Data is the Future of Indian Life Science Innovation
Business leaders from the Data-Driven Healthcare sector in Hyderabad and the West Midlands have come together to discuss the common challenges and opportunities facing the industry. In what was an engaging and insightful event, the delegation of more than 20 sector experts also covered the importance of access to data and how to transform it into insight.
The roundtable event, organised by the West Midlands Growth Company and chaired by Venkatraman Sivaramakrishnan, of Bharat Biotech, saw leading Indian companies including Apollo Hospitals and Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories participate. The West Midlands delegation was made up of senior representatives and sector experts from the region and included Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, Rob Valentine, Director of Birmingham (Bruntwood works) for Bruntwood, Professor Elizabeth Sapey, Professor Robin Mason and Jean-Baptiste Cazier from the University of Birmingham, along with West Midlands Growth Company leads.
A diverse region with an internationally significant economy
Andy Street, Mayor of the West Midlands, launched the ‘Data is the future of Life Sciences’ roundtable by introducing the West Midlands to the delegation.
He highlighted our regional strengths that include our fast-growing £117bn economy, our world-class academic institutions, unrivalled connectivity opportunities and our diverse population amongst many others.
A thriving ‘bench to bedside’ data-driven healthcare sector
Dan Storer, Chief Investment Officer at the West Midlands Growth Company, introduced our data-driven healthcare sector, showcasing how it is one of the most dynamic data-driven healthcare and MedTech economies in the UK. Worth £10.3bn, it currently employs over 17,000 highly skilled professionals.
He highlighted that, as with our data-driven diagnostics, rapid growth in the region’s Digital Health market is being supported by the combination of accessible, integrated patient data, with the West Midlands home to extensive expertise in advanced digital technologies including AI, UX, software development, immersive tech, mobile applications and IoT.
Dan also demonstrated the strength of our region’s world-class academic institutions and talent pool to the delegation. Investors and companies coming to the West Midlands will benefit from a region that is home to eight world-leading universities that produce 57,000 graduates every year. With residents from over 190 counties, this talent pool is also highly diverse, multicultural and multilingual.
Develop and test remote health services at speed and scale
Bringing our digital health offering together is 5G cellular broadband. As the UK’s only large-scale 5G testbed and the site of the first 5G commercial accelerators, the West Midlands has the best 5G network coverage in the country.
5G expertise is already proving vital to providing remote health services over the next decade across our data-driven healthcare sector as we innovate “bench to bedside”. The testbed has already showcased examples of 5G technology in healthcare, such as the use of live video streaming to provide specialist advice to ambulance paramedics and enabling medical responders wearing a VR haptic glove to perform remote ultrasound scans.
Academic R&D ideal for Indian healthcare innovators
Rob Valentine, Director of Birmingham (Bruntwood works) for Bruntwood, along with the University of Birmingham’s Professor Elizabeth Sapey, Professor Robin Mason and Jean-Baptiste Crazier, shared insights into our region’s wider ecosystem with the delegation.
The West Midlands’ dynamic life sciences, healthcare and MedTech economy is underpinned by world-class academic R&D facilities, large-scale NHS clinical research programmes and major collaborative, multi-disciplinary health-related projects.
University hub of health-care innovation
Robin discussed the University of Birmingham (UoB) and its wider role within the region. The Healthcare Technologies Institute, the Data-Enabled Medical Technologies and Device Hub (DEMAND), and The Centre for Custom Medical Devices – are all based at UoB. Additionally, the region is home to Birmingham Health Partners – a strategic alliance between University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, UoB and Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust which brings together clinical, scientific, and academic excellence across an integrated medical and life sciences campus.
The University of Birmingham’s Professor Elizabeth Sapey showcased our academic capabilities by highlighting the UoB’s key role in the West Midlands’ response to Coivd-19. It was a key partner in the country’s Ventilator Challenge and established one of the first Covid biobanks for new assay development.
With 35 centres of clinical excellence clustered around eight world-class academic institutions, our region’s healthcare ecosystem is accessible to the private sector and particularly attractive for companies interested in R&D collaborations and product or service evaluation.
Innovate with access to huge clinical data sets
As highlighted by the West Midlands delegation, high-quality data is critical to the development of next-generation opportunities within the Indian data-driven healthcare sector.
Dan explored how data supports the West Midlands’ innovative and disruptive healthcare economy by providing the ability to access, analyse and cross-reference clinical and genomic data from a demographically diverse, non-transient population. This includes digitised patient records – drawn from a population of nearly five million people – collated and maintained via one of the most advanced electronic medical record systems in Europe. Data is one of the ‘4Ds’ the West Midlands has key strengths in, alongside Digital, Diagnostics and Devices.
Specialist health data research hubs
Elizabeth reinforced our data strengths by highlighting PIONEER and INSIGHT, two government-backed Health Data Research Hubs that have the expertise, tools, and knowledge to maximise insights and innovations derived from health data. PIONEER is focused on acute care – providing accurate and real-time data for capacity planning and service provision – while INSIGHT is dedicated to eye health data. Both are open to working with private sector partners to drive innovative and scalable commercial diagnostic opportunities.
Having access to an extensive number of data sets, the UK’s largest genomics lab, and one of the largest clinical trial portfolios in Europe, the West Midlands offers major opportunities across all aspects of data-driven genomics and digital-led diagnostics for Indian investors and companies.
Leading support for Indian life science businesses
As the roundtable drew to a close, the West Midlands’ unique offering was reinforced along with the support available for those looking to come to the UK.
Rob introduced the Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC) which is one of only six Life Sciences Opportunity Zones (LSOZs) in the UK recognised by the UK Government. The zone offers numerous advantages including access to lab space and links with higher education, as well as providing excellent opportunities for businesses to develop and grow, and will lead to 10,000 new jobs being created with £400m GVA being contributed to our regional economy by 2030.
The West Midlands Global Growth Programme (GGP), a state-of-the-art, comprehensive package of fully funded soft-landing support for innovative international companies looking to establish in the UK was highlighted, along with how it complements the West Midlands Growth Company’s Investor Catalyst Support.
An exciting opportunity for West Midlands and Indian collaboration
Ultimately, the roundtable provided a brief insight into our region’s data-driven healthcare sector and why it is one of the UK’s leading destinations for international investment with a world-class, thriving business ecosystem.
In the past two years, the pandemic has highlighted the crucial role played by healthcare in all aspects of our lives, and its reliance, particularly on innovation, manufacturing and technology will continue post-pandemic.
This presents new investment opportunities for companies in the sector looking to expand internationally, whether relocating or starting up. As demonstrated at this roundtable the West Midlands has a strong sector offering and is an ideal location for companies looking to relocate/start up.
