North West life sciences sector to get £45m boost

A new multi-million pound fund has been launched in Cheshire to support the region’s growing life sciences businesses.

It was announced yesterday (September 30) at the Biocap 2015 conference, held at the Alderley Park Conference Centre, that £30.7m has already been raised by the Greater Manchester and Cheshire Life Sciences Fund, with that amount expected to increase to £45m.

The cash, raised by Cheshire East Council, Manchester Science Partnerships, Greater Manchester Combined Authorities and Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), will provide the region’s SMEs with a source of capital to drive the North West’s life sciences sector.

The chief executive of Manchester Science Partnerships, Rowena Burns, said: “The life sciences industry is amongst the fastest-growing sectors of our economy and is flourishing in the North West.

“Our goal is to work with our businesses to support their next stage in growth, by reducing their risks and accelerating successful innovation.”

She added: “We know that investment into early stage SMEs can make the world of difference in shortening the journey from idea to commercial reality.”

The life sciences pot was created after the Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Warrington LEP secured £20m in government funding, which is being matched by investors from the private sector. Cheshire East Council, meanwhile, has invested £5m

Rowena continued: “This new fund is just part of our commitment to the region’s wonderful life science entrepreneurs.

“We have already started to think about how we can extend the scope and size of the fund by attracting further investors and making Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Warrington an internationally important centre for life sciences.”

A minimum of £10m from the fund will be invested in Alderley Park, with another £8m ringfenced for businesses in Warrington and the wider Cheshire area.

Clare Hayward, a board member of the Cheshire and Warrington LEP, commented: “Cheshire and Warrington is one of the fastest growing economies in the UK and the growth of its thriving life sciences sector will play an important part in achieving our aims set out in our Devolution Growth Bid to government – to deliver a £50bn economy by 2040.

“This fund will support small businesses to accelerate their growth and development, creating jobs and attracting new businesses to benefit from the world class facilities Cheshire and Warrington has to offer.”

Earlier this year, George Osborne revealed a £5m fund to launch a new research programme at Alderley Park. The Chancellor, who is the MP for Tatton, Cheshire, called the fund a “catapult in medicines technologies”.

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