Title: "Automation + Miniaturization = Acceleration"

Abstract:Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the nature of work. Automation will accelerate the shift in required workforce skills we have seen over the past 15 years. Miniaturization of processes enables the production of prototypes or intermediates by the acceleration of property optimization while reducing expenses. Together, automation and miniaturization are needed in development and production to speed-up prototype development and decrease time-to-market, and stay competitive in a global world. The credo ‘Automation + Miniaturization = Acceleration’ is successfully applied in many technologies and research areas, however not in synthetic chemistry. I will show our efforts to miniaturize and automate synthetic chemistry and the use of AI for the purpose of optimizing properties, for example, to discover potent inhibitors of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2, the causing agent of COVID19.