“Scale up” or the ability to scalesynthesis, production or manufacturing is one of the largest barriers to the deployment of novel pharmaceuticals and high-performance materials. The synthesis scale-up process presents a multivariable challenge affected by many chemical, physical, environmental, economic, and safety constraints. Similarly, scaling a material and the technologies they enable requires multivariable optimization to ensure that performance is preserved. For these reasons, scale-up is not only time-, labour-, and resource-intensive, but also a high-risk process with an undefined return on investment. In some cases, promising products might fail to reach the manufacturing stage due to complications in scale-up. 

To bridge this gap, the scale-up self-driving lab, based at the University of British Columbia, aims to accelerate research translation from early-phase discovery to real-life deployment of new molecules and materials. By driving autonomous scale-up and optimization in organic chemistry and materials science, we are accelerating and de-risking material and drug development. We aim to radically shorten the discovery-to-market timelines for life-saving pharmaceuticals, clean energy technologies, and other novel molecules and materials, driving scientific innovations toward a sustainable and resilient future for our society.