Trusted AI at scale: UCB accelerates innovation for patients with Microsoft Foundry
UCB· BelgiumAzure · Azure OpenAI · Azure AI Foundry +5Belgian biopharmaceutical company UCB built SKAI, a secure AI platform on Microsoft Foundry and Azure OpenAI, including the Milton assistant that drafts medical writing documents and Programmer Mike that translates statistical code, moving from concept to production in under six months and aiming to grow Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption from 50% to 80% of employees.
Overview
Belgian biopharmaceutical company UCB built SKAI, a secure AI platform on Microsoft Foundry and Azure OpenAI, including the Milton assistant that drafts medical writing documents and Programmer Mike that translates statistical code, moving from concept to production in under six months and aiming to grow Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption from 50% to 80% of employees.
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Inspect the highlighted sourceThe challenge
As a global biopharmaceutical leader serving patients with severe neurological and immunological conditions, UCB faced growing data volumes and needed a secure, compliant way to scale AI across research and operations while protecting sensitive patient data and intellectual property in a highly regulated industry.
The solution
UCB built SKAI, an internal secure, modular platform for generative and agent-based AI, on Microsoft Azure, powered by Microsoft Foundry and using Azure OpenAI as a core capability, with data, models, and applications run within UCB's own secure cloud. SKAI integrates Azure OpenAI, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure API Management, and Microsoft Entra ID for enterprise-grade security, role-based access control, and scale. It powers a family of domain assistants, including Milton, which generates structured first-draft medical writing documents from validated sources for writers to refine and validate, and Programmer Mike, which translates and maintains statistical code across platforms for clinical statisticians. UCB also fosters a global AI community and Tech Studio approach where employees co-create assistants and share learnings, and launched SKAI Labs for safe experimentation with multiple large language models.
Reported business value
SKAI moved from concept to production in under six months. Milton lets medical writers start from a quality draft, resulting in faster turnaround and greater consistency, while Programmer Mike helps statisticians work faster and learn new languages, saving time and strengthening expertise. UCB anticipates its Microsoft 365 Copilot employee adoption rate soon rising from 50% to 80%.
Sources
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