Creative Disruption Forum—24 March 2024—The Future of the UK's Life Sciences Sector and the Funding Requirements for Success.

The Creative Disruption Forum, hosted by Tony Sedgwick and Graham Combe at the West Works, White City event venue on March 26, 2025, will comprehensively examine the life sciences sector's future in the UK through various interviews with industry leaders.

Here's a closer look at these topics with some insight which we'll open to debate:

The future of UK life sciences is poised for significant transformation, driven by multifaceted factors, including funding sources, political policies, technological advancements, and the need for lab space tenants. Let’s break down these components to understand the landscape of the life sciences sector in the UK.

1. Future Outlook for UK Life Sciences - The UK life sciences industry is set to grow, leveraging its strong foundation in research and innovation. With leading universities and research institutions, the UK is a hub for biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare services. As the global demand for innovative therapies and health solutions increases, the UK is well-positioned to meet these needs through a combination of research outputs and commercial opportunities.

2. Funding sources for UK life sciences will likely stem from various sources: - Public Investment: The UK government has committed to increasing its public funding in research and development, with initiatives like the R&D Roadmap aiming to reach 2.4% of GDP by 2027. Investments are expected in critical areas such as genomics, drug discovery, and digital health. - Private Sector: Venture capital continues to be a significant driver of funding for biotech startups. As successful exits increase, more investment will likely flow into innovative life sciences companies. Additionally, larger pharmaceutical companies may increase their venture arms to invest in promising technologies. - Collaborative Funding Initiatives: Public-private partnerships, including initiatives like UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), will leverage public resources and private expertise to fund innovative projects.

3. Political Policies Driving Growth - Recent political policies aimed at fostering growth in the life sciences sector include: - Life Sciences Vision 2030: This government initiative outlines a plan to position the UK as a global leader in life sciences, focusing on investment in infrastructure, workforce development, and regulatory simplification. - Health and Care Bill: This legislation aims to integrate health services and improve healthcare delivery, which translates to increased opportunities for life sciences companies to align their innovations with NHS needs. - Brexit Opportunities: Post-Brexit regulations provide the chance to develop tailored frameworks that may expedite access to markets and clinical trials, potentially making the UK an attractive location for life sciences research.

4. Technology Disruption through AI and ML - Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will significantly disrupt the life sciences sector by enhancing innovation in several ways: - Drug Discovery: AI can analyze vast datasets, predict molecular interactions and accelerate the identification of drug candidates. Companies like BenevolentAI, Isomorphic and Healx are already utilising these technologies to streamline the R&D process. - Clinical Trials: AI and ML algorithms can optimise trial design, patient recruitment, and data analysis, enabling more efficient and effective clinical trials. This can lead to faster approvals and reduced costs. - Personalized Medicine: AI can help develop tailored treatment plans by analysing genetic and clinical data, thus customising interventions based on individual patient profiles.

5. Demand for Laboratory Space - As new lab spaces become available in the UK, the question of tenant demand is critical. Potential sources for tenants include: - Startups and Scale-ups: With a vibrant ecosystem of startups emerging from incubators and accelerators, there is a steady demand for lab spaces, especially in cities with strong research institutions like Cambridge, London and Oxford - Established Biotech and Pharma: Larger firms may seek to expand their R&D operations, leading to a need for additional lab facilities. Collaborations with universities often require access to specialised lab spaces. - Digital Health Companies: As telehealth and digital health tools gain traction, companies focusing on software development and health data analysis may require lab space to validate and test their innovations. We see significant investments from tech billionaires into the UK’s life science industry’s ecosystems, such as the Ellison Institute of Technology in Oxford and the new Google European HQ in Kings Cross, London. These tech giants will likely stimulate other inward investment from North America and possibly China as they leverage the UK’s longstanding position as a pioneer in life sciences innovation. However, can we ensure enough funding in the UK’s ecosystems to keep companies in the UK as they grow? Work must be done on the UK’s pension funds and other sources of significant capital to allow companies to flourish entirely in the UK and benefit the broader UK economy with more skilled jobs by keeping companies in the UK.

In conclusion, the UK life sciences industry will flourish through synergistic funding sources, strategic political policies, and technology-driven innovations. The new lab spaces will attract diverse tenants, fostering an environment ripe for further growth and collaboration. The interplay of these factors will define the future trajectory of the UK's life sciences landscape. At this Creative Disruption Forum, we will discuss these factors with a key focus on funding, venture building and the promise of AI/ML.

The Agenda in Summary

10-10.30 am arrival with coffee & teas, biscuits & fruit

10.30-10.40 - Intro from the Host sponsor - West Works, White City

10.40-10.50—Introductions from Mariana Vaschetto, CDD Vault, and Jack Corbett, CEO of GeneRx.Life is our supporting sponsors.

10.50-11.30 am - Keynote Interviews - What is the UK Funding landscape and what needs to be done to ensure the UK's Life Sciences success.

11.30 am-12.10 pm - Keynote interviews - What is the future of AI in Life Sciences and where are the best opportunities

12.10-12.30 pm - coffee & tea break

12.30 - 1.30 pm - What can we learn from the UK's Successes of the past

1.30-2.30 pm - Light lunch with coffee & refreshments

2.15 - 3.30 pm - Workshops - 6-8 workshops on different topics keeping to event theme

3.30 - 4.00 pm - Coffee, Tea and Refreshment Break

4.00 - 4.45 - Group Leader Workshop Presentations - 5-10 mins each

4.45 - 5.15 pm - Round-up of the day's learnings & Thank you and Goodbyes

5.45 pm - Unofficial drinks in a pub nearby TBC

ADMISSION FEE for Service Companies such as CROs, CDMOs, Law Firms and Patent Attorneys, Consultancy Firms = £190 - ALL-INCLUSIVE

ADMISSION FEE for Innovative Emerging Life Science Companies and Independent Consultants = £95

Investors can apply for free entry by writing to [email protected].

Thank you to our sponsors the West Works Lab Space White City, CDD Vault and GeneRx.life for your kind support.

More General Information about the Creative Disruption Forum

At all our events, we encourage dialogue in the room with the keynotes and participants expertly moderated by our resident thought leader, Prof Tony Sedgwick. Tony and I have worked together developing our Agile Leaders, Biotech Buddies, #coffeebuddies and now our Creative Disruption Forums over the last eight years. During the pandemic, we did 3-4 #coffeebuddies "shows" weekly, linking our UK community to others worldwide. Our aim for each participant in all our events is to be engaging, informative and entertaining - with no more death by PowerPoint! lol

To spark new thoughts and ideas and build friendships

As organisers, we promise always to entertain, engage, inform and be interactive during our thought-leadership interviews and Creative Disruption workshops. This is to help you spark new thoughts and ideas and build friendships with peers, clients and collaborators.

How do you benefit from attending?

As a "Leader" in the biotech sector, or aspiring leader, you will benefit from this "Creative Disruption" Forum. It will allow you to share common challenges and build deeper connections and trust with your peers. In turn, the aim is to build your confidence when working in areas typically outside your comfort zone by learning and discussing with this / your "Agile" peer-to-peer network.

You can broaden your understanding of the key aspects of the commercialisation journey and how to overcome potential barriers. You can speak to people in a similar position about issues you may not have the opportunity to talk about elsewhere. You can discuss your challenges by learning from other people's experiences to help you find a solution or spark an idea. Why let leaders of emerging companies reinvent the wheel to be successful when we can learn from the experiences of others who have faced similar challenges before?

Chatham House Rules apply - "what goes on in the Forum, stays in the Forum - so to speak!"

Our mission is to help you build your innovation-enabled healthcare business so it is "fit for purpose," genuinely innovative and attractive to the global markets. Helping you build solid, trustworthy networks with your peer group and help spread your creative R&D business network nationally and internationally. Our motivation and focus are on helping you build long-term reliable business relationships and support you on your journey through our supportive business community.

Prof Tony Sedgwick, the self-professed www.ThoughtDisruptor.com, facilitates this workshop. Tony has an esteemed career in academia and business; he is a trained pathologist. His accolades include once being the Global Head of Clinical Reseach at Roche AG, being a VC and being one of the UK's first Biotech CEOs. Tony has now been CEO of four life science companies, Chairman of over 10 Companies, and held many positions within the academic community. He is also an active psychologist, which has helped him develop his passion for "Agile" community group development. He is a Jiu-Jitsu Grand Master VIII and Jiu-Jitsu trainer. Last year, Tony published the book "The Mighty Advisor", which became a number 1 best seller in the Amazon STEM Business Management category.

We will start this Creative Disruption Forum on Tuesday, February 11, with a 10.00 am arrival (followed by a prompt 10.30 am start with interviews of prominent thought leaders).

We promise that our #CreativeDisruption Forum will be like no other life sciences event or business network you have experienced. You will be walking out of the session inspired, educated and more connected.

ADMISSION FEE for Service Companies such as CROs, CDMOs, Law Firms and Patent Attorneys, Consultancy Firms = £190 - ALL-INCLUSIVE

ADMISSION FEE for Innovative Emerging Life Science Companies and Independent Consultants = £95

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