Importance of binding skills to creativity

Does Scotland’s rapidly growing and evolving life sciences sector have a strong enough pipeline of skilled people coming through – and can it grasp the digital agenda quickly enough? These were two key questions throughout the conference.

On skills, Steve Madden of Charles River said there was an optimistic and pessimistic view.

Despite the refreshed Skills Investment Plan for life sciences, pessimists see an industry struggling to attract enough entry-level talent, skills engagement activities touching only a small percentage of talent and a limited group of employers.

Madden said some academic institutions had been slow to engage with the needs of a growing industry, while he identified gaps in skills and knowledge training in areas like regulation and quality management.

On the optimistic side, he said engagement and collaboration between skills bodies was improving.

Ronnie Palin, of Skills Development Scotland, agreed during a masterclass, saying collaboration was better and the pathway clearer for businesses seeking help.

Madden also highlighted a stronger regional and national focus on life sciences skills, multiple ongoing programmes and new initiatives to bring on board early career scientists.

He described “a strong talent pool of committed people who really want to make a difference”, but added: “The diversity of the sector is huge and that makes it difficult to deliver a skills’ strategy that works for everybody. We need to better understand where the industry is going. Areas like basic lab skills and the ability to problemsolve are crucial.”

Internships were an area where the industry could do better, said Madden, noting that 113 life sciences interns had been placed with companies since 2014, despite 4000-plus applications by almost 2,000 individuals. He urged far more businesses to take part in a “really great scheme” which had seen a high percentage of interns retained.

Madden noted better life sciences engagement between universities and schools, highlighting the University of Glasgow’s work in bringing in children from primary school age through to S5/6.

Kate Cameron of Cytochroma, named as Life Sciences Scotland’s Rising Star last month, and a staunch advocate of getting more women into STEM subjects, said: “It’s about encouraging people every step of the way – getting kids into science, keeping them in science, getting them to do important work... The more opportunities you give them, the more chance you have.”

Madden urged the sector to look more widely at recruitment: “It’s really difficult to bring the young generation into the industry,” he said. “My experience is that it is easier to recruit career-changing adults.”

During the panel discussion, Tom Stratford said access to talent was a common theme ever since he set up Prostrakan more than 20 years ago, with the company now part of global business Kyowa Kirin.

“Access to the right people has always been a big issue,” he added. “People make a business; innovations do not just appear in the post, they appear because you have people in your company to bring them to life, whether they’re Scottish-born and bred or from overseas and motivated to come to Scotland to live and work and be productive in our economy.”

Economic productivity was also about understanding and taking the opportunities presented by digitalisation.

Dave Tudor said in his opening presentation: “The sector must grasp the digital agenda if it is to continue on its growth path. What does Industry 4.0 mean for all of us in life sciences in Scotland? If we put our heads in the sand and ignore it, we will get overtaken.”

However, Tudor stressed that businesses had to be strategic about digitalisation, by identifying their main business problem and how digitalisation could help to fix it.

“We need to drive that digital strategy to cut through the cost base and be much more efficient,” he said. “It’s not just manufacturing but across the whole life sciences community. Get your heads around it and apply that digital solution. This will be a key focus for the Industry Leadership Group in 2019.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,

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but as a community we need to look at two or three big ideas in this area that can help you – as well as encouraging you to find your own solutions. Pharma 4.0 is not allsinging, all-dancing perfection. Don’t go down a rabbit hole and waste time and money; be really focused on your business problem. Solve that problem and use that to drive a digital culture, with every part of

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your organisation pulling in the right direction.”

Kate Cameron of Cytochroma, which grows mini-livers for use in toxicity testing, said she had grasped the nettle: “Our production of cells and analysis is all automated and I use robotic screening... I don’t really have to do anything. Hopefully, that will help to make my company more successful.”