By Mark Layden, CEO, Science Exchange
We closed out on an extraordinary year of momentum at Science Exchange in 2025 and all of us have been reflecting on both how far we’ve come, and where we’re headed next.
Over the past twelve months, our team delivered some of the most meaningful product advancements in our company’s history, further strengthening our core platform, expanding our impact across R&D operations, and deepening the trust placed in us by leading biopharma organizations and scientific service providers around the world.
2026 will be a transformational year for Science Exchange. We’re doubling down on three strategic initiatives that will shape the next era of our platform, unlocking even greater value for our diverse customer community.
The future of R&D platforms isn't just about adding AI—it's about building it with security, intention, and domain expertise at the core.1. Elevating Our Platform With Thoughtful, Purpose-Built AI
The first and most foundational initiative is how we are evolving the Science Exchange platform with AI. What excites me most is not that we are incorporating AI, but how we’re doing it: intentionally, securely, and with deep domain expertise at the center.
Over the last decade, we’ve been focused on building a robust technology platform. With this, we’ve helped our customers solve major challenges in R&D operations and outsourcing. We eliminated friction across organizations, accelerated scientific and operational timelines, and created visibility where it simply didn’t exist before. In 2026, we are supercharging those capabilities through a series of agentic, workflow-embedded AI features designed to make our platform even more intuitive, efficient, and powerful.
These agents will help automate routine tasks, guide users through complex processes, improve decision-making, and reduce operational overhead, ultimately enabling scientists, program managers, and procurement leads to stay focused on the science and not the administration.
And we’re approaching this evolution with the same rigor and responsibility that has always defined Science Exchange:
- Enterprise-grade security and compliance: Our platform is SOC 2 Type 2 certified and undergoes rigorous third-party audits annually. All AI-powered features are held to these exact same security standards.
- Thoughtful use of third-party Models: Science Exchange does not build its own LLMs or train models on large datasets. We obtain all necessary rights and approvals to use third-party LLMs and follow all relevant usage controls.
- Protection of customer data: No customer data is ever shared with any third-party LLM provider.
As we expand our AI capabilities, our customers (especially our enterprise partners) can feel confident knowing our approach is both intentional and secure. This is AI built not to chase trends, but to deliver meaningful, measurable impact for science focused organizations.
2. Expanding Into Lab Consumables to Unlock a Unified Spend Experience
Second, we are further expanding our platform into a category our customers have been requesting for years: lab consumables.
For too long, researchers and operations teams have been forced to manage scientific services and lab consumables through entirely separate systems, suppliers, workflows, and approval paths. It’s an inefficient and costly process.
In 2026, we’re changing that.
By extending our marketplace, workflows, and AI agents to support consumables ordering, we will make it incredibly simple for labs to stay stocked and productive. Customers will be able to search, compare, purchase, track, and reconcile consumables, all within the same platform they already rely on for scientific services.
This unlocks major benefits:
- A single source of truth for all R&D spend
- Accelerated workflows with fewer administrative bottlenecks
- Reduced reliance on one-off or siloed purchasing software
- Significant time and cost savings across scientific teams
We’re bringing the same discipline and innovation that scaled outsourced R&D management to the consumables ecosystem by creating one seamless environment where all operational purchasing can happen with ease. Think of it as a one stop shop for all the resources you need to advance your science and one place for all that analytic insight.
One unified platform for scientific services AND lab consumables? That's the kind of operational efficiency that saves teams hours every week.3. Strengthening Our Supplier Ecosystem and Delivering More Value to Partners
Finally, we are making substantial investments in improving the experience for our supplier partners. These are the scientific service providers and vendors in our global marketplace who aid in making groundbreaking research possible.
In 2026, we’re introducing new capabilities and partner packages designed to streamline how suppliers engage with our platform and how they showcase and sell their services and goods. These improvements will make it easier for suppliers to:
- List and update offerings
- Engage with customers
- Manage projects more efficiently
- Unlock opportunities aligned with their expertise
A stronger supplier experience benefits everyone. When suppliers can operate seamlessly on our platform, our biopharma customers experience faster onboarding, better service quality, clearer communication, and more reliable project outcomes. This is a true win-win and central to the next stage of our growth.
The Year Ahead
What excites me most about 2026 is the clarity of our vision. We are building a platform that is not only powerful, but purposeful. Every day, scientists, scientific collaborators, vendors and service providers engage on our platform with a shared commitment to advancing science with greater speed, rigor, and impact. That sense of community — a dynamic marketplace of ideas, products, and services — is at the heart of everything we do.
Our momentum from the past year gives us incredible confidence, but it’s our roadmap for the future that inspires me. AI-powered capabilities built with intention and security. A unified purchasing experience spanning services and consumables. A more robust and connected supplier ecosystem.
These initiatives reflect who we are: a company deeply committed to accelerating science by modernizing the way research gets done.
I could not be more energized by what lies ahead, and I look forward to sharing our progress throughout the year.