BIA responds to Budget 2020

BIA responds to Budget 2020

 

Commenting on the Chancellor's Budget today, Steve Bates OBE, CEO of the UK BioIndustry Association said:

Support 'Invest in Ideas' agenda

“We welcome the Government’s commitment to 'Invest in Ideas' agenda with the announcement of an extra £22bn a year for R&D.  For our sector the £200m life sciences scale up fund now becomes a reality. We will work with the Government so they can realise their aim of securing £400m worth of additional private sector funding. It is critical now to leverage capital from pension schemes, which are currently not active-enough players in the UK’s innovative growth industries. With public R&D investment increasing this will give Innovate UK the headroom to refill the Biomedical Catalyst. We will continue to engage with the Government and Innovate UK through the Spending Review process to ensure that this important R&D funding programme is refilled and supports innovative biotech companies for years to come.

 

Cambridge South heralds Britain’s biotech line

 

"The announcement of funding for a Cambridge South station heralds the railway as Britain’s Biotech Line. It strengthens and speeds up links between London and Cambridge with journeys from the doorstep of the Francis Crick Institute in Kings Cross, to AstraZenenca’s UK Headquarters in Cambridge. This not only makes life easier for many working in our sector but derisks taking an entrepreneurial role in a start up or scaling business without having to move.

 

COVID-19

 

"On COVID-19 we welcome the Chancellors' commitment to do whatever it takes.  The UK biotech sector has come together to support the scale up and manufacture of emerging COVID-19 vaccines. Our capacity and expertise will work alongside the extra financial resources announced in today’s Budget to turn novel candidates, which emerge from research laboratories, into usable products.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. For more information please contact Jack Fellows, Communications and Media Manager on [email protected] or 07825942934.

2. Read the BIA's budget submission here: https://www.bioindustry.org/uploads/assets/uploaded/4dcc190e-d96f-4e57-8ca6033b3a6b3748.pdf

3. The UK Life Sciences sector generates an annual turnover of £73.8 billion for the UK economy, supports 482,000 jobs, two-thirds of which are outside London and the South East. There are 5,870 companies in the sector, 80% of which are SMEs. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/bioscience-and-health-technology-sector-statistics-2018

About the BIA 

Established over 25 years ago at the infancy of biotechnology, the BioIndustry Association (BIA) is the trade association for innovative life sciences in the UK. Our goal is to secure the UK's position as a global hub and as the best location for innovative research and commercialisation, enabling our world-leading research base to deliver healthcare solutions that can truly make a difference to people's lives.