Recently, Greg Clark announced £229 million investment in science, research and innovation as part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy. Welcomed by industry and a boost to the two new world-class centres that will be built, the announcement cements the government’s commitment to Life Sciences as a central pillar of championing brand ‘UK plc’. The Industrial Strategy provides a unique platform for the sector to demonstrate its contribution in the same way, but the challenge will be to cut through the Brexit noise and be seen to be proposing positive solutions.
The economic story of the £60 billion, 220,000 job sector has long been told. Clark reiterated when he announced the funding that: “Research and development has a proven track record of making our economy more competitive and creating new products, services and better ways of doing business.” Off the back of these comments the Life Sciences sector now needs to shift its narrative to demonstrate tangible examples of innovation and better procurement that supports a longer-term vision of resilient growth, rather than short-term economic headlines.
In terms of the wider picture, the Government’s vision for the UK is about so much more than the economy. The Life Sciences industry needs to hone a narrative that tells the rich history of developing skills, cultivating partnerships with academia and sharing knowledge. It needs to communicate the crucial role it plays in the supply chain of bringing innovation to patients and people across the world. Those stories are out there, they just need to be captured and told in imaginative ways – selling in stories to journalists in other sectors; or animating lab manufacturing techniques to promote on social media platforms.
One of the main criticisms levelled at the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, echoed last Friday by the BEIS Select Committee, is that it lacks the coordination across government. While a risk to its implementation, the Strategy’s breadth of scope presents an opportunity for industry to call for a holistic strategy for the life sciences sector that has buy-in from a wide range of government departments. After all, achieving that kind of buy-in would ensure movement in the right direction.
Theresa May’s commitment to deliver for communities outside of London and the South East is also not going away; therefore it is no surprise that Clarke’s announcement saw a flurry of BEIS Ministers embarking on an East of England and Midlands mission to visit universities and businesses across the region. As such, companies have a golden opportunity here to communicate their value in terms of boosting industrial activity and creating thriving communities across the UK – tapping into local MPs as powerful advocates in and outside of Parliament.
The government has set out its stall with regards to the role of the Life Sciences in ‘UK plc’. Now the sector needs to respond by telling its investment, innovation, research and science story in the same bold terms.