11th July 2016

BIA response to the announcement from Business Secretary Sajid Javid for £10 million for the Biomedical Catalyst 2016

BIA Chief Executive, Steve Bates, has responded to Business Secretary Sajid Javid’s announcement of £10 million of funding for the Biomedical Catalyst 2016, which will be administered by Innovate UK.

The Biomedical Catalyst 2016 is being funded by Innovate UK, MRC and Scottish Enterprise. Applications for the early stage award and feasibility study award are both open now and all applications must be registered by September 7th and completed by September 14th.

BIA Chief Executive, Steve Bates, said: “The £10m committed today by BIS and Innovate UK to the Biomedical Catalyst 2016 competition is great news for the life sciences sector. The BIA has continually called for a re-commitment to this highly successful scheme over the past year and it is great to see that innovative start-ups in the life sciences sector will have access to really valuable funding to allow them to get projects off the ground that have the potential to meet unmet patient needs in a range of conditions.

“However whilst this announcement meets a short-term need, it is not the ongoing commitment that the BIA wants to see the government make towards innovation policy and funding. Despite signs of continued momentum and maturity in the private funding of the UK’s bioscience sector, there is no room for complacency. The lack of reported seed capital for UK bioscience companies in 2015 shown in our latest research underlines the importance of effective support for early-stage companies through fit for purpose innovation policy from the government. To secure the future of the sector we need another full round of the Biomedical Catalyst funding like the £130m we saw committed over the course of the last Parliament. The BIA is making this message loud and clear at its annual Parliament Day taking place today.

“Given the political and economic uncertainty that the country has seen over the last fortnight, it is now more important than ever that the government supports high-tech, innovative sectors such as bioscience with globally competitive innovation policy and funding. The BIA will be making this message loud and clear over the coming weeks and months to the new Prime Minister and his or her government.”

To date the BMC has supported 180 business-led projects with funds worth over £130 million and with a total project value of over £240 million. This means that over £100 million of additional private capital has been raised through the fund for project specific work. In addition to this, companies that have received BMC funding have gone on to generate £1billion in follow on funding.

For details on how to apply for the Biomedical Catalyst go to the Innovate UK website.