Biomedical
The South West of England is renowned across the world for bio
manufacture, bio diagnostics and marine biotechnology. Already more
than 500 biotechnology and medical technology organisations are
based here and that number is growing all the time. The
Biomedical sector encompasses biotechnology, pharma, healthcare and
medical technologies.
Business
The industrial sectors consist of 450
organisations employing about 15,000 high knowledge full-time
employees with a further 5,000 in HEI and NHS in related research,
development and clinical fields. Conservatively it is estimated
that the Biomedical sectors contribute £8 billion p.a. to South
West economy (the NHS contribution being £7 billion p.a.).
Approximately 85% of the sector is made up of
SMEs, each with less than 25 Full Time Employees but several large
medical device manufactures such as Becton Dickinson, West
Pharmaceutical Services, Pall Europe Ltd and Covidien (Tyco) also
exist, alongside top British companies such as BioMet and Corin
Group plc.
Regional expertise
Biomedical research activities are centred on
Higher Education Institutions at Bath, Bristol, Exeter and Plymouth
and the Health Protection Agency and the Defence, Science and
Technology Laboratory at Porton Down in Wiltshire.
South West Universities such as the University of Bristol and the
University of Bath are centres of research excellence, ranking
alongside Oxford and Cambridge for their scale and quality of
bioscience research, according to the 2001 National Research
Assessment Exercise.
One of the most significant areas of strength,
in terms of knowledge and capacity for biomanufacture of vaccines
and diagnostics lies in Wiltshire at the Health Protection Agency
(HPA) and Defence Science and Technology Laboratories (DSTL).
Both organisations employ significant numbers
of highly skilled scientists and have a great deal to offer in
terms of knowledge and facilities.