Areas of focus include innovation, manufacturing, skills & dementia
There is strong complementarity between the UK Government’s new Life Sciences Vision and the strategy at Discovery Park, the Life Sciences Opportunity Zone for ambitious and growing life sciences companies. The Government’s 10-year plan covers accelerating the delivery of innovations to patients, solving healthcare issues such as dementia, onshoring manufacturing and the creation of highly skilled jobs. Digital tools and ‘Levelling Up’ health and wealth across the UK are also highlighted. With its Strategic Pillars of Innovation, STEM skills, Digital & AI and Manufacturing, Discovery Park will collaborate with the Government to make the UK the leading location worldwide for life sciences.
The Life Sciences Vision is part of the UK Government’s Build Back Better post-pandemic growth plan. Life Sciences Opportunity Zones such as Discovery Park are expected to play an important part in this growth.
Lessons learned during the pandemic include the importance of a strong domestic manufacturing base and supply chain. With its manufacturing facilities and space for expansion, Discovery Park’s vision of a Manufacturing Village is strongly aligned with the Government’s plan for Manufacturing Clusters.
The Park’s Innovation activities include delivery in 2022 of a new Incubator facility for 20-25 SMEs, while further developments its Skills strategy will be announced in due course. As a central nervous system disorder, dementia (named one of seven great healthcare challenges by the Government) is of interest to Discovery Park and tenants such as neuroscience CRO Transpharmation. Mayer Schreiber, CEO of Discovery Park, said, ‘The Government’s new Life Sciences Vision is an exciting strategy for the sector in the UK and we are delighted to see so many areas of mutual focus. Companies at Discovery Park played an important role in the pandemic response – we expect them to continue to contribute to growth of the UK life sciences sector which employs more than 250,000 people with an annual turnover of £80bn2.
