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CEO Update - 1 July 2024
I will watch the General Election this Thursday with great interest, like the rest of the country, and update you on the new ministers and members of Parliament next week. You can access the policy backgrounds of the main parties and view our webinar on what the campaign has taught us about what our sector should expect from the new parliament and government. It was interesting to see global business voices recognising an opportunity in medicines manufacturing if the new UK government gets its act together on planning.
Join us in Glasgow tomorrow
I'm in Scotland this week for our Glasgow regional event and look forward to learning more about the clinical trial capability, particularly in the West of Scotland and amongst our members. Ensuring we have a clinical trial system in the NIHR and a regulatory system around the MHRA that delivers on time and on target is a key issue many members continue to race with me. I'm keen to learn more about your experience, positive and negative, to gain a full picture of where the UK system stands in relation to international peers through 2024. It's a topic that I'm sure will be at the heart of our joint conference with the MHRA later in the year.
Women in Biotech
Bristol welcomed Women in Biotech to town very warmly last Thursday, with the Bristol BioDesign Institute hosting the event at the university. An inspiring panel of female founders, entrepreneurs and experts spoke candidly about both the challenges and opportunities for female leadership in the Deep Biotech space and many connections were made.
Vision for life sciences
If you've heard one of my speeches at a BIA event this year, you're aware that we're in the process of updating our sector's vision for the next ten years. Back in 2015, we set out to establish the sector as the third global cluster by 2025. Now is an ideal time to review our progress and plan for the future. Your assistance is crucial. This week, we plan to survey a broad group of BIA members regarding our initial ideas, and I would greatly value your input. Keep an eye out for an email later this week.
Last chance to secure your attendance at our Summer Party - I do hope you can join us!
Steve Bates OBE
CEO, BioIndustry Association