Northern life sciences economy grows by £4bn

The North Health Science Alliance (NHSA) has revealed today (Friday 6 July) that the region’s economy has grown by nearly 50% and more than four billion pounds in the last year.

This growth has been demonstrated through a new analysis of figures from HMG’s Office of Life Sciences, Strength and Opportunity 2017: the landscape of the medical technology and biopharmaceutical sectors in the UK report, provided by BioNow. This analysis has shown that the North’s life sciences economy has grown from £9.2 billion in 2016 to £13.6 billion in 2017, which represents an increase of 48% over the last year — 4.8% higher rate than the national average. 

Additionally, the data shows that the Northern Powerhouse is home to 21% of the total UK Life Science sector workforce, 19% of the UK biopharmaceutical sector workforce, 22% of the UK Medical Technology Sector workforce and a very significant 29% of the UK Digital Health workforce. Furthermore, the number of companies in life sciences in the Northern Powerhouse has grown by 755 over the past year.

The figures will be presented by Dr Hakim Yadi, CEO of the NHSA during the third day of the Northern Powerhouse Business Summit ‘Great Futures’ — taking place today (Friday 6 July) in Newcastle. Yadi will discuss the government’s Industrial Strategy Grand Challenges in Ageing and Artificial Intelligence and the North’s expertise and potential in these areas.

“The North’s Life Sciences Economy is booming as shown by this incredible growth that’s taken place over the past two years,” he said. “The North of England has a tremendous opportunity to make the most of its excellent universities, hospitals and booming life sciences industry to meet the challenges of an ageing population and to harness the power of AI for the benefit of the UK as a whole.

“The region has national centres in ageing, digital health, anti-microbial resistance, cancer research and health data. It is again pioneering treatments in and using these capabilities supported by business confidence of £1.6bn of planned investments.

“The creativity and tenacity that has characterised the North of the past continues to this day and will continue to do so well into the future.”

“The UK is a world leader in the life sciences sector, with our businesses, including from the region covered by Northern Health Science Alliance, at the forefront of innovation in healthcare, medical technology and biosciences,” commented minister of state at the Department for International Trade, Baroness Fairhead. “DIT will continue to support British businesses in the Life Sciences sector to sell to overseas markets through our wide-ranging support offer.

“This offer includes our award-winning export credit agency, UK Export Finance, which helps fund companies seeking to grow their sales overseas, Innovate UK, which funds businesses to develop their novel ideas and our specialist Life Sciences sector team who offer detailed market and business support.”