The Voices of Industry campaign is a unique initiative developed to further the interests of SMEs in the UK medtech sector by making recommendations to Government. We look at how the campaign evolved and what it is saying.
In January 2009, Science and Innovation minister Lord Drayson called for “a serious debate about the areas of focus for this country in the future”. He argued that the UK’s expertise in the life sciences gave it the potential to develop “a world leadership position” that could be translated into robust export trade and thus play a key role in leading the UK economy out of recession.
In March a new ‘virtual office’, the Office for Life Sciences, was formed in order to co-ordinate policy across departments to develop and promote the life sciences in the UK: medical devices, diagnostics, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Medtech trade associations ABHI and BIVDA joined with their biotech and pharma counterparts to help the OLS clarify the issues faced by the life science industries and draw up a list of priorities for action to improve the business climate.
In April, the Government stated the life science industry to be one of the three most important drivers of economic growth in the UK, together with digital and renewable technologies. The OLS committed to delivering concrete investment and support for life science companies within the year, and issued a challenge to the life science industries to suggest what steps might be taken to stimulate investment and improve market access for companies.
Talking about a revolution
There is a clear need for the ‘top-down’ activity of the OLS to connect with, and respond to, ‘grass-roots’ activity at industry level. In the UK medtech sector, the hundreds of specialist SMEs need a voice for their concerns and priorities. With that in mind, healthcare industry activist MedilinkWM has mounted the Voices of Industry Campaign to give medtech SMEs a shared voice and influence.
MedilinkWM put out a call for medtech SMEs, business leaders, agencies, academics and NHS staff to express their views on the steps that the Government should take to ensure a favourable climate for medtech innovation and the sustainable growth of SMEs. It used a dedicated microsite within the MedilinkWM website to register and collect feedback.
The month-long campaign gathered comments and ideas from a wide range of SMEs and corporations across the UK. It also gained the support of all trade associations within the life sciences sector. Finally, MedilinkWM brought together professionals from all levels of the medtech industry, from specialist NHS spin-outs to the multinational Covidien, for a round-table discussion to formulate some immediate recommendations to Government.
The OLS, headed by Lord Drayson, requested a copy of these recommendations for review. It also committed to using the Voices of Industry microsite to communicate its progress on the recommendations, and to elicit further feedback from industry as the situation progresses.
A microsite for medtech
MedilinkWM’s CEO Tony Davis explained the purpose and working of the Voices of Industry campaign to Medtech Business:
“Even in our challenging climate of redundancies and cutbacks, there is still one sector that promises to grow and thrive, on which the Government could pin its hopes of driving an economic recovery – life sciences. The sector includes any company working within the healthcare technology, diagnostics or medical biotechnology sectors, and I’m convinced that its prosperity lies in providing better, more unified representation in Whitehall.
“MedilinkWM has been working alongside other trade associations and blue-chip firms to find out exactly what is needed to support the sector’s growth. Our Voices of Industry campaign gave SME businesses in the region and across the UK an unprecedented opportunity to tell the Government what it could do to help them succeed, and we were impressed with the speed, range and fruitfulness of the response we received.
“Using social media to make contributions easy and simple, our microsite became an extremely valuable touch point for industry, and we even received a commitment by the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) to use the site to feedback the progress on the recommendations. Lord Drayson will review our proposal on behalf of the wider Government to help it meet the expectations of SMEs.
“Our proposal provides real, practical solutions and demands the right type of stimulus for our sector, covering four main themes: Innovation, Overseas trade, Finance and Expertise.”
Tony Davis
The SME voice is heard
After collecting the views of the medtech industry, Tony Davis wrote the following letter to Lord Drayson on 30 June 2009:
Sent on behalf of Life Sciences SMEs with support from ABHI, ABPI, BIDVA, and BIA
Dear Lord Drayson,
In light of the recent MMTSG and OLS statements that the life sciences sector is the potential driver of economic change for the UK, MedilinkWM has initiated a campaign to make sure the SME voice is heard.
With a 30-day timescale, MedilinkWM launched the Voices of Industry campaign on 1 June to bring forward ideas that the Government could implement to make an immediate impact on the prosperity of the sector. During the month of campaigning, individuals, companies and industry experts throughout the country have contributed their thoughts, ideas and opinions onto a dedicated microsite.
MedilinkWM has brought together professionals that represent a true cross-section of the life sciences industry, from NHs and university spin-outs to a multinational corporation, to sift through every idea and consolidate them all into the following practical recommendations. These are based around four well-known themes:
1. Innovation – The unique system developed to ‘push’ and ‘pull’ innovative solutions in the area of infection control into the healthcare system has been a success. This system needs to be replicated for all clinical practice areas.
2. Overseas Trade – Eliminate the duplication and bureaucracy inherent in overseas promotion of UK PLC and invest those savings into a grant companies can access for overseas approval documentation and practical market access.
3. Finance – Create a mezzanine finance scheme with minimal conditions, managed by people from within this sector, as a low-risk method of encouraging UK product development, UK patenting and UK innovation commercialisation.
4. Expertise – Facilitate a single UK focus of life sciences expertise, which companies can access to reduce the trial and error time lost in the early stages of company development, harnessing the knowledge that resides within the larger UK companies and multinationals for the benefit of UK SMEs.
Our supporting documentation will explore these practical recommendations in more detail as well as looking at four more recurrent themes: a reduction in the level of bureaucracy, joined up activity for the benefit of UK PLC, the level of investment in British SMEs that’s appropriate to ensure a net gain in jobs and GDP contribution, and the assessment of the NHS as an asset to industry growth with global impact.
These views are submitted on behalf of the industry representatives who took part in the campaign, and with the support of all trade associations in the life sciences sector. We are all eager that this submission informs the development of life sciences SME policy at BIS, which has begun under the auspices of MMTSG, and to act as an aid to the practical implementation of the recommendations in the OLS Blueprint due to launch in mid-July.
The OLS has suggested that we continue the use of the microsite developed for the campaign, www.medilinkWM.co.uk/VoicesOfIndustry, to feed back the views of industry as the SME Competitiveness and Blueprint recommendations go forward. It can also be used as a means for the Government to communicate back to industry, exactly what it is trying to achieve through those initiatives. MedilinkWM would be happy to work with your communications team and upload relevant information.
Economic growth and jobs will come from the life science SME base and I want to make sure that industry’s voice is clearly heard.
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Tony Davis, CEO
MedilinkWM
With support from the industry representatives who attended the roundtable event:
Andrew Ives, Advanced Therapeutic Materials
Nicholas Barnes, Celentyx Ltd
Phil Corner, Covidien
Celia Price, Just Checking
Alan Press, Kimal
Martin Levermore, MDTI
Mike Lord, Minivator
Barry Scholes, ParAid
Mark Payton, Mercia Technology Seed Fund
David Morgan, Safe Patient Systems
cc: David Nicholson, NHS
Ian Pearson, Treasury
Pat McFadden, BIS
Words from the frontline
The Voices of Industry Campaign Report spells out the recommendations in detail, and outlines the process that generated them. It backs up each recommendation with forthright comments from industry representatives, and concludes with statements of support for the campaign from the leaders of trade associations including ABHI and BIVDA. Here are just three examples of the comments included:
All we want is the NHS to buy from us. Even with all boxes ticked (Govt policy, CE marked devices, field proven, saves lives, saves money, easy to use), there is no simple procurement mechanism for innovations. No-one is willing to buy anything just to see if it works (too busy with the day job? Risk averse? Afraid of making a mistake?). Progress comes from being different, not carrying on doing the same old thing. There’s still no pull, only lots of SMEs (and others) pushing.
Philip Needham, Cardionetics Ltd
Hardware and software developer of diagnostic, monitoring and screening products
We know there are grants available to support companies to export, but we have not applied for any recently because the forms are so cumbersome the return is not worth it. In the last two years alone we have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on documentation and approvals in other countries, with no support from UKTI. With subsidy to expand my overseas business I would be able to employ more people and increase the overall wealth of the country.
Alan Press, Kimal
Manufacturer and provider of cardiology, oncology, radiology and renal disease products
I am really pleased to see this initiative started by Medilink West Midlands. There is a lot happening at the moment re government seeking to help innovative UK businesses, and we need mechanisms, and innovation in communication, to ensure we can hear the industry (particularly SME) voice and feed this back to inform government decisions.
Sue Dunkerton, Health Technologies KTN
A unique partnership
Lord Drayson responded to the VOI letter and campaign report on 28 July. His reply links the campaign’s recommendations directly to the work of the Office for Life Sciences:
Dear Tony
Thank you for your letter of 30 June, enclosing the MedilinkWM – Voices of Industry Campaign Report, and for successfully rising to the challenge I set to industry back in January. Securing the long-term future of the life sciences sector in the United Kingdom (UK) requires a unique partnership between Government, Industry and the NHS, where each partner brings something to the table. The Voices of Industry campaign is an important step in ensuring the life sciences Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) have a strong and influential voice in shaping the life sciences sector, now and in the future.
Following the formation of the Office for Life Sciences (OLS) in January 2009, we have taken significant steps in delivering investment opportunities and support for life sciences companies. In July, the OLS launched the Life Sciences Blueprint, the first of two important documents that lays out our intent to transform the UK into the country of choice for life sciences investment. The recommendations made in the Voices of Industry report are very much aligned with the OLS package of measures. The following recommendations might be of particular interest to you:
• Beginning in September 2009, the National Innovation Centre, working with the Strategic Health Authorities, the Technology Strategy Board, and Knowledge Transfer Networks, will launch a series of small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competitions. Over the next 12 months, a rolling series of coordinated SBRI initiatives will support NHS clinicians to define their clinical needs, and end with industry engaging with the NHS to develop compelling solutions.
• We will launch a new Business and Leadership Programme in later 2009. The programme will create a body of biotechnology professionals, skilled in industry specific core management and leadership training, such as regulatory issues, as well as the latest innovative technology under development in the life sciences sector. The OLS will work with medical technology representatives to see how such a programme might be extended to include this vital part of the life sciences sector.
• In early 2010, the Government and the National Institute for Clinical excellence (NICE) will introduce an “Innovation Pass”. This will be a three-year initiative for selected medicines, which will be funded for time-limited use across the NHS, without going through a NICE appraisal. This will give earlier access to innovative drugs for patients with the greatest need.
The feedback you are gathering through the Voices of Industry campaign will play a critical role in ensuring we are delivering the right products and services that meet, wherever possible, the expectations and needs of life sciences SMEs.
Over the summer, the OLS will continue to work with industry to implement the recommendations proposed. I would like to encourage you to continue your active participation in the work of OLS and to support them to communicate the outcomes from the blueprint across SMEs involved in the Voices of Industry campaign through your micro site.
Yours sincerely
Lord Drayson
Minister for Science and Innovation
Lord Drayson
The road ahead
The Voices of Industry campaign has effectively put across some of the urgent concerns of SMEs in the medtech sector, making concrete demands that will help the Office for Life Sciences to create better conditions for the UK life science industries as they engage with domestic and overseas markets.
In addition to its substantive contributions to policy, Voices of Industry provides the medtech industry with an example of democracy in action. It demonstrates that working together to identify and promote common interests is both vital and achievable for companies. In times of rapid global change, the industry needs to speak with a united voice if its own diversity is to flourish.
As the innovative scientist Benjamin Franklin said: “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”
Securing the long-term future of the life sciences sector in the UK requires a unique partnership between Government, Industry and the NHS, where each partner brings something to the table. The Voices of Industry campaign is an important step in ensuring the life sciences SMEs have a strong and influential voice in shaping the life sciences sector, now and in the future.
– Lord Drayson