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[music]
Welcome to the Life Sciences Hub for Wales.
I am really very pleased that I have the opportunity to be the first person to say that.
[APPLAUSE] It has been a long road. Wonderful to see
so many people here. Wonderful also that we have already got 50% membership.
It's a fantastic day. We've worked really hard to bring this to fruition and we are
really excited today to be opening this. It will be the heartbeat of life sciences in
Wales.
I think excitement has been the main emotion. A lot of people had heard something about
the Life Science Hub. But until they got physically inside the building today, you know, they
hadn't appreciated the scope of it; they hadn't appreciated everything that was in here; and
they hadn't appreciated what it was capable of doing.
There were two things that Sir Chris, me and the team identified as missing from Wales
in life science. One is an obvious one, and its money. And Sir Chris, with Minister, generated
this fund - the one hundred million pounds is an enormous achievement. The second thing
we required was a hub! You are now in it - it would not have happened without the unstinting
support of Mrs Hart. And we would not be here today without her.
[APPLAUSE] What we will achieve is bringing together
academics, clinicians, government, funders, companies, and professional bodies all in
one place... to connect, inspire and accelerate growth.
[APPLAUSE] This is about the economic future of Wales.
Looking for winners. Developing the products that are needed and encouraging companies.
But the wonderful thing about this launch, and what you are doing, is who is going to
benefit in society in the world? Not just who is going to benefit in Wales and the UK
- what you can develop here, in terms of how you work together, can actually do a lot of
good for the whole world. [APPLAUSE]
Just being there, at the right time and meeting the right people, makes things happen in a
way that otherwise, they wouldn't. That's why a space like this is so important. Those
encounters will go on to create real differences in the lives both of the economy in Wales,
and in the lives of Welsh citizens. It's a very important day for us.
[APPLAUSE] The whole of Welsh Life Sciences needs a brand
and an image and a reputation on the international scene across the world. Where people say,
ah it's the bloody Welsh again. Oh my God. What are they doing now? Gotta get involved
with them. Must invest with them. Must take my company there. Wow!
[APPLAUSE] The world that most of us have grown up in,
is not the world of the future. We are living through the equivalent change of the industrial
revolution probably every three to five years now. So we need to look outward. We need to
look at vision. And, for me, this is exactly what you have managed to create here.
[APPLAUSE] I now officially open this wonderful Life
Science Hub. [APPLAUSE]
Part of the job is to bring people together and really create credible interfaces, and
networks and clusters. And I think by having a position here, and a desk here, companies
with interact with a variety of organisations right from funders, academics and clinicians.
Bring them all together, and get good ideas and funding to take it further forward.
You may need money? You need some advice? You need some help? Do you know what to do?
Do you know where to go next?
Engagement. Proximity. I call it the bumper car model. If you don't get enough opportunities
to bump into each other, or people who have the knowhow. For example, "don't do that,
we did that ten years ago, and it didn't work". Or "that's a good idea but have you thought
about doing it this way?".
There's loads of people here who can give you lots of help, including money, grants,
regulatory advice, steering you in the right direction etc. The individuals on the board
of Arthurian have created over twelve billion (pounds) of companies from nothing. So in
this hub you've got some powerful people.
The innovations team within our business is looking to partner world-wide. And really
what we always find, there is the serendipity of bumping into people is really what drives
some of the best interactions.
It's about stimulating that interaction, connecting people and consequently driving growth into
the sector.
Good ideas very often come from small companies, who've got the opportunity to develop them
to a certain stage - but then need the horsepower of a big company to bring them to market.
As a global healthcare company, it is our mission to develop transformational products
for patients. So we try to be close to where innovation is happening - and, we feel that,
in Wales there is a hot-spot of life science innovation.
We are a small life sciences start-up, based in Wales. The product is a miniaturised pump
that is implanted into the human heart for treating advanced heart failure. We've had
so many people come by and take an interest in what we are doing. So having a presence
in the hub looks like it is really going to benefit us as a business.
What the hub will do is release the potential of Wales.
We are well on our way to getting a billion of value in the next decade for Wales.
There are things that we can do here that really do compete with the best anywhere,
but it also means that it is a real boost to the ideas to the science behind drug development
which is starting here in Wales. Gives us the opportunity to drive it right the way
through to clinical benefit - and, ultimately, that's why we are really here.
What we've got here is a government that actually delivered the funding required to make this;
what will be a sustainable, cash-generative, job-making facility a reality.
Sustaining that journey until we get to that point, where we have a dynamic, sustainable,
life science ecosystem in Wales, reaching to a global market place is our goal.
It's an exciting time, I think, on the international scene. In the next twelve months you're going
to see The Hub makes its impact.
The Life Sciences Hub is the heartbeat of life sciences in Wales. If you are in life
sciences, and you are in Wales, you need to be in the Hub.