Limerick, Ireland – May 18, 2026 — Pfizer was announced as the winner of the Customer Innovation Award at the Kneat Innovation Awards held during the VALIDATE 2026 conference in Dublin April 29-30. Partner award winners included PM Group and No deviation by EFOR
Alcon and Colgate-Palmolive were the additional finalists for the award. Pfizer was recognized for driving digital validation at global scale, with harmonized validation processes, global document templates, and multi-site wave deployments.
The Kneat Customer Innovation Awards celebrate Kneat customers who have leveraged Kneat Gx in unique, creative, and potentially groundbreaking ways to enhance and optimize their validation processes. This award recognizes implementations that have not only improved validation workflows but have also unlocked significant business value.
VALIDATE brings together validation and quality professionals for two days with a focus on sharing best practices, exploring emerging technologies, and accelerating the shift toward a data-centric, automated validation environment.
Pfizer highlighted a major transformation in how Kneat is deployed across its global manufacturing network. Between 2022 and 2024, deployments were managed site by site with limited scale and no cross-site collaboration. By 2025–2026, Pfizer had shifted to harmonized global templates deployed in multi-site waves, resulting in a 95% reduction in deployment time, nine times more deployments compared to the first three years, and adoption across more than 90% of sites spanning six disciplines.
Pfizer also introduced innovations including custom user groups for external vendor access and a global Test Method workspace that enabled cross-site document sharing without formal site deployments.
Award finalist Alcon Johns Creek facility successfully migrated from another digital validation provider to Kneat, overcoming the challenge of transferring more than 3,000 records across a complex multi-vendor environment. Using a risk-based sampling strategy grounded in process validation methodology, the team reduced verification requirements to just 30 records with zero defects as the acceptance criterion — significantly streamlining migration validation while maintaining compliance. The migration was completed across DEV, VAL, and PROD environments, supported by structured training and instructional resources.
Award finalist Colgate-Palmolive Cambridge, Ohio facility, transitioned from fragmented spreadsheets and paper calibration certificates to a centralized Kneat-based calibration management system. The solution standardized calibration workflows across instrument types, automated data population, eliminated manual entry, and centralized more than 650 equipment records — creating a scalable blueprint for broader deployment across Engineering, Quality, and Calibration teams.
Kneat partner awards
Kneat’s Partner Program recognizes organizations that combine deep industry expertise, proven validation experience, and a strong commitment to customer success to help companies scale confidently with Kneat Gx.
The 2026 Transformational Partner of the Year Award was presented to PM Group for their innovative approach to enhancing the Kneat customer experience through advanced digital solutions that improve visibility, performance tracking, and strategic decision-making.
The Partner Impact Award was presented to No Deviation by EFOR in recognition of their ability to accelerate enterprise adoption, apply proven best practices across global deployments, and deliver measurable value for some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical organizations.
VALIDATE 2026 highlights
- Best Practice Sessions: Insights from Kneat customers and industry leaders on AI readiness, global harmonization, compliance, and scalable validation strategies.
- Innovation and AI Focus: Sessions and discussions explored the growing role of AI in validation, digital maturity benchmarking, and practical approaches to implementing new technologies while maintaining compliance and data integrity.
- Networking Events: Three days of collaboration and networking in Dublin that included a customer-only rooftop networking event on April 28 and a special evening experience at Croke Park on April 29 with tours, entertainment, and industry connection opportunities.
Looking ahead
VALIDATE 2027 will take place in spring 2027 in North America. Register your interest today.
About Kneat Solutions
Kneat Solutions is a leading provider of AI-assisted digital validation software for the life sciences. Through its flagship product Kneat Gx, and consulting services and partners, Kneat helps organizations digitalize, optimize, and manage validation and compliance processes with greater efficiency, traceability, and control.
Media contact:
Art Gehring, VP Marketing
E: [email protected]
M: + 1 917-282-7209
