This month has seen the release of two government plans which will be instrumental for the Life and Health Sciences sector.
The UK Government unveiled its new Life Sciences Sector Plan as part of their Industrial Strategy, and outlined the mission to leverage the strength of UK science and innovation to drive long-term economic growth and build a more resilient, prevention-focused National Health and Care Service.
This launch coincided with the release of the Health and Social Care Reset Plan for Northern Ireland, which marks “a defining and watershed year for our health service” said Health Minister Nesbitt.
The alignment of these plans is remarkable and taken together send a strong signal recognising the importance of the Life and Health sciences sector for strong economic growth, resilience and lasting improvements in health outcomes; and the need to invest in a more porous interface to unlock these benefits.
The UK plan’s three pillars; World Class R&D, Outstanding Business Environment, and boosting Health Innovation, mirror exactly what we’re building in Northern Ireland.
The NI Health and Social Care Reset Plan gave a clear commitment to “a neighborhood health model, with explicit recognition of HIRANI’s role to help strengthen the strategic partnership between the H&SC, our universities and commercial partners to create a bespoke NI health innovation approach”.
At HIRANI we are excited by the opportunity to integrate the ambitions of the reset and ten-year life science sector roadmap which presents a transformative opportunity for Northern Ireland’s health innovation ecosystem. We look forward to helping to develop the delivery plan over the coming months at a national and regional level to invest in clusters to help unlock this valuable health innovation partnership.
This supports our mission to:
- Align our R&D strengths across academia and health to enable H&SC reset and the shift towards prevention for rapid patient access to cost-effective technologies for improved health outcomes
- Streamline the business environment for local life & health science SMEs to thrive and scale e.g. through supported, simplified regulatory and procurement processes
- Strengthen relationships and access to talent to connect across the UK and Ireland to enhance the sectors contribution to economic growth
With our region already boasting the fastest-growing life sciences sector – contributing £1.3 billion in GVA, dual market access and employing 27,600 people across 250+ SMEs, we’re uniquely positioned to capitalise on this ten-year roadmap.
The life and health sciences are of crucial importance to driving economic growth and improving health in Northern Ireland; therefore, at HIRANI we’re committed to ensuring this is given the recognition it deserves and that we invest in the connected ecosystem needed to unlock our regional success to contribute to this national ambition.
