Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse visits LBIC

The Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse visited the team at the London Bioscience Innovation Centre (LBIC) for a round table discussion with client companies Polytherics, DeltaDOT and SCIAD along with a tour of their offices and laboratories.

The challenges facing Biotech companies in London quickly came to the surface at the round table focusing on three main areas, rates increases, funding and facilities. The Deputy Mayor alongside the Mayor Boris Johnson’s Science and Technology Panel are keen to support Life Science companies in London by addressing these issues. While the Mayor’s office does not have jurisdiction to tackle rates increases they are in a position to help with both funding and facilities.

The Mayor’s office have two funds available to Life Science companies including £40 million for equipment and facilities and a £120 million investment fund. Any projects that are ready-to-go will get top priority and the Mayor’s office has encouraged LBIC to be ambitious with its development and growth plans. The Life Science sector is being fully supported by the government as part of their strategy for growth and LBIC are invited to bid for developing further laboratory and grow-on space on site.

The Francis Crick Institute is being built in close proximity to London Kings Cross and LBIC is ideally positioned to offer spin-outs the facilities they will need in the coming years. Dr Ken Larkin is keen to ensure that LBIC is at the forefront of the government’s push to maximise the potential of the sector in the UK. LBIC is key to their strategy to profile London as an International Life Science Capital of Europe and offers a central location for companies to base their UK offices and labs.

The Life Science Golden Triangle comprising London, Cambridge and Oxford is also a vital focus for cutting edge research, fuelling the industrial and manufacturing biochemical businesses based throughout the rest of the UK. Growing Biomanufacturing companies include FujiFilm Diosynth with the recent launch of its new Cell Culture facilities in Billingham creating jobs and attracting investment in the North of the UK.