NatWest to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in £80.7bn life sciences sector

NatWest and the Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) are partnering to boost entrepreneurship in the health and life sciences sectors, with the aim of supporting the growth of the sectors across the West Midlands.

The partnership will see NatWest’s business building Accelerator scheme link with PHTA to support entrepreneurs and small businesses in the burgeoning life science sector.

PHTA is the University of Birmingham’s flagship facility dedicated to translational health research, which will soon be based at Birmingham Health Innovation Campus (BHIC). The campus is the Midlands’ only science park dedicated to life sciences research and is delivered in partnership between the University and Bruntwood SciTech.

The life science sector looks for “innovative” solutions to tackle healthcare problems, including new medical technology such as self-administered treatments, data driven clinical trials and the development of new drugs that can be tailored to the individual.

According to government data, the life sciences sector generates around £80.7bn turnover nationally, with 6,300 business across the UK, including more than 550 in the West Midlands, which is also the largest medical device cluster in the UK.

The collaboration will help to deliver NatWest’s ambition of supporting startups, high-growth businesses and the wider economy by working in collaboration with like-minded institutions.

The partnership will see NatWest and PHTA work to jointly support the region’s entrepreneurs, giving them access to state of the art labs and technology, a wide range of clinical research, trials and health data.

Entrepreneurs will also benefit from bespoke business building advice from NatWest and sector specialists and coaching on all aspects of business skills, from leadership to pitching and finding funding opportunities.

Professor Gino Martini, PHTA’s CEO, commented: “What we aspire to create at PHTA is a truly multidisciplinary ecosystem where academics, clinicians and entrepreneurs can co-locate and collaborate. Our advanced suite of facilities has been custom-designed to support life sciences companies to start up, scale up and flourish.

“We’re keen to open discussions with businesses who wish to work with our key opinion leaders in a vast array of clinical specialties, and those who are excited by the opportunity to collaborate with other like-minded businesses for patient benefit.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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