Quelle: Joachim Richert
Our session 🔆“The Next Generation (Analytical) Laboratory” 🔆 at the analytica conference 2026 today was a tremendous success — highlighting how modern analytical science, powered by
automation,
robotics,
and AI,
is transforming chemistry
and materials
discovery. Unfortunately, the session was drawing much more interest than the room could hold. Apologies to those individuals that did not make it in the lecture hall.
At the heart of the session’s success was the exceptional caliber and complementarity of our speakers:
Prof. Dr.
Kerstin Thurow,
Universität Rostock,
opened with a visionary framework for the analytical lab of the future, reminding us that high‑quality data relies on the co‑evolution of robotics, smart hardware, digital integration, plus
AI—and not AI in isolation.
Dr.
Thorsten Teutenberg
and Dr.
Kjell Kochale,
Institut für Umwelt & Energie, Technik & Analytik e. V. (IUTA),
demonstrated how automation can become accessible to every lab, showcasing collaborative robots, low‑code orchestration, and open standards that lower barriers beyond large, highly resourced
environments.
Dr.
Kathrin Wolter,
BASF,
brought a crisp industrial perspective, describing two archetypes of automated analytics - autonomous embedded labs and centralized robotic hub-, highlighting the orchestration platforms that
connect them and showing fully integrated robotic systems at work.
Dr.
Pascal Miéville,
EPFL
and SwissCat+,
illustrated what a true “self‑driving lab” looks like, sharing EPFL’s innovative “dark‑lab” setup and a concrete AI use case where machine‑learning‑based method selection dramatically accelerates
high‑throughput HPLC
workflows.
The session offered a sharp, forward‑looking vision of where analytical laboratories are headed.
A
heartfelt thank‑you to all speakers for their passion, rigor, and innovative contributions to shaping the future of analytical chemistry.
analytica2026,
AnalyticalChemistry,
LabAutomation,
DigitalChemistry,
SelfDrivingLabs,
AIinScience,
LifeScienceAutomation,
Technische Universität Darmstadt,
LADS OPC UA,
SPECTARIS,
Fachgruppe Analytische Chemie der GDCh,
NFDI4Chem
