Partnership brings together science industries

Businesses in the Health and Medical Technology sector are being invited to join the newly formed Science Industry Partnership for the West Midlands (SIP West Midlands).

The employer-led membership body will bring companies from across the science industries together to share best practice and find solutions to skills needs, apprenticeships and retaining graduates. There will be a particular focus on the Health and Medical Technology Sector.

SIP West Midlands has been formed in collaboration between Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) and COGENT. Businesses from neighbouring Black Country LEP and Coventry & Warwickshire LEP are also eligible to join.

The partnership follows last years The SIP Life Sciences 2030 Skills Strategy which outlined the need to create 133,000 jobs in the UK in order to meet the ambitious Life Sciences Industrial Strategy over the next 10 years.

The Health and Medical Technology Sector accounts for the majority of these roles but in order to meet demand there is a need to attract, train and retrain talent.

Director and academic liaison for GlaxoSmithKline and chair of Science Industry Partnership, Dr Malcolm Skingle, said: ''For an employer-led skills system to thrive, it 's imperative that the voice of the Health and Medical Technology sector is heard, and that businesses have an opportunity to drive a local and collaborative approach to addressing skills needs in the region.

“The SIP West Midlands partnership with Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP) is a chance for local businesses to shape the skills agenda which will significantly impact how we do business now and how we prepare for future growth. ”

The West Midlands Local Industrial Strategy, which GBSLEP contributed to, recognises a major new market opportunity in Health and Medical Technology industries.

There are currently 400 life sciences businesses across the West Midlands, employing 11,000 people and generating over £4 billion.

Chair of Greater Birmingham and Solihull LEP, Tim Pile said, “The West Midlands has a track record for healthcare innovation and is home to centres of national and international significance such as the largest national Cancer Research UK Trials Unit.

“At GBSLEP we are investing in the sector and financing the Precision Health Technology Accelerator and supporting the development of a sector cluster. Healthcare innovation has been brought into sharp focus since the start of the pandemic and now is the time to build upon our world-class offering as we look to recover from Covid-19.

We, GSBLEP, recognise this sector as a high growth area and are working closely with our public, private and academic partners to create opportunities for Health and Medical Technology businesses to develop and grow, a key part of that is to ensure they have the right people with the right skills available to them. ”

This new SIP West Midlands will be the latest addition to the SIP local network after great successes in the North East, Liverpool and Cambridge regions.

A launch event for the SIP West Midlands is being held on 22 April for businesses to find out more. It will set out the vision for the group and provide information about how to get involved.

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