4th February 2013
Project Launched to Maximize Value of Life Sciences to Welsh Economy
Wales has real potential to become a global player in the life sciences and healthcare fields if the sector secures the right levels of investment and industry and academia commit to working together, according to one of the country’s leading academics in eHealth and health informatics.
The statement from David Ford, Professor of health informatics at Swansea University, comes as a major project to connect and expand the life sciences sector in Wales is launched.
The Life Science Wales project, backed by £228,973 from the Welsh Government’s European funded Academic Expertise for Business (A4B) programme, is an innovative collaboration between academia, business and the NHS in Wales which will consider how life sciences can make an even greater contribution to the economy.
Life Science Wales, which will be led by Professor Ford, brings together Swansea and Cardiff Universities with other academic institutions, the life sciences commercial sector and the NHS to encourage innovation, promote collaboration, identify opportunities and share knowledge and problem solving within the sector, which is currently worth £1.3billion to the Welsh economy.
Business Minister Edwina Hart said the Welsh Government is committed to making Wales the best possible environment for life sciences innovation and business growth.
The Minister said: “Life sciences is one of the key sectors of the Welsh economy and its strategic importance was highlighted in our Science for Wales strategy. I am pleased the Welsh Government is supporting this project to drive forward greater collaboration and knowledge sharing with the aim of increasing research and development and investment into the sector.
“Earlier this year we launched the Life Sciences Wales Investment Fund to transform the life sciences sector in Wales. This dedicated equity fund, worth up to £100 million, is designed to ensure that life sciences businesses in Wales can start and grow and will capture the commercial potential of the significant investment being made by the Welsh Government into science research & development.”
Professor Ford said: “Wales is already a wonderful place for life sciences. We have fantastic researchers, dynamic and enterprising businesses, an expert and committed NHS and a highly supportive Government in order to help this project flourish.
“Life Science Wales will build on the ambitions set out in the Welsh Government’s Science for Wales strategy and by its Life Sciences Sector Panel, to bring together stakeholders from across the country and devise ways in which we can make an even greater contribution to the economy and develop a global hub. It is an important project which, alongside our partners and stakeholders, should maintain and maximise Wales’ position at the top of the life science and healthcare fields.”
As a knowledge exchange project, Life Science Wales will create a network of industry experts, academics and NHS professionals to develop focus groups around the different parts of the industry, from medical device technology to pharmaceuticals and the development of regenerative medicine. The overarching aim will be to develop a pipeline of research and development that will ensure the whole sector is maximising potentials and working towards the same direction in developing the industry for Wales.
Other key partners in the project include Cardiff University, MediWales (the life sciences network for Wales), the National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR) and the Welsh Government. At the end of the two year project the team has already specified its aims to raise a further £400,000 to plough back into the industry through both inward and external investment and funding pipelines.
Professor Ford continues: “We have already had a lot of support from industry for this project with much expression of interest from those involved in all aspects of the sector, from clinical trials to diagnostics. The Welsh Life Sciences sector is growing, and is already an important element of the economy, but (as identified in Science for Wales) more could be done to increase joined-up working between academia, commercial companies and the NHS. This project will focus on identifying and removing the barriers to greater collaboration between these bodies, which will start to maximise the huge potential of life sciences in Wales, and make Wales an acknowledged world leader in this sector.”
Life Science Wales is the first A4B Knowledge Exchange Project to be centred on the Grand Challenge areas – priority areas identified in the Welsh Government’s science policy. These areas are life sciences and health, low carbon, energy and environment, and advanced engineering and materials.
This project is the latest in a series of Welsh Government investments into Swansea University, aimed at encouraging collaboration and innovation within the Life Sciences sector. Previous investments include the £100 million Institute of Life Science project and the ehealth industries innovation centre, a commercially focussed organisation which aims to support eHealth companies in development of their products and services.
Earlier this year, Swansea University was also named as one of only four locations in the UK to share in a highly contested £19 million Medical Research Council (MRC) investment to establish e-health research Centres of Excellence.