From Promise to Practice: Translating Artificial Intelligence into Scalable Innovation Capability in Spanish Pharmaceutical R&D

This doctoral study examines how artificial intelligence is translated from isolated pilot projects into scalable organisational innovation capability within the Spanish pharmaceutical R&D ecosystem, and which organisational, governance and regulatory factors enable or constrain that process. Adopting a socio-technical systems perspective combined with general-purpose technology, dynamic capabilities and AI governance literature, it uses a qualitative design based on semi-structured interviews with 20–30 senior stakeholders from pharmaceutical companies, regulators, industry associations and technology providers. Preliminary observations point to data fragmentation, organisational silos, regulatory uncertainty and limited trust as barriers, and to governance frameworks and integration into decision processes as enablers of scaling.