Life sciences companies unlock £11 billion in corporate investment

A new report regarding British life sciences corporate investment has found that companies were involved with £11 billion of corporate investment over the first quarter of 2021. The new figures reveal the UK was fourth highest globally with life science companies completing £20 billion of corporate investment.

The report is titled ‘Life Sciences Innovation: Building the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and is co-authored by global architects Perkins&Will, Savills, and policy advisory firm Blackstock Consulting. Particularly strong in 2020 was venture capital funding for the UK life sciences sector, with a total of £2.4 billion of VC money being pumped into the sector.

As such, life sciences are a major component of the UK economy in terms of employment, turnover, research and discovery. In 2019 the sector contributed over £70 billion in turnover and employed an estimated 240,900 people across the country. Real estate for life sciences companies was not affected by a downturn unlike other sectors. Investment into European and UK life sciences real estate is expected to grow over the next half a decade, with the report predicting that investment in European life sciences real estate will hit £800 million in 2021, while in the UK it will reach £550 million.

Private sector investment is already supporting the Government’s innovation agenda. Research and development spending will increase from 1.7% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.  In this this year’s Budget, the chancellor announced the creation of a £375 million fund that will invest Government funding in fast-growing UK science and technology companies.

You can read the full report here