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BIA Webinar - The Spring Budget: what does it mean for life sciences?
The Spring Budget will be a key moment for the life sciences sector following the R&D tax relief rate cut announced at the November 17 Autumn Statement. The Chancellor has since written to BIA stating that he sees “merit” in the case for further support for life science SMEs impacted by the cut, but the demands on the UK’s public finances leave significant uncertainty in what can be delivered.
Join BIA’s team that has been campaigning on behalf of the sector to hear their analysis of any further support delivered, as well as the wider reforms to the R&D tax relief regime underway.
Speakers:
Steve Bates OBE
What does your role at BIA involve?
Steve Bates is the CEO of the UK Bioindustry Association, the UK’s Trade Association for innovative life science companies with over 550 members. Steve is the visible face of the vibrant UK life sciences industry to government and media. He serves on the UK Government’s Life Sciences Council and the UK Biosecurity Leadership Council. Steve was a founder member of the UK Government’s Vaccine Taskforce in the Covid crisis, sitting on its steering Board alongside Kate Bingham. He is active member and former chair the International Council of Biotech Associations and has been a board member of EuropaBio since 2015.
Previous experience & achievements
Steve has championed, with government, effective industrial incentives like the Biomedical Catalyst, which have crowded in private sector investment into UK SMEs. He is a driving force behind the scale up agenda, spearheading policy agenda to unlock UK pension fund capital into productive UK growth in life sciences. He has forged several links for the sector across the USA, Europe and in China. In his time at the BIA, Steve has developed new member groups focused on cell and gene therapy, genomics and engineered biology. A strong advocate of partnership working, Steve champions sector collaboration with research charities and academia. Proud to lead an organisation with a diverse Board with over 40% female representation, Steve is committed to next generation talent and developing the skills needed for the sector to flourish. Before joining the BIA in 2012, Steve worked for Genzyme and was advisor to the UK Government of Tony Blair working on NHS reform and the Northern Ireland peace process. He was made OBE for services to innovation in 2017 and became a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science in 2020.
Dr Martin Turner
What does your role at BIA involve?
Martin is responsible for all the BIA's policy outputs and public affairs activities and leads on finance and tax policy as well as the BIA’s engagement with the investment community. He authors the BIA’s investment analysis reports and is a regular commentator on the life sciences sector in the national press. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Cambridge University Science Policy Exchange (CUSPE).
Previous experience & achievements
Martin has over ten years experience in policy and public affairs and has worked at the Royal Society, the Campaign for Science and Engineering, and the Association of Medical Research Charities. Before embarking on a career in policy, he completed a PhD in molecular biology at the University of Sheffield, where he also co-founded and was director of an award-winning science communication charity called Science Brainwaves. He has a BSc in molecular biology from the University of Manchester.
Richard Turner
Richard Turner is a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting and is based in London. Mr. Turner is a member of the UK Tax practice within the Corporate Finance & Restructuring segment. With more than 20 years of experience and being widely recognized as one of the leading UK tax specialists in life sciences, Mr. Turner has helped FTI Consulting establish itself as one of the leading tax advisory firms in life sciences. Richard leads the firm’s tax and innovation services, including intellectual property planning, research and development incentives and the UK Patent Box. Richard has had a wide range of professional experience, including working on research and development incentive claims for large, medium and small-sized enterprises and providing related transactional advice. He has also worked on and planning, licensing, advice, acquiring and divesting of intellectual property rights, and advising companies on cross-border supply chain and transfer pricing. Additionally, Mr. Turner has worked on developing insights into the clinical supply chain to allow life sciences companies to enhance their research and development tax incentives, preparing and presenting tax strategies for clients, long-term effective tax rate modelling and advising government and trade bodies on the design and implications for the UK Patent Box regime. Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Turner was a Partner at Deloitte and part of the UK Healthcare & Life Sciences leadership team.
Melissa Strange
Melissa Strange is CFO at Brainomix, an AI-powered MedTech, where she leads finance, HR and operations and is helping to guide the Company’s future direction. Melissa has spent 14 years working in life sciences, helping companies such as Summit Therapeutics, a NASDAQ listed biotech, Closed Loop Medicine, a TechBio developing combination prescription drug plus software products and Kuano, who are seeking to redefine drug discovery with Quantum and AI. With experience in corporate and commercial transactions, as well as wider organizational development and operational capabilities, Melissa has been actively involved in raising over £120M through UK and US private and public financings and helped secure ~£67M in non-dilutive funding.
Colin Hailey
Colin worked in the tax departments of both Arthur Andersen and Deloitte in London and Cambridge, UK. He left the Big Four professional services world behind in 2010 to start a new tax firm, Confluence Tax, where biotech and technology clients' needs could be met in a tailored way, while retaining an exemplary level of tax advice. Twelve years on, Confluence Tax remains the top tax advisory firm for biotechnology and technology clients, having established extensive networks within the life sciences sector, and having built a reputation as the go-to firm. He specialises in venture capital schemes, R&D tax credits, patent box, share incentives and M&A transactions within biotech and tech. He chairs the Finance and Tax Advisory Committee of the BIA and undertakes consultation work with HM Treasury and HMRC. Colin is a regular speaker and contributor on tax issues relevant to the knowledge economy.
