Lord Sainsbury of Turville

LDA's Life Sciences Strategy Launch

I think the strategy and action plan that LDA is publishing today is an excellent and timely document and very important for London and the UK as a whole.

The other speakers this morning will be telling you about the resources of London and the future potential for the development of bioscience in the Capital. I would like to focus on importance of the life sciences in a national context, the vital role that London has to play, and the importance of the LDA Strategy in developing this role.

Bioscience is a high priority for the Government. I don’t think there’s any doubt that it will be one the prime economic drivers of the 21st Century and the importance of the biosciences has been endorsed by the Prime Minister on several occasions.

The prime aim of the Government is to maintain and strengthen the UK’s international position as a world-class centre for bioscience, research and exploitation. Achieving this will require integrated action on many fronts, both at the national and regional level.

We see the national role for the Government as primarily being to create for the scientists, the entrepreneurs and the investors, who create the new knowledge and the wealth, the best possible environment in which to grow and prosper.

The right environment, we believe, depends on two crucial factors, first of all, a world-class science base in the biosciences, and incentives to bring R&D to the market as innovative products and processes. And, secondly, a fiscal and regulatory environment that achieves the balance between necessary regulation and the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurial endeavour.

This is why building the strength of the UK science base has been a priority for the Government. This has been recognised in the last three Government Spending Reviews by the allocation of extra funds for education, research and infrastructure.

In the last Spending Review, the Science Budget was increased by an additional £1.4 billion. This means the Science Budget will increase by 10% pa in real terms over the next 3 Years. This is on top of major increases in the 1998 and 2000 Spending Reviews.

The Government is also committed to creating a regulatory environment that ensures the necessary balance between prohibiting dangerous and damaging actions and avoiding bureaucracy that stifles business formation and growth.

The extension of the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act to allow research in the therapeutic use of embryonic stem cells I think is a good example where we have been successful in adapting legislation and regulations to changing circumstances to provide the required public safeguards, but also to provide as favourable an environment as possible for the development of the beneficial use of stem cells.

We have in Government taken action specifically designed to help biotechnology companies take advantage of the UK’s expertise. For example, we’ve had in the DTI the £25 million Harnessing Genomics programme, which provides support for a range of projects to help promote the development of the UK biotechnology sector. We have also set up a Bioscience Innovation and Growth Team, chaired by Sir David Cooksey, one of the UK’s leading venture capitalists, to advise us on what action to take on a whole range of issues facing the biotech industry. Such as how we help biomanufacturing in the UK, relationships between the bioscience industry and the NHS, and finance, whether there is any action the Government could take in these times of difficult finance.

At the regional and local level the prime aim is cluster development. This encompasses a range of activities, which will depend on the regional and local environment. I think the LDA Strategy is a very good example of the work that an RDA can do to stimulate growth of bioscience. In particular, providing the specialised space that bioscience businesses need in their early stages such as incubator facilities and of increasing importance as the sector matures, grow-on space.

Also to ensure that bioscience companies have the mentoring, access to finance and the skills that they need in their early stage of growth. I was particularly pleased that the Strategy recognises that access to high quality management is crucial for business success.

As I mentioned earlier London is rich in the necessary resources. London is one of the largest centres in the world for life sciences and medical research. It has 25 higher education and research institutes and famous medical schools involved in life sciences research that receive over £400 million of public finding a year. London hospitals also receive, 70% of the NHS annual spend (£430 million) on R&D and London is the largest centre for clinical trials in Europe.

This concentration of resource means that London’s success is pivotal to the overall success of the UK as an internationally competitive nation in the biosciences. And we are indeed in a very strong position, being the leading Biotech industry in Europe and we are doing well even during this difficult period globally for the life science industry.

This is why the LDA Life Sciences Strategy and its successful implementation is so important.

The growth of the London bioscience cluster has been a great success story. London has all the necessary resources, and I am sure that the LDA Life Sciences Strategy will enable the industry to build on that success, so that it grows and prospers in the future.