A watershed moment for UK Life Sciences Policy – How broken is it and do we need to fix it? (CIMR Debates and Workshops in Public Policy)
When:
—
Venue:
Online
Join the Centre for Innovation Management Research on Wednesday 17 November for the online debate: A watershed moment for UK Life Sciences Policy – How broken is it and do we need to fix it?
The online debate is part of the CIMR Debates and Workshops in Public Policy series.
Speakers
- Dr Clive Dix CEO of C4X Discovery, former Deputy Chair of the UK Vaccines Task Force
- Alex Sheppard Co-Founder & CEO at Vatic
- Dr Deborah Spencer Deputy Head Innovation & Business Partnerships, University of Oxford
Chair
- Emma Palmer Foster PhD candidate (Birkbeck) & EJ Palmer Consulting
ABSTRACT
Two Government policy documents this year – the UK Innovation Strategy: Leading the future by creating it and the Life Sciences Vision – have sought to set out strategies for creating a world leading sector and industry. With almost five years (including Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic) between now and 2017’s Life Sciences Strategy, a new framework is being established. The policy document recommendations are that we should draw heavily on the lessons learned during the pandemic, to make the UK a world-leader in science, research and innovation, and a Science Superpower respectively. The approach of the Vaccines Taskforce, which injected a VC mindset into the Government in order to deal with a public health crisis, is held up as an exemplar for future activity. With the UK Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA), its version of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), due to come online in the next year or so, the complexion of our sector could be about to change significantly: Or is it?
How influential could these policy changes be, and have the right lessons been learned from the pandemic? In this seminar we will analyse the importance of the unlikely partnerships that have formed over the past 18 months or so, the importance of blue-skies research, whether the Government should be trying to set the direction of travel and whether its policies are future-proofed.
- What did we learn from the convergence of Government and industry during the pandemic? What should we keep?
- What have we learned from the pandemic about life sciences research funding?
- How well connected is UK life sciences policy to its grass roots?
BIOGRAPHIES
Dr Clive Dix has more than 30 years’ experience in life science research, with over 20 years in senior pharmaceutical industry positions and a degree and PhD in Pharmacology. Clive was Co-Founder and Chief Executive of Convergence Pharmaceuticals Ltd, which was acquired by Biogen in January 2015.
Clive was previously Co-Founder and Chief Executive of PowderMed Ltd, a vaccines development company acquired by Pfizer in November 2006. Before that he was Senior Vice President, Research and Development and a Board member of PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc until its acquisition by Chiron Vaccines in 2003. Clive is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Centauri Ltd and a Non Executive Board member of the Medicines Discovery Catapult. Clive was appointed Deputy Chair of the UK Vaccines taskforce in June 2020. In December 2020, he stepped up to the role of Interim Chairman.
Alex Sheppard An experienced start-up CEO with expertise in building value for venture and government-backed technology companies. His speciality is in rapidly growing businesses from the earliest ideation through to product launch and exit planning. Alex has expertise in fundraising having completed venture capital funding rounds in two companies from Seed capital to Series A VC finance and secured half a million pounds in competitive government grant awards. He believes in ventures with high social impact. Graduating from Oxford University with a Classics degree, Alex has a Graduate Diploma in Law and experience in biotech, medtech, instrumentation, marketing, legal and management consultancy
Dr Deborah Spencer has a bachelor’s degree from the University of London, an MBA from Copenhagen Business School, an MSC from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from Dundee Business School. Deborah is responsible for developing activities under the Industrial Strategy across the University of Oxford and engages with industry to build partnerships that leverage the unique academic strengths from within the University of Oxford. She previously worked at the Oxford Local Enterprise Partnership as the Life Sciences specialist for the Region and helped to establish the Health Tec Cluster at the Harwell Science Campus. Deborah has also worked in senior positions at the Universities of Edinburgh and Dundee, and UK Research Councils. While in Edinburgh, she led on the establishment of a new genomics centre, and has been involved in three spinouts.
Emma Palmer Foster developed EJ Palmer Consulting. Emma works with pharma and biotech organisations on strategy, investor relations and communications. She has over 25 years' of experience in the European healthcare sector, via roles in investment banking, VC, financial communications and investor relations, journalism and technology transfer. She has worked with a wide range of pharma, biotech and medtech firms on IPOs, M&A, public and private fundraisings. Emma has an MA in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Durham University Business School. She sits on the UK NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Product Development Award panel and is Deputy Chair of the NIHR NHSX AI in Health and Care (Phase 2) Award panel. Emma is a part-time PhD candidate at Birkbeck, University of London.
Contact name:
Orla Walsh