Few now disagree that we don’t just need growth but a more sustainable recovery based on an economy less reliant on the City and debt-fuelled consumer booms. The pace of growth in the developing economies creates major markets for UK science, technology and innovation. As the next phase in the agricultural and industrial revolutions takes hold, huge markets will be opened up, not least in the life sciences – the use of biological science to solve societal challenges in medicine, energy and agriculture.

 

In recognition of the importance of this opportunity to the UK’s recovery, the government last year set out a comprehensive strategy for life sciences. Widely welcomed across the bio-medical sector, it aims to unlock the full value of this sector with a focus on helping the UK to be an “integrated healthcare economy”, supporting research investment to help tackle some of the most pressing global disease challenges. However, if we want to achieve maximum impact, the definition of life sciences needs to be extended to include clean-tech and agri-science alongside biomedicine. This would enable a more comprehensive bio-economy strategy to be developed that includes genetics, computing and biological sciences, such as that which was set out in the Obama Administration’s National Bioeconomy Blueprint in April. Such a strategy could do much for the UK’s recovery, attracting investment, supporting our export and trade potential, and helping define the more sustainable long-term economic role for the UK we all want to see...

 

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