Gathering good data vital to drive strategy
reputation and the ability to deal with higher standards.”
Tudor urged Scotland to study global trends and embrace areas such as cell and gene therapy and personalised medicine – and to understand people wanted to pay less: “The industry has to drive better productivity and lower cost of goods. That’s the reality. People want value.”
He insisted Scotland was in a good place to take advantage of macro global trends if it concentrated on three key words in the strategy: anchor, build, attract.
“We need to anchor what we have got; we don’t want existing companies shutting down or leaving Scotland,” Tudor stressed.
“We want those companies
Data can play a key role in increasing business activity and profitability for life sciences companies, delegates were told.
Alix Mackay, of marketing consultancy We Are Quantify, said collecting and analysing data was necessary to drive business strategy.
She urged businesses who were not collecting data to start now, suggesting that metrics should include lead conversion rates, the number of leads by source, the time taken to a sale, the prospect. The quantifiable measures should also include customer conversion rate and the number of website visits.
“Data will take you into precision marketing and customer data will allow you to target the right kind to build and there are real opportunities to do that. Some of them are only operating in two to three markets but if they are in highly regulated markets, like the United States, and many of them are, they can crack anywhere.
“We also need to attract new companies to come in.
“We are getting many more chaps at the door than for a very long time, saying businesses want to come to Scotland.
“Why? We have an attractive taxation landscape and access to skilled people.
“If you cannot grow the workforce, you will not meet the 2025 ambition.
“We have done a good job on skills so far, but there is lots of hard work still to do.” of intervention to the right kind of customer in the right scenario,” she said.
Mackay, who is a member of the Life Sciences Scotland marketing and communications team and has a background in the sector, added: “The new suite of marketing tactics is very complex.
“Data can help you eliminate those tactics and channels which are not working for your customers – and concentrate on those which are effective.
“Over time, the more data you collect, the better – it will be more robust and will help provide you with a predictable revenue model, which connects marketing input to sales revenue.
“It becomes compelling and grows
Tudor said the fundamental game-changer was adopting a Team Scotland approach: “The Life Sciences strategy is based on partnering and successful collaborations – it’s not north v south, east v west.
“If we think of Scotland as one cluster, we can win.
“This is not Dave Tudor’s strategy or the Industry Leadership Group’s strategy, this has to be Scotland’s strategy.
“We are hurting the growth of the sector if we do not work together.”
Paul Wheelhouse, the business, innovation and energy minister and joint chair of the Life Sciences Scotland ILG, told delegates: “Working together is key to achieving the ambition.
“The vision is shared and constantly evolving to face the challenging times we are in.
“The Scottish Government is willing to adapt its policies to suit the needs of industry.
“It is critically important we have a ‘one Scotland’ approach to promoting ourselves as an international location.
“We ask a great deal of the members of our ILG and sometimes they are under pressure, but we appreciate and understand the support they give us in policy development – and we want to help Life Sciences Scotland achieve our shared economic aims by working in partnership.
“This is an exciting and thriving growth sector which has a direct impact on the health and well-being of people in Scotland and further afield – and that should not be confidence in the business. It also puts you on the front foot in terms of adopting future technology.”
Mackay said there was “a lot of hype about artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
“Good-quality data allows you not to get caught up in the hype, forgotten,” the minister added.
Professor Dame Anna Dominiczak, regius professor of medicine at Glasgow University, said Scotland could lead the world in areas like precision medicine.
She added: “The only way we can be the best in the world is as the whole of Scotland.
“The idea of Scotland plc is inbuilt strongly and the triple helix is our special niche and well-known internationally.”
Tudor said genuine partnership working was the only way to deliver the Life Sciences Scotland strategy: “We can build the four pillars around that – improving the sustainability of production, commercialising our innovations much better, getting Scottish companies to look abroad but also making Scotland a location of choice for life sciences businesses – and creating a supportive business environment.
“We need to focus on those four themes of the strategy and the priorities within each theme and asking what we need to do to achieve them – then work on the execution of that.
“We are in the best position we have been in for a long, long time and we have to seize the opportunity.” n but to select what is right for your business model.
“AI is only as smart as the data that goes in.
“Use the data to help you meet the customer where they are, and to take them where they want to go,” she concluded. n