Committee Summit: Reflections and takeaways

Herbie Lambden recently joined the BIA team as Policy and Public Affairs Executive. In this blog, he shares his experience and key takeaways from the BIA Committee Summit which took place on 24th February. 

I really enjoyed looking under the bonnet of the BIA for the first time at the annual Committee Summit on 24 February. The event brought the Advisory Committees and groups together with the BIA Board, staff, and other interested members for two fruitful plenary discussions, as well as the various Committee and group meetings and a networking session.

Steve Bates chaired the first plenary on ‘Delivering the Life Sciences Vision’ which explored turning the Government’s commitment and funding into practical change in 2022. The importance of a strong skills base to achieving the Life Sciences Vision was stressed.

‘Harnessing Health Data, Digital, and AI’, the second plenary, tapped into a growing area of interest for the BIA. Panellists discussed the fine balance between the staggering potential of health data and the challenges involved in securing such data. Initiating a ‘trusted data fabric’ upon which the sector can rely will therefore be crucial. It was interesting to hear how this was picked up by speakers from a range of different Committees and group.

Building on existing strengths

It’s exciting to be joining the BIA on the back of its strong performance in 2021. Nicky Edwards, Director of External Affairs at the BIA, outlined the achievements of the Advisory Committees, exemplifying the Manufacturing Advisory Committee (MAC) for its contributions to the Vaccine Taskforce. Whilst detailing the political landscape, she referenced October’s Comprehensive Spending Review which allocated more funding for biotech.

The BIA’s dedication to the interests of SMEs was apparent to me throughout the Committee Summit. Our Finance Report showed 2021 to be a record year for biotech investment and we’re keen to continue this trend into 2022/3. We’ll build upon our success by encouraging more British investors to invest in the life sciences and lobbying for further grant funding from government.

Skills as a priority

With the exciting achievements of an expanding biotech sector comes the challenge of maintaining a firm skill base.  Attendees celebrated the success of the BIA’s work on immigration and of MAC’s Leadership Programme, LeaP. LeaP’s accomplishments have inspired other Committees to explore their own talent programmes.

Kate Barclay, the BIA’s Skills Strategy Consultant, is working with members across the range of Committees to support their work on skills, employment, and diversity. Members are eager to recruit talented individuals from outside biotech, particularly mathematicians and computer scientists. Commercial talent will also be important when building companies of scale.

These discussions highlighted the many aspects of running a successful biotech business to me.

Innovating for the future

Listening to the range of attendees showed me the many innovative sectors that our members are working in. For example, the plenary on data and AI raised forward-thinking questions about the novel relationship between AI and IP, an area which Claire Smith said the UK was ‘leading the charge’ on.

This emphasis on innovation extended to the Committee meetings too and I was able to see for myself how the Advisory Committees enable the BIA to foster innovation across a variety of areas.

Conclusion

It was great to hear from all of our Committees before and after bringing members together for productive plenary sessions. It was clear that the BIA is intent on preparing for future change within the biotech sector. With Boris Johnson striving to turn the UK into a ‘science superpower’ via new initiatives like ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency), these aims are clearly aligned with the Government’s.

 

 

Herbie Lambden
BIA Policy and Public Affairs Executive