Updated March 07, 2014.
Quick Statistics for your life sciences job search in the U.K.
- The United Kingdom's residents have nearly 16,000 life science patent applications to their name, one of the highest in the world.
- The United Kingdom has one of the world's largest gross domestic products figures, but still manages to invest the equivalent of nearly 2% of that in life science research and development.
- More than 20% of the U.K.'s graduate students are pursuing their advanced degrees in the science, engineering, manufacturing, or construction fields. These are the key drivers needed for a world-class life science discovery, research, development, and manufacturing process. Each of these skills are required to transform an idea to a useable (and sellable) product that will save or enhance a patient's life.
- For every one thousand employed, nearly 9 U.K. residents are in the life sciences field.
All statistics from UNISCO Institute for Statistics, the World Bank
Market Overview
The United Kingdom's life sciences market is among the largest and oldest in the world. It has been well-developed over the decades, and therefore has created a robust platform attractive to new innovative companies today.
Home to more than 3,500 medical and biotech companies, the U.K. generates USD 28 billion in annual life science revenue.
U.K. life science organizations have invested heavily in research, and it has paid off. Twenty five percent of the world's top 100 medicines were created in the United Kingdom. That is an impressive share of the world's innovation.
Life Science Clusters in the United Kingdom
There are geographic regions within the U.K. where innovation has gathered. Researchers like to collaborate, so medical research institutions, universities, and corporations tend to locate their laboratory facilities close to each other.
Often, they are within walking distance from each other, take space on the same campus or business park, and in many cases, will even share the same building.
Cambridge
- The U.K.'s flagship cluster
- Home to Cambridge University
- Cambridge University alumni have won 20% of the World's Nobel Prizes in medicine and chemistry. Like their share of the top medicines, this is an impressive share intellect and results to be located or originated in a single place.
- 25% of Europe's biotech companies are located in Cambridge
The South East of England
- Benefits from its proximity to London and Heathrow Airport
- Home to Oxford and Oxford University
- Oxford University's research reputation has attracted more than 100 biotech, pharmaceutical, and healthcare companies to locate close by so that researchers can collaborate
London
- More than 100 life science corporations
- 28 universities
- 5 medical schools
- Home to UCL Partners, a large academic health science partnership between hospitals and medical research institutions
North West of England
- Major employers include Manchester Univeristy, GlaxoSmithKline, and AstraZeneca
- Other life science employers in the region include the University of Liverpool's science departments, and the National Biomanufacturing Centre
Scotland
- An emerging cluster in the United Kingdom's life sciences sector
- Home to more than 500 life science companies, and yet still adding more by 20% each year
- Edinburgh has earned a worldwide reputation as a leader in stem cell research
- The Queen's Medical Research Institute is a collection of four prominent medical research organizations that specialize in cardiovascular science, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, and inflammation research. Over 600 scientists work daily on these fields researching, discovering, and innovating.
BONUS
If you are conducting a life sciences job search in the United Kingdom, and specifically in Scotland, download the Scottish Life Sciences Employer Skills Survey. The survey results will inform you of the business challenges facing the life sciences sector in Scotland, where the skills gaps are, and the future life science skill needs from the employers surveyed.