Leeds Pushes Healthcare Up The Agenda As It Focuses On US Investment
Leeds will this week step up its bid to become the UK's top centre for healthcare innovation by hosting a visit by a key trade representative from one of the world's leading biotech regions.
Online, July 24, 2012 (Newswire.com) - The city will showcase its world-class capabilities and ambitions in this fast-growing sector during a two-day tour (18th/19th July) by Kirsten Chambers, the Head of Trade and Investment for UKTI in Boston.
As part of the visit - hosted by Marketing Leeds - she will see new surgical devices being developed by Surgical Innovations, one of the city's most innovative healthcare companies, and be given an insight into groundbreaking medical research being carried out at the University of Leeds.
She will also meet with Richard Clark, chief executive of Medipex Ltd, the NHS innovation hub for the Yorkshire and Humber region, and Kevin Kiely, managing director of regional healthcare support specialists Medilink.
Kirsten Chambers' close links to the Boston biotech and medical technologies industries could help put Leeds on the global biotech map, attracting inward investment and securing trade opportunities for the healthcare and medical technologies sector, one of the city's strongest.
Boston has the second-largest biotech cluster in the US, behind San Diego. More than 500 biotech, medical technology and pharmaceutical companies are based in the area, employing nearly 50,000 people, and almost $2bn has been invested via venture capitalists in the past two years alone.
Kirsten Chambers said: "Companies in Boston are increasingly looking to expand their operations, through new premises and alliances, and are very much looking to the UK.
"It is incredibly useful to be in Leeds, where the city has a clear long-term plan to grow its medical technologies sector. There are certainly opportunities to foster new commercial relationships and business ventures here."
The visit builds on meetings and contacts developed through the OMTEC orthopaedics conference and exhibition in Chicago. Leeds has world-leading clinical expertise and research capabilities in orthopaedics.
Lurene Joseph, chief executive of Marketing Leeds, said: "Healthcare and medical technologies is one of the fastest growing sectors in the city region and represents a significant economic opportunity for Leeds.
"We want the Leeds City Region to be the UK's leading centre for innovation in this sector and the main entry point for American companies looking to develop a presence in European markets. To do that, we need to nurture and grow the commercial and academic relationships that exist with the US."
Representatives from Leeds and the wider city region will be meeting with UKTI in the US later this summer to further develop relationships, as well as attending the world's leading medical technologies conference, Advamed, in Boston in October.
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Notes to Editor
1. Contacts for further information
2. Marketing Leeds
Marketing Leeds works collaboratively with Leeds City Council and key partners across the public and private sector to raise the profile of Leeds, attract new investment into the city and drive economic growth. Its aim is to help create and sustain jobs and employment opportunities for the people of Leeds and the wider city region.
The company is limited by guarantee and funded by its shareholders, which includes Leeds City Council and private sector companies. Its board of directors comprises leading members of the city's business community, including: Andy Clarke (Chair), President & CEO, Asda; Roger Marsh (Deputy Chair),Senior Office Partner, PwC; Lurene Joseph, Chief Executive of Marketing Leeds; James Rogers, Assistant Chief Executive of Leeds City Council; Professor John Fisher, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Leeds; and Nigel Foster, President of Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce and Director of Arup.