Seminar to focus on life sciences

A SEMINAR will focus on life sciences in the Thames Valley.

Organised by the Chamber of Commerce, the event will explore how the region can remain a great place for life science businesses.

There are more than 130 life science companies in the region, employing around 8,000 people.

Of those, 1,750 work in STEMrelated roles and 1,600 are in sales and marketing roles.

And, of course, there are universities including Reading, and links to Oxford, Cambridge and London.

The session next week will be chaired by Simon Greenstreet, the head of communications and public affairs at Bayer UK and Ireland.

The programme will look at the challenges and opportunities affecting the chamber’s membership which includes many of the world’s leading life sciences businesses and be held in a roundtable format.

It also includes a tour of Bayer’s Inspiration Space and Baylab.

This is an area normally used by school pupils, allowing them to see where science could take them in the future, covering different aspects of Bayer’s work including pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, crop science and animal health. To help bring this to life, students can sit at a holographic dinner table, use a holographic unit focusing on skin or step inside a ‘body scanner’ that will map the size of a person and project organs onto the right place on their body.

A light breakfast will be provided for delegates.

The event will take place at Bayer’s base in Green Park on Wednesday, September 20 from 8.30am.

Admission is by invitation only. For details, log on to www. thamesvalleychamber.co.uk