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23rd June 2017

Innovate UK Job Opportunity: Innovation Lead (Biomedical Catalyst)

Closing date for applications: 17 July 2017

Vacancy type: Permanent

Salary: £45,000 – £55,000 per annum

Band: 3

Why work for Innovate UK?

We’re an organisation of around 300 staff, drawn mainly from business with our Head Office in Swindon. We have a variety of Swindon and Field Based roles across our Directorates.

Innovate UK fund, support and connect innovative businesses to accelerate sustainable economic growth and we are looking for new talent to share our vision, to join us as Innovators.

We currently have a vacancy for a field-based Innovation Lead for the Biomedical Catalyst.

Job Purpose

As Innovation Lead Biomedical Catalyst, you will work alongside the incumbent Innovation Lead Medicines and Healthcare, the Biomedical Catalyst Portfolio Manager, and the wider Health & Life Science Sector team to deliver the Biomedical Catalyst programme.Working alongside other Innovate UK functions including Finance and Operations, you will be responsible for programme management, delivery and impact assessment of the Biomedical Catalyst.

The role holder will report to the Head of Advanced Therapies.

Context

The Biomedical Catalyst, launched in 2012, is an integrated translational funding programme jointly operated by innovate UK and the Medical Research Council providing responsive and effective support for the best life science opportunities arising in the UK. The Biomedical Catalyst provides grant support to ensure that emerging disruptive healthcare technologies in disease prevention, earlier diagnosis and tailored treatments are delivered to market. Support through the Biomedical Catalyst is available to UK businesses (SMEs) and academics either working individually or in collaboration. Innovate UK is responsible for engaging and supporting the business led elements of the Biomedical Catalyst.

Since launch more than £250m funding has been awarded through the Biomedical Catalyst to over 300 projects, including over 60 first in human studies of novel therapies and diagnostics seeking to develop a wide range of therapies, diagnostics and devices.More than £120m in additional matched private funding has been leveraged. In October 2016, additional £100 million funding for the Biomedical Catalyst to extend and enhance the programme for the next four years was announced.

The Biomedical Catalyst complements Innovate UK’s other Health and Life Science activities. Innovate UK’s Health and Life Sciences sector has a focus on precision medicine, medicines discovery, advanced therapies, agriculture and food, underpinned by technologies developed in bioscience and medical research and enabled by expertise in engineering and physical sciences. The sector also manages the delivery of the SBRI healthcare scheme via a key relationship with the Department of Health. Innovate UK is investing over £550 million annually across many technical areas to stimulate profitable technology exploitation in the UK. The Autumn Statement in November 2016 has added £4.7 billion additional funding for science and innovation. The Health and Life Sciences team is currently scoping how a portion of these funds will be used.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities

  • Deliver the Biomedical Catalyst programme of funding alongside the incumbent
  • Innovation Lead, Medicines and Healthcare and Innovate UK Finance and Operations functions
  • Provide management support for the Biomedical Catalyst, including process optimisation and implementation
  • Support management of the portfolio of funded Biomedical Catalyst projects
  • Help manage the Biomedical Catalyst budget effectively
  • Measure and report outcomes (via the ongoing independent evaluation)
  • Develop communications around the Biomedical Catalyst and funded projects
  • Manage relationships with key stakeholders and communicate Innovate UK and Health and Life Sciences strategies
  • Work with funding partners and industry groups to ensure alignment of activities to maximise impact on relevant sectors in health and care
  • Contribute to the development of Innovate UK’s Health and Life Sciences strategy, ensuring that it reflects business needs and current technical and market trends.
  • Lead on specific aspects of strategy implementation: accelerating the growth of companies in your sector by helping them to develop and introduce new product, processes and services
  • Working across Innovate UK and with funding partners and industry groups to ensure alignment of activities to maximise impact on the sector
  • Lead ‘fund’ and ‘connect’ activities in the area, ensuring that resources are targeted at the companies and technology areas that are most likely to create impact
  • Work closely with relevant bodies – business, Government, academia, trade associations, standards and regulatory bodies etc. – in the area, to inform programme development and delivery, and build truly UK-wide innovation programmes with significant ambition
  • Build up and/or continue strong relationships with organisations in the wider Innovate UK family (KTN, EEN, Catapults etc.) and leverage their resources to help deliver against common goals in driving innovation
  • Support Innovate UK communications and engagement activities, representing us at leading industry events, raising awareness of the innovation opportunities that exist and leading the thinking in your sector
  • Support ad-hoc project work as directed by the Head of Advanced Therapies
    This is an outline description of the key responsibilities and accountabilities involved in the job. It is not exhaustive and may be revised from time to time.

Person Specification

This position requires a person with a deep understanding of the pathway to commercialisation for emerging disruptive healthcare technologies, the key challenges that companies in this sector face, the technologies involved, and a passion to see the UK achieve further success in the area. They need to be technically literate, business savvy, with strong interpersonal skills. They should be capable of leading the thinking in their particular area of expertise, inputting to the creation and implementation of national strategies. They should be able to work within a team, but be equally comfortable and confident to work on their own initiative. They should be motivated to achieve goals that enable the success of others (colleagues and UK companies). Our corporate success is realised through the achievements of others; the reflected glory of the success of UK companies.

Qualifications

Essential

  • Degree in a scientific or technical subject relevant to health and life sciences
  • Relevant postgraduate and/or business qualifications an advantage

Desirable

  • Post graduate qualifications would be welcome
  • Preferably additional business qualifications

Experience

Essential

  • Business experience in a decision-making capacity
  • A sound, up-to-date and broad-based knowledge of the medicines and healthcare sector in the UK and globally
  • Experience in exploiting medicines and healthcare commercially, through new product discovery, development, marketing or manufacturing
  • Experience tracking impacts and managing a portfolio of activities or investments
  • Specific experience in one or more aspects of healthcare innovation
  • Proven ability to deliver major and complex programmes to time, cost and required quality
  • Developing and implementing project and programmes of work
  • Demonstrative ability to inspire and facilitate cooperation/partnership working, and to work across boundaries, whilst still maintaining impact.
  • Nurturing and developing teamwork across functions

Desirable

  • Familiarity with the research environment in emerging disruptive healthcare technologies
  • Experience of working across technology fields and with a broad and up-to-date understanding of developments in other relevant technology areas

Skills

  • Ability to think strategically, but deliver operationally
  • High degree of organisational ability and attention to detail
  • Self-starter, able to work unsupervised and on own initiative with the ability to prioritise and multitask
  • Excellent presentation skills with the gravitas to hold an audience in your specialist role
  • High competency of ICT skills/ IT systems and applications including
    MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access
  • Capable of delivering in a field working environment
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including tact, discretion and experience of liaising with stakeholders and staff
  • Effective time management

Travel Requirements

There will be the regular requirement for national and occasional requirement for international travel.

The Organisation

Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. We know that taking a new idea to market is a challenge. We fund, support and connect innovative businesses through a unique mix of people and programmes to accelerate sustainable economic growth.

For more information and to apply, click here.