A ‘sense of place’ must inform the Government’s new life sciences sector deal, says think tank.
Professor Sir John Bell, author of an independent review of the £64bn life sciences sector, today laid out the industry’s vision for how Government can work with the sector to boost business.
Sir Bell’s report, the Life Sciences Industrial Strategy, is organised under 5 key themes — science, growth, NHS, data, and skills — with proposals to build on the UK’s strengths in each area.
Among its recommendations, it urged Whitehall to improve growth and infrastructure across the country through the use of a competitive tax regime that might attract investors who could manufacture and export high value life science products.
Responding to the strategy, the think tank Localis’ chief executive Liam Booth-Smith insisted that a ‘sense of place’ was ‘crucial to maximising the opportunities to grow life sciences’.
‘Specifically, this means linking up infrastructure to investment in the form of a strategic east-west rail connection across multiple boundaries, as well as ready access to land, rapid planning permission and a highly-skilled labour supply in the aftermath of Brexit,’ he said.
‘If these vital elements of place do not inform the thinking about how the sector deal is delivered, we would be missing an important player on the pitch of national revival.’