The coronavirus pandemic has thrust the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries into the limelight like never before.  It’s a prominence that new research from Novartis suggests has created a fresh allure for the industry in the eyes of the best tech talent on the market.

The company surveyed over 2,500 tech professionals from the UK, Germany, USA, India and China, with the respondents working across a range of sectors.  The analysis found that healthcare and pharma are neck and neck with the technology sector in terms of the area people would consider moving to, with both easily beating sectors such as finance and telecoms.

Driving change

A primary factor in this desire is the hope that they can innovate through technology, and solve real-world problems that are really affecting people today.

“COVID-19 has caused a seismic shift in the adoption and scaling of digital technologies in our sector, at a pace never seen before,” Novartis say. “Our existing investment in core platforms has enabled us to respond rapidly to the needs of patients, physicians and our associates – as well as dial up our work rethinking how we discover and develop new medicines; work smarter; and create better customer experiences. Attracting and nurturing highly sought-after tech talent into the sector is now critical to grasping the clear opportunity that comes with combining the power of data, science and technology.”

The study found that the perception of the healthcare sector had improved as a result of the pandemic, with 72% of respondents saying that the response to the pandemic had been effective, with even more thinking that data science had been a crucial aspect of that response.

Barriers to moving

There remain some barriers to attracting the brightest talent, however, with many tech workers believing a lack of industry knowledge would hold them back.  There were also concerns about the scientific knowledge required to work in the sector, especially where pharma companies are concerned.

This contrasts with a robust belief in the value data science can bring to the sector, whether in terms of improving efficiency, diagnostic accuracy, or the ability to predict diseases.

“It’s encouraging to see that those with critical tech expertise are recognizing the role they can play in reimagining the future of medicine,” the researchers say. “We now need to prove to them that their perceived ‘lack of industry knowledge’ is no barrier at all to solving high-impact real-world problems for patients, working hand-in-hand with our scientists and allies from partners like Microsoft, Amazon Web Services or Benevolent AI.”