Birmingham’s Health and Life Sciences Quarter launch event in the Houses of Parliament showcased the region’s outstanding research and innovation capability.
Minister for Health Innovation, James Frith, speaking at the Birmingham Health and Life Sciences Quarter launch
This week Birmingham’s Health and Life Sciences Quarter held a launch event in the Houses of Parliament, showcasing the region’s outstanding research and innovation capability on a national stage.
The event, led by the University of Birmingham, was supported by James Frith, Minister for Health Innovation, and hosted by Al Carns, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak. The launch brought together representatives from the NHS, research institutes, industry, investors and parliamentarians.
This isn’t a promise of what’s to come. We already have the capability, we have the outstanding facilities, we have the people, the coming together of academics, clinicians and industry start-ups. Birmingham is already achieving incredible things; world-first trials, one-of-a-kind studies, and getting new treatments to patients before anywhere else in the world.
Birmingham’s Health and Life Sciences Quarter is a leading UK and international hub for health-related research and innovation. Centred on a square mile to the south of the city, the Quarter provides the gravitational pull for world-class research expertise.
It comprises the University of Birmingham, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham Women’s Hospital, the BioHub and Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, home to the University’s Precision Health Technologies Accelerator.
Slightly further afield, the Birmingham Dental Hospital and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital complete the set, along with successful health and life sciences companies such as The Binding Site and Nonacus, which both started out at the University of Birmingham and put down roots in the city.
The Quarter brings together academic prowess, top clinical expertise and state-of-the-art research facilities to create one of the UK’s most exciting life sciences start-up ecosystems. The tight geographic connection fosters collaboration, with the whole research pipeline possible in one place, from discovery science to clinical trials and translational studies.
Professor Neil Hanley, Medicine Health and Life Sciences, University of Birmingham, explained: "With health and life sciences totalling £1 billion in research awards over a five-year cycle, the city is trusted to deliver. However, the real value is proximity and the connections made across the ecosystem, not simply the calibre and breadth of individual research projects conducted.
“This isn’t a promise of what’s to come. We already have the capability, we have the outstanding facilities, we have the people, the coming together of academics, clinicians and industry start-ups. Birmingham is already achieving incredible things: world-first trials, one-of-a-kind studies, and getting new treatments to patients before anywhere else in the world.”
From left to right: Professor Neil Hanley, Professor Alex Richter, Minister James Frith and MP Al Carns.
Birmingham is one of the most diverse and youthful cities in Europe, with a genetic makeup and heritage that mean research findings are representative of patients across the globe. With access to five million people in the immediate vicinity, and a super-diverse patient population, research conducted in Birmingham is scalable in the real world.
Located in the centre of the country, Birmingham is well connected by transport links in the UK and beyond. It is also affordable, offering highly competitive rents for lab spaces, considerably lower than other cities with life sciences hubs, and better quality of life for researchers owing to significantly lower cost of living.
Al Carns, Birmingham Selly Oak MP, the constituency home to Birmingham Health Innovation Campus, highlighted this strength: “With over 100 languages spoken across the city, Birmingham is home to the youngest, most diverse and most stable population in the UK. That combination matters enormously for health and life sciences. New treatments and technologies need to work for everyone, and too often they are tested on groups that don’t reflect the people who will ultimately use them.
”In Birmingham, researchers and companies can test and trial in a microcosm of the world, with communities who stay put long enough to be part of studies over many years. That gives the city a real advantage, and it is why Birmingham should be at the heart of the UK’s ambitions in this sector.”
James Frith, Minister for Health Innovation – a position that has responsibility for life sciences, research and innovation, medicines and medtech, and NHS data and technology – spoke at the event. He endorsed the importance of collaborative efforts, the likes of which Birmingham exemplifies, allowing the UK to lead the way in the life sciences. Calling out Birmingham's Health and Life Sciences Quarter as a powerful example of research, clinical expertise and commercial ambition all coming together.
The event itself marks the start of an exciting journey for the Quarter. The convening of the leading academics, clinicians, SMEs and large industry partners ignited conversations that will continue long beyond the launch celebration.
Professor Hanley closed the event by inviting event guests, potential industry partners and interested investors to come and see the Quarter for themselves, stating that “Birmingham is open for business”.
Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Medicine and Health
Professor Neil Hanley is Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Birmingham.
Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology
Staff profile for Professor Alex Richter, Director of the Clinical Immunology Services, Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham.
