What is the expected growth rate of the business in the next year 
then are made on an annual basis of the renewals, the decision to scale up in a very significant way can actually take longer than a year, because they're -- now the validation switches over to sort of internal validation. So what does that mean? Now you have to, first of all, you have to deploy the technology at a much larger scale than there used to, this involves, obviously, running the calculations on the cloud. And then you have to go through these design tests make cycles, where you're determining whether the technology is really having any kind of impact that we're seeing and if they seen from other collaborations and that can sometimes take a little bit longer than a year and that's what we have taught -- how we've talked about sort of the growth in the business. It's not necessarily completely linear. We know where it's headed, right, as we talked about before in response to other questions. But it can take a sort of lumpy course to get there. That makes sense.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Yes. It does.
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Great.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
On the occasion, when a customer does add on incrementally during the year, with that add on be a yearlong contract or would it be to, I guess, to fit into the current contract and then conclude that that in the fourth quarter? So if that's when the contracts currently in and...
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
... so that they basically incorporated into the current cycle?
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
It really varies. It's a really good question. It varies. We -- sometimes the contract is started and so that it's coincident with the earlier contract. But actually, just as often, it's a contract now where there are two duals in the year and then later on they are merged. They are -- it is really all -- every different possible way of doing it as it occurs. Sometimes it's six months, sometimes three months, nine months, sometimes a little bit over a year. I mean there's quite a bit of variability.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Thank you very much for taking my questions.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 38 minutes
Call participants:
Jaren Madden -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Karen Akinsanya -- Executive Vice President, Chief Biomedical Scientist, Head of Discovery R&D
Joel Lebowitz -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Yee -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Michael Ryskin -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Do Kim -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
More SDGR analysis
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then are made on an annual basis of the renewals, the decision to scale up in a very significant way can actually take longer than a year, because they're -- now the validation switches over to sort of internal validation. So what does that mean? Now you have to, first of all, you have to deploy the technology at a much larger scale than there used to, this involves, obviously, running the calculations on the cloud. And then you have to go through these design tests make cycles, where you're determining whether the technology is really having any kind of impact that we're seeing and if they seen from other collaborations and that can sometimes take a little bit longer than a year and that's what we have taught -- how we've talked about sort of the growth in the business. It's not necessarily completely linear. We know where it's headed, right, as we talked about before in response to other questions. But it can take a sort of lumpy course to get there. That makes sense.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Yes. It does.
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. Great.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
On the occasion, when a customer does add on incrementally during the year, with that add on be a yearlong contract or would it be to, I guess, to fit into the current contract and then conclude that that in the fourth quarter? So if that's when the contracts currently in and...
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Yeah.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
... so that they basically incorporated into the current cycle?
Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
It really varies. It's a really good question. It varies. We -- sometimes the contract is started and so that it's coincident with the earlier contract. But actually, just as often, it's a contract now where there are two duals in the year and then later on they are merged. They are -- it is really all -- every different possible way of doing it as it occurs. Sometimes it's six months, sometimes three months, nine months, sometimes a little bit over a year. I mean there's quite a bit of variability.
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
Thank you very much for taking my questions.
Operator
[Operator Closing Remarks]
Duration: 38 minutes
Call participants:
Jaren Madden -- Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
 Ramy Farid -- President and Chief Executive Officer
Karen Akinsanya -- Executive Vice President, Chief Biomedical Scientist, Head of Discovery R&D
Joel Lebowitz -- Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer
Michael Yee -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Michael Ryskin -- Bank of America -- Analyst
Do Kim -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst
David Lebowitz -- Morgan Stanley -- Analyst
More SDGR analysis
All earnings call transcripts




