On Tuesday 24th September 2024, the British Business Bank, in partnership with HIRANI and Pioneer Group, hosted a pivotal event during Business Finance Week, focusing on the local Health and Life Sciences landscape. The event convened stakeholders from across UK and Ireland and provided valuable insights, foster connections, and explore funding opportunities for innovation in this critical sector.
Northern Ireland’s Life and Health Sciences innovation sector is booming, with recent figures showing it is the fastest growing sector in the region, with 75% of all spinout companies from universities in the health and life sciences space. As the fastest growing sector in our local economy, it accounts for more than 25% of our economic output and generates a whopping £1.2bn GVA per annum. Northern Ireland has vastly talented individuals and companies blazing a trail in the sector and our universities are internationally recognised leaders, with both Queens and Ulster ranking in the top 10 for life science related activity in UK.
The Business Finance Week event attracted over 100 attendees, including local entrepreneurs, industry leaders, investors and ecosystem stakeholders. The event also heard from new Chief Scientific Technology Officer, Prof Helen McCarthy. Through expert-led discussions and first-hand accounts from ecosystem stakeholders and scaling NI-based Health-tech SMEs, participants gained a better understanding of the importance of the Health and Life Science sector in Northern Ireland. As well as the importance of a renewed focus on finetuning the financial landscape will be critical for the future growth and success of new products, jobs and skills for innovative life Science SMEs emerging from the Launchpad and our region’s economic prosperity.
Susan Nightingale, Director, UK Network – Devolved Nations opened the event with a welcome and then chaired a fireside chat with Carmine Circelli, Investment Director, Joann Rhodes, Chief Executive, HIRANI & Ayokunmi (AJ) Ajetunmobi Pioneer Group on their perspective of the Life & Health Science landscape. Following this, AJ chaired an investment panel with Sian McLaughlin, Investment Manager, Clarendon Fund Managers, Dominick Kennerson, SVP, Health-Tech, HSBC Innovation Banking and Mary Canning, Partner, Epidarex. Susan McKane, Director at British Business Bank then chaired a sectoral support panel with Samana Brannigan, Head of Health Technologies, Innovate UK, Brendan McGuigan, Head of Life Sciences, Invest NI and Prof Helen McCarthy, Chief Scientific and Technology Advisor, NI Executive. Closing the day, Joann Rhodes, CEO of HIRANI chaired a NI company insight panel with Roger Johnston, CEO, Axial3D, Christina O’Neill, CEO, Vasc Versa and Robert Ladner, CEO & Founder, CV6 Therapeutics.
Key Highlights of Sessions:
Current capabilities in Northern Ireland can be unlocked with further sector-specific resources: –
- A proactive, patient life-science-focused investment fund to bridge the funding gap following on from Launchpad. This is important for the validation of our technologies in global markets and to reinforce the UK and Ireland supply chain.
- A bespoke Health & Life Sciences Incubator is critical for local SMEs to access the lab space, sector-specific expertise and business support needed for success.
- Enhanced regulatory clarity for Northern Ireland would unlock investment. There is an opportunity to use our strengths in life sciences in Northern Ireland as a testbed for the transformation of regulatory infrastructure working with the proposed MHRA Regulatory Innovation Office.
We look forward to building this further with key stakeholders to ensure good connectivity with investment and resources our sector needs to flourish
Quotes:
Sally Ann Emmas, Lead Scientist, Medicines Discovery Catapult:
“I really enjoyed attending this event – exciting to hear about the greater innovations and opportunities for health and life sciences in Northern Ireland. Looking forward to developing collaborations further.”
Susan Nightingale, Director at Devolved Nations from British Business Bank
“A fantastic event, well done for pulling it all together! I don’t think there was a single person in the room that didn’t learn something. Let’s keep the conversation going and ensure NI continues to punch above its weight”
Dominick Kennerson, Senior Vice President HealthTech at HSBC Innovation Banking:
“I learnt a tremendous amount about the local Northern Ireland ecosystem, and have been referring to the region as “the new San Diego” ever since, which resonates with my colleagues at HSBC Innovation banking”
The event successfully highlighted the vibrant support ecosystem within the health and life sciences sector. Attendees left equipped with practical advice and new contacts, ready to pursue financing opportunities to enhance their innovations.
