Time for life sciences businesses to be heard says Tony Davis
Jun 18 2009 by Alun Thorne, Birmingham Post
Tony Davis, head of MedilinkWM in Birmingham, says life sciences businesses must make their voices heard
Prescribing growth
It is said that the world changed on September 14, 2008.
Economically, it did. That was the day that the US Government watched Lehman Brothers collapse. It’s led to governments across the world losing faith in the financial sector and focusing on industry – looking for the golden goose of innovation that will drive their economies forward.
Even in our challenging climate of redundancies and cutbacks, there is still one sector that promises to grow and thrive, on which the Government could pin its hopes of driving an economic recovery – life sciences.
Three weeks ago DIUS, now incorporated into the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, stated that life sciences forms the largest sector contributing to the Gross Domestic Product of the UK and recognised that it is one of the three most important drivers of economic growth in Britain, followed by renewable technologies and the digital economy.
That means the sector is vital if we are to trade our way out of recession.
Spanning medical technologies, healthcare, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, the life sciences sector encompasses a wide range of businesses, not just the Johnson & Johnson’s of this world.
From Birmingham’s Safe Patient Systems to Dudley’s Clamason Industries, they all have a part to play in our greater economic survival.
It’s the main reason that the newly launched Office for Life Sciences (OLS), headed up by Lord Drayson, has promised to consider tangible, valuable investment for companies within just 12 months.
In a challenge to industry that should be music to the ears of business leaders in our entrepreneurial culture, Lord Drayson has called for proposals for steps that can be taken to improve access to finance for SMEs and to stimulate investment.
Government departments are in agreement and are working together towards a specific goal.
The OLS is an example of a Government working differently, as it includes officials from the Department of Health, HM Treasury and the new Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), which combines the work of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).
And in this sector, there is a unique link between the NHS and industry. Lord Drayson is working to help the NHS understand the importance of its role in supporting, purchasing and encouraging new product development, which will grow the life sciences sector, stimulate the economy and boost future tax receipts, influencing Government spending plans.
With such a direct commitment to support this sector and within a relatively short time frame, MedilinkWM has been working alongside other trade associations and blue-chip firms to find out exactly what is needed to support the sector’s growth.
In response, we’ve launched the Voices of Industry campaign to give businesses in the region an unprecedented opportunity to tell the Government what it can do to help them succeed, which will run throughout June.
In my role on committees reporting to the OLS, I have been working to highlight the needs of industry and that’s why we’re asking industry for its views and ideas.
The Government is asking for ways it can help life science companies right now – let’s make sure they know what SMEs really need to thrive.
It’s essential that every professional working in this sector looks at what the Government could do to make it easier for them to grow their business and unleash their entrepreneurial flair. Our aim is to deliver a proposal of crucial initiatives that the Government could implement to make an immediate impact on the prosperity of the sector, which includes any company working within the healthcare technology, diagnostics or biotechnology sectors, all of which are incredibly strong in the West Midlands.
The region’s reputation for excellence, innovation and invention is well founded and I’m convinced that its prosperity lies in providing better, more unified representation in Whitehall.
Economic and Business Minister Ian Pearson, MP for Dudley South, delivered a report for the Ministerial Medical Technology Strategy Group, where he took personal responsibility to ensure the solutions were implemented.
It outlined the need for action to support SMEs, identified in four key areas. These were access to the US market, knowledge transfer and networking, access to finance and access to the UK market and NHS clinical key opinion leaders. In two of these, the country’s Medilink network has been recommended to build more capacity to support SMEs in the medical technology sector.
Large pharmaceuticals including Roche, Smith & Nephew and GSK have strong links with Government, effective lobbyists and marketing budgets beyond the reach of most manufacturers, developers and service providers in the sector. Yet that’s no reason for their suggestions and list of needs to be any more valid than those of other businesses.
It’s only by pooling our resources, sharing our ideas and working for the common goal of a growing market, that enterprises in this sector can influence Government opinion.
We were asked to provide real solutions and to demand the right type of stimulus. Far from the usual centralisation of decision making, this is democracy in action, which is why our campaign has been developed to help everyone take part. With our dedicated microsite, we’re making it easy, removing all the excuses for not taking part.
From publicly agreeing with someone else’s view, which just takes one mouse click, to recording your own view on our dedicated hotline, which is just one phone call, the campaign uses social media to maximise inclusion. It’s our online version of Speaker’s Corner – the epitome of British democracy.
This is our chance to be bold and stand up for our beliefs. This is no time for comparing complaints, criticising past mistakes or moaning; we need to specify what can be done, now, that will help.
We need to provide a reality check, looking at the impact of policy on manufacturers and SMEs, and whether they will be helped or adversely affected by decisions made.
It may be something that Government does which doesn’t help, or something it’s not doing, that would help, or perhaps the processes involved when dealing with the NHS could be improved. From the easing of trading restrictions to addressing late payments by the NHS, which can cripple small businesses, there are simple solutions out there.
Log on to www.MedilinkWM.co.uk/VoicesOfIndustry to respond to topics, register approval, send an email or phone in an audio soundbite. The progress of the campaign, as it gathers support across the West Midlands, will be tracked in real time on the site.
The campaign culminates on June 24 with a high-powered, dynamic roundtable at the Medical Technology Innovation Centre in Edgbaston, to scrutinise every idea and suggestion submitted.
I will present the resulting proposal to Ian Pearson on June 30.
With an election less than a year away at best, it could be another 50 years before we get another opportunity like this. We must make the most of it and show the corridors of Westminster that UK businesses have a voice.
