Life science investment needs regional parity

New IPPR analysis has found that regions in the north of England receive less than half the life science investment made in the south.

The think tank is now calling for life science investment to be prioritised to ‘level-up’ the country and prepare for future global pandemics, after the research revealed that the north receives £4 billion less investment per year in health research and development (R&D) than the South.

Investment by government totals just £22 per person in the North, two fifths of the £56 per person invested in the South of England. In the Midlands, it is as low as £16.

Furthermore, the report, The Science Based Economy, found that investment by the private sector totals £50 per person in the North, half as much as the £112 per head invested in the South. Investment in the Midlands is lowest, at £12 per head - just a tenth of what is spent in the South.

The IPPR proposes a new national strategy, designed to maximise investment, unleash potential across the country, and ensure health security for all. It argues that as part of the ‘new deal’ for the economy in the 2020s the government should aim to: set an investment target of £14.5 billion per year for the life sciences – from public, private and charity sources combined - alongside a new strategy to attract private investment to the UK; reform the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) body, to ensure more public funding flows beyond the South to other regions including the North; do more to develop regional skills; and take a more active role in ensuring R&D supports UK health resilience after Covid-19. Building on the UK’s existing industrial strategy, it should set up new and ambitious ‘research missions’ to prioritise health resilience and other urgent national health needs ignored by the market.

Chris Thomas, IPPR Health Fellow and lead author, said: “Outside London and the South, the UK life science sector has huge potential. Yet, that potential is being limited by a serious inequality in R&D investment. If the government is serious about making the UK a ‘science superpower’ it will need to invest in the whole country and support regions like the North to develop their own industrial strategies, in a more devolved way, to fulfil their potential.

“The benefits would be substantial. A more diverse and regionally equal approach to R&D would boost productivity; support a more equal economic recovery from Covid-19; and help build UK resilience to future health shocks. Covid-19 is proof of how important this is. Entering the next decade without a coherent and progressive health R&D strategy would be like building a house on a volcano and not taking out insurance.”