The Life Sciences Hub This dedicated venue connects academia, industry, the health service, government, professional services and funding organisations. With facilities including an auditorium, hot desks and meeting rooms, the Hub acts as a front door for the sector, providing co-ordinated support, networking opportunities and professional advice stimulating innovation, collaboration and investment.
Case history Dr Angela Osborne, MD eXmoor Pharma The ATMP (advanced therapy medicinal products) Manufacturing Community (amc) – is becoming the industry body for advanced therapies manufacturing; it’s a really new industry and there’s nothing else quite like the amc in the whole of Europe. We hold two conferences a year for around 100 people; this one was focused on gene therapies. We like to move around and not be London-centric; it was an obvious choice to return to Wales for October 2017 as it had been so easy the first time around. I was put in touch with the Hub who said yes immediately and sorted everything out. The Hub made a lot of sense as a venue; the cabaret seating suited us and put sponsors close to delegates. It’s been a very effective and easy venue. Cardiff is relatively straightforward for everybody to get to and Wales for events is very easy in terms of transport links and venues.
Cari-Anne Quinn, Interim CEO, Life Sciences Hub Wales The Life Sciences Hub Wales creates a unique opportunity to bring all the groups in the sector together and generate economic growth. We’ve had a lot of successes at the Hub. For example, the international company Zimmer Biomet worked closely with a South Wales hospital to really transform the delivery of orthopaedic surgery, drawing on lessons from the automotive industry and considering LEAN processes around surgeries. As a result, the change in process has further improved patient outcomes at the hospital, increased the number of orthopaedic surgeries per day, reduced patient time in surgery and recovery, and driven efficiency savings. Wales is already a very successful area for foreign direct investment and the networks and clusters we have developed are a real draw for other companies. Our NHS is compact and organised to be accessible, which is something fairly unique, making us a great location across mainland Europe for clinical trials; while our government offers very attractive support packages in addition to the grant and skills support available. For meetings we have great cities, hotels and infrastructure, we host one of the UK’s largest annual Life Sciences conferences, BioWales, which attracts 800 delegates from around the world. It’s a real success for us, it’s grown year on year and demonstrates how easy it is to bring international delegates here.
The Welsh Wound Innovation Centre (WWIC)
The WWIC is the first national wound healing centre worldwide and is the flagship facility for clinical innovation in Wales. The £4 million research hub is devoted to tackling wound care
with academic excellence in wound prevention and treatment. Professor Keith Harding, WWIC There are a number of research and innovation initiatives ongoing in Wales, including the setting up of the Clinical Innovation Partnership between Cardiff University and Cardiff & Vale UHB; their purchase of the Medicentre has increased its incubator use and it is likely to be full by December 2017. The creation of a large bid to WEFO to create a Life Science Ecosystem along the M4 corridor is at the final stages of submission. The creation of a respiratory disease innovation centre modelled on WWIC in Llanelli is undergoing review for funding. The importance of Impact of research in Research Excellence Framework reviews has provided a boost of interest as has the NHS in Wales clearly stating that they support such work. The presence of a significant number of companies in the life science sector and their ability to act as a magnet for other inward investment is huge.
WALES IX
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