According to a survey by GlobalData, 50% of healthcare industry professionals would prioritize artificial intelligence (AI) among other emerging technologies for their investments in the next two years. The leading data and analytics company notes that AI has been trending as the leading future investment target in the pharmaceutical industry since 2018, gaining a 6% increase compared to last year.

GlobalData’s latest report, ‘Digital Transformation and Emerging Technology in the Healthcare Industry – 2022 Edition’, reveals that AI (50%), Big Data (38%) and Digital Media (37%) were the top three selected priorities for investment in emerging technologies in the next two years. AI is viewed as one of the most disruptive emerging technologies with trust in the technology growing as the number of successful use cases increases, such as AI-designed drugs entering clinical trials.

Elton Kwok, Market Research Manager in Pharma at GlobalData, comments: “AI can be applied across different areas within the pharmaceutical industry, not only in drug discovery, as it helps save time and reduce labor cost. Moreover, the combined use of it with other innovative technologies, such as big data or cloud computing, can be synergetic and generate significant efficiencies in pharmaceutical processes; for example, AI platforms going through big data or electronic health records (EHRs) for data analysis or drug repurposing in a shorter period of time.”

Kwok adds: “AI is a powerful and versatile tool, and it is full of potential; yet it is believed that its usage has not reached its peak. AI has drawn attention for investment since the launch of our survey-tracker; and in spite of the recent inflation and rising costs, AI will still attract interest for future investment.”