Health tech firms set for innovation support

The Liverpool City Region Innovation Zone Programme launches a new business support centre to commercialise businesses in health and life science research.

A new business support centre is up and running thanks to the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

The Health Tech Business Incubation Centre (Health BIC) will be based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory thanks to £1.8 million of investment from the Combined Authority’s Innovation Zone Programme.

Positive boost for health and life science businesses

Open to organisations based in Liverpool City Region, the Health BIC is geared towards start-ups within health and life science projects.

A tailored package of support will be built for each business worth up to £75,000. This will include non-dilutive funding, research and development (R&D) vouchers and entrepreneur-led business coaching.

The overall aim is to help businesses realise commercial opportunities and drive further innovation with their health and life science research as a starting point.

Partnerships

STFC will work with a number of industry-leading partners to ensure that each business has the support and expertise that they require.

As part of the Sci-Tech Daresbury joint venture, Daresbury Laboratory will link participants into opportunities to utilise facilities and expertise on the campus, including the lab’s world-class experts in a range of scientific fields.

The Medical Research Council (MRC) will provide knowledge and expertise to STFC to support companies that are likely to make a difference to clinical practice and population health.

Medicines Discovery Catapult

Headquartered in the north-west, Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) is an independent innovation centre for drug discovery. It accelerates business growth, leading to improved outcomes for patients.

MDC enables the community to reshape drug discovery by supporting innovators and connecting the life science sector.

MDC will provide its expertise and skills to support Health BIC participants and signpost them to relevant partners and collaborators within the medicines discovery ecosystem.

The North West Health Cluster

The North West Health Cluster, led by STFC, promotes research, innovation and growth by bringing together organisations to enhance intelligence sharing, promote knowledge exchange and create collaboration capacity.

Dr Phil Carvil, Head of STFC’s North West Cluster Programmes said:

“The UK has a thriving Health and Life Sciences sector, that is pivotal to economic growth, resilience and citizen health.

The Health BIC builds on this heritage and the regional excellence in cutting edge R&D, by bringing together key national stakeholders in the North West Health Cluster, including MRC and MDC, together with regional bodies to support innovators on their journey.

This directly links to STFC’s cluster strategy and UKRI’s place agenda to create thriving and connected innovation ecosystems.”

A strong history of business incubation

STFC runs several business incubation programmes, both at Daresbury Laboratory and other sites in the UK.

This began back in 2009 with the launch of the European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre UK (ESA BIC).

The ESA BIC programme has been a huge success, creating over 1,000 jobs and £220 million investment in the last 15 years.

The same model has been used as the blueprint for four other deep tech incubation centres and the Health BIC will be a real asset to the region.

Attracting investment

The funding marks one of the first of 21 life science projects set to receive backing from the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Innovation Zone Programme, part of the government’s national Investment Zone Programme.

In total, the projects are aiming to attract investment into the region up to £800 million and 8,000 jobs.

Rich package of support

Paul Vernon, Executive Director for the Business and Innovation Directorate and Head of Daresbury Laboratory at STFC adds:

“We are welcoming health and life science organisations from Liverpool City Region to take advantage of the rich package of support we will offer through the new Health BIC initiative.

Our team of business incubation experts, led by Dr Amy Farrington, will tailor the support to suit their needs.

Our 60+ years heritage means that we have the facilities, the expertise and the partners to support early-stage businesses to reach their full potential.

We hope to replicate that successes of our other business incubation schemes and drive more innovation in this vital sector and see more investment in the region.”

Helping the health and life sciences stars of the future

Councillor Liam Robinson, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Cabinet Member for Innovation, said:

“Through this new Health Tech Business Incubation Centre we are supporting early stage businesses and helping the health and life sciences stars of the future to prosper, further bolstering a sector where we already have world-class strengths.

By nurturing these growing businesses through the difficult early days we can help them to create high-quality jobs in the future as well as prosperity for our city region as a whole.”

Getting involved in the Health BIC

Businesses interested in the Health BIC should:

• be based in the Liverpool City Region
• be less than five years old
• have a focus on health and life sciences

If this sounds like you then contact James Mooney, STFC Business Manager: health_bic_enquires@stfc.ac.uk

Source: Growth Platform