Sector can put Scotland on world map
Working together a key to international progress. David Lee reports
Life science is a global business, offering great opportunities for Scottish companies to sell their products abroad and for Scotland to position itself as a location of choice for companies around the world.
The Scotsman’s life sciences conference in Glasgow heard about the sector’s massive opportunities.
The pharma industry alone is a $1.3 trillion global sector, with two markets growing in parallel – a mass market for more affordable healthcare products and an increasing demand for more advanced products by the wealthier population.
Dave Scott, of Tepnel Pharma Services, said the job of life sciences businesses was “to improve healthcare outcomes on a global scale”.
He added: “You have to go to the end; what does a customer want?”
Scott said he wanted businesses to attack world markets from a base in Scotland – and he hoped more small companies would not just aspire to be bought out by a bigger firm if they were successful.
“I hate exit strategies. I like re-investment strategies, which grow corporations with brass plaques in Scotland.
“That’s what internationalisation is about,” said Scott.
“To do that, we need to understand better what we have here – to share the good news about what we are doing.
“I want us to grow the pie so everyone can have a bigger piece.”
Scott argued that you couldn’t be truly successful on a global stage without clocking up the air miles: “People buy from people; you have to get out into the international market to customers and to patients, to those who will buy your products and services.
“That’s how you learn what the demand is and how you learn what is needed.”
He called on life sciences businesses to draw inspiration from the Scottish entrepreneurs of the past and follow “the path of disruptive advancement”.
Scott added: “I feel a weight of responsibility because of what has happened in the past.
“We all need to don the metaphorical Scottish jersey, by linking to Life Sciences Scotland from our website, by talking up what we have here.
“We all need to point in the same direction, to work in unison to deliver the strategy.
“I feel very privileged to have travelled the world and everywhere I go, I meet a Scottish person.
“Our people are one of our greatest exports and everywhere we go, they can open doors for us. Talk to them, understand who they are.”
Scott said the Scottish Lifesciences Association (SLA) was doing great work in opening up a pipeline of opportunity in Kentucky in the United States and urged companies to “get stuck into their [the SLA’S] special interest groups, learn from other companies, share experiences, promote life sciences through all your channels, encourage and motivate each other. “We really are all in this together.” Scott said the international workstream of the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group (ILG) was working on 90-day plans, aiming to help six companies
Leverage Scotland’s unique selling-point – the triple helix – to create a strong Team Scotland brand for life sciences across the world.
Strengthen networks within the life sciences community and take advantage of shared expertise to move into new markets. Leverage contacts on the ground, within new target markets and in Scotland. Expand visibility of Global Scots, create a collaboration hub and look at international mentoring.
Create a “playbook”, a repository of information for companies looking to export – what has happened before, what support is there and examples of good practice. Dave Scott, main, believes Scottish life science firms can be successful on an international stage.