The UK Government has launched its Modern Industrial Strategy, positioning life sciences as one of eight high-growth sectors central to the UK’s economic future. With a bold ambition to make the UK a top-three global life sciences economy by 2035, the strategy outlines the approach to strengthening innovation, manufacturing, and global competitiveness in the sector.
Key goals for life sciences include:
- Support High-Growth SMEs: Provide targeted support to 10–20 high-potential UK life sciences companies to help them scale, attract investment, and remain headquartered in the UK.
- Boost Investment: Leverage the £4 billion British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital initiative to fund early-stage and scaling companies, especially in cutting-edge technologies.
- Accelerate Innovation Pathways: Improve access to health data for innovators, streamline clinical trials, and reform regulatory processes to speed up the development and approval of new medicines.
- Strengthen Manufacturing Capabilities: Invest in medicines manufacturing infrastructure to ensure the UK can produce advanced therapies and vaccines domestically.
- Enhance Global Competitiveness: Position the UK as a top global cluster for life sciences by 2025, focusing on attracting international investment and talent.
- Drive Regional and Sustainable Growth: Ensure life sciences growth supports regional economic development and aligns with net-zero and resilience objectives.
Statement from NIHR Innovation Observatory
Dawn Craig, Director of NIHR Innovation Observatory, said:
“We welcome the Government’s renewed commitment to life sciences as a key growth sector in the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. As the national horizon scanning centre for health and care innovation, we see first-hand the transformative potential of medicines and technologies that are reshaping the future of health and wellbeing—from AI-driven diagnostics to advanced biotherapeutics.”
“At the NIHR Innovation Observatory, we are actively scanning the global pipeline of medical technologies and health innovations to help ensure the UK remains at the forefront of early adoption and health system readiness.”
“Through our pioneering work exploring the convergence of quantum sensing, wearables, AI, and bio-engineering, we are uncovering some of the most game-changing technologies in development today. Our horizon scanning analyses are helping to illuminate how these innovations can enable earlier diagnosis, more personalised interventions, and radically different models of care.”
“Our recent reports—Emerging Applications of Quantum Sensing Technology in Healthcare, A Horizon Scan of Emerging Quantum Technologies for Use in Healthcare, and A Horizon Scan of Emerging Generative AI-Enabled Technologies for Use in Healthcare—demonstrate the pace and potential of scientific discovery across these fields. By anticipating their impact early, we’re supporting the UK’s ambition to lead in life sciences innovation and adoption.”
“We look forward to working with partners & stakeholders across the ecosystem to ensure these innovations translate into real-world health and economic benefit.”
Dawn Musgrave, Industry Partnership Lead at NIHR Innovation Observatory, said:
“We play an active role in accelerating investment and commercialisation across the life sciences ecosystem. By working with Catapults, accelerators, and the NIHR Industry team through programmes like i4i (Invention for Innovation,) we help innovators access the insight, funding, and support they need to scale.”
“We work closely with spinouts and startups, not only from Newcastle University but across the wider innovation landscape through partnerships with Northern Accelerator and SetSquared. We also collaborate with the Department for Business & Trade, taking part in international conferences to share our foresight on future health technologies and ensure UK innovation is visible and competitive on the global stage.”
“As a nationally funded programme, we also work closely with regional economic development bodies and agencies across the UK to ensure our insights feed into place-based innovation strategies and strengthen the life sciences pipeline nationwide.”
“This aligns directly with the ambitions set out in the Modern Industrial Strategy, and we are proud to be playing our part in supporting a thriving, future ready UK life sciences sector.”
Take a look at our home page to find out more about the work we do: Home – NIHR Innovation Observatory
