Innovation Zone funding set to back health tech firms of the future

A new centre aimed at commercialising Health and Life Science research will be set up at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Daresbury Laboratory thanks to £1.8m in Innovation Zone funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Led by UKRI's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Health Tech Business Incubation Centre (Health BIC) will provide a major boost to the City Region's health and life sciences sector.

The Health BIC will drive innovation and commercialisation of research, providing much needed tailored support to nurture new and early-stage businesses derived from the Region's wealth of assets in Health and Life Sciences.

The programme is 1 of the initial 21 projects that, as part of the City Region's ambitious Investment Zone plan, are designed to supercharge the economy by creating new hi-tech facilities, providing business and innovation support and training the next generation of talent.

Councillor Liam Robinson, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority Cabinet Member for Innovation, said:- "Through this new Health Tech Business Incubation Centre we are supporting early stage businesses and helping the health and life sciences stars of the future to prosper, further bolstering a sector where we already have world-class strengths.   By nurturing these growing businesses through the difficult early days we can help them to create high-quality jobs in the future as well as prosperity for our City Region as a whole."

STFC has over 15 years' experience working with the health sector at Daresbury Laboratory, including:- a successful HealthTec Cluster which promotes economic growth through the co-location of organisations, knowledge, skills and facilities. STFC's track record in incubation support includes:- the creation of over 1,000 jobs and £650 million of enterprise value from its long established European Space Agency Business Incubation Centre, making them an ideal home for the Health BIC.

Paul Vernon, Executive Director for the Business and Innovation Directorate and Head of Daresbury Laboratory at STFC explains:- "The Health BIC will be part of a family of business incubation facilities at STFC's Daresbury Laboratory. We work with partners such as the Medical Research Council, Medicines Discovery Catapult and industry bodies and universities to create a rich package of support. The model has resulted in 20 times the return on investment on economic activity from businesses who have participated in our incubation programmes to date. We hope to replicate that successes as we work with businesses from Liverpool City Region to drive more innovation in the sector and see more investment in the Region."

The programme will provide a stimulus to the City Region's health and life science entrepreneurs, researchers and clinicians as they commercialise products and services.

The support will help by identifying the best opportunities and working with them to reduce the risk of the early stages of development and commercialisation. Spin-out or early-stage businesses, less than 5 years old, will receive a targeted package of support to validate their product or to deliver a minimum viable product and increase their investment potential.

The Health BIC is among the 1st of 21 Life Sciences Innovation Zone projects are expected to create 8,000 new jobs and attract up to £800m investment to the Liverpool City Region over the next 10 years.

80% of professionals don't fully utilise their workplace benefits

ACCORDING to new research from talent solutions expert Robert Walters' upcoming Benefits Guide. The guide; surveying 3,000 professionals in the UK and Ireland to discover the state of workplace benefits in 2024; provides employers with a unique benchmarking tool to assess and evaluate their benefits offerings.

Chris Eldridge, CEO of Robert Walters UK and Ireland comments:- "Annual bonuses, pension contributions and flexi work policies; to name a few, are seen as essential elements alongside base pay. Employers' failure to communicate or offer attractive benefits could have serious repercussions on both attraction and retention levels, as well as their employees' overall engagement and productivity levels."

Interestinly. only half of professionals are satisfied with communications around their workplace benefits; this runs the full gamut of workplace benefits from financial ones like annual bonuses or pensions to wellbeing plans like private health insurance or mental health support.

Not only that, but only 21% of employers say they are completely aware of the benefits that matter to their employees.

Chris comments:- "Not only the contents of the benefits package, but also how well they are communicated has a huge bearing on how those benefits are used. Employers with a strong understanding of which benefits resonate with their employees will go even further in ensuring their effective access and use."

54% of professionals stated that the benefits an employer offers play a key role in their loyalty to their company.

Not only that, but ⅖ of professionals would actually consider moving jobs despite their potential base salary being lower, if their financial benefits package was higher.

Despite this, only 45% of professionals state being satisfied with their overall benefits package.

Chris comments:- "It's cause for concern that despite the clear link between benefits and professionals' company loyalty and even intention to move; less than half are currently satisfied with their overall benefits package. In light of this, a 1st port of call for companies struggling with, or looking to improve employee attraction or retention should be to analyse the success of their current benefits package."

Almost a ⅓ of professionals agreed that the benefits their employer offers positively impact their overall job performance and productivity.

A further 41% state that they also contribute positively to their work life balance.

Chris comments:- "Benefits are a pivotal part of successful remuneration packages. Neglecting them or failing to invest in relevant and impactful benefits can be damaging, affecting not just employee happiness, attraction & retention rates but overall business performance."

Chris explains 4 key ways that employers can improve their benefits packages-

• Clarify what you offer; There is considerable room for confusion when it comes to benefits especially for the trickier to penetrate financial benefits such as pensions, equity options and stocks / shares. It's imperative you explain what you as an employer are offering; as these are also the benefits that will have the biggest long-term impact.
  

• Leverage employee feedback; ask your employees what works for them, what they'd like to see if they don't already; they provide meaningful insights into what actually works and bring new innovative ideas to the table.
  

• Measure the success of your benefits; conduct regular polls / checks on how successful your benefit offerings are, this can help you gain more of a full idea of which benefits work and which don't; benefits should always be treated as something that can be constantly improved and optimised to move with the changing expectations and needs of the workforce.
  

• Make your benefits customisable; research shows that professionals who had customisable benefits (the ability to choose the benefits which suit them, and edit them when / if their circumstances change) were significantly more likely to be satisfied with them.