MLflow
…e , Data Warehousing , Governance and Security , Data + AI Platform Cloud : AWS Product : AI/BI , Databricks SQL , Delta Lake , Unity Catalog Ready to get started? Try Databricks for free Talk to an expert Why Databricks…
Business functions
Research & Development
…ologies to discover, design and develop novel and differentiated products. Yet, Syngenta’s research and development (R&D) team struggled with siloed data across 70-plus countries, legacy systems and months-long delays to access critical insights. Following t…
Deployment model
Cloud
…Data Science , Data Warehousing , Governance and Security , Data + AI Platform Cloud : AWS Product : AI/BI , Databricks SQL , Delta Lake , Unity Catalog Ready to get star…
Deployment options
cloud
…Data Science , Data Warehousing , Governance and Security , Data + AI Platform Cloud : AWS Product : AI/BI , Databricks SQL , Delta Lake , Unity Catalog Ready to get star…
Headline outcome
…to data access dropped from as long as nine months to just a few minutes, while overall time to value was reduced by 70%. Data engineering costs fell by half — thanks to standardized pipelines, fewer…
Use case type
Analytics augmentation
…,” the data team brought together R&D use cases and diverse data on Databricks, leading to Gaia, the first crop protection R&D data platform for analytics and innovation. As a result, they’ve cut data access times from months to just minutes, acceler…
