Bionow’s inaugural BioIgnite conference sparks conversation and collaboration
More than 90 delegates, speakers and exhibitors came together for the first conference in the new BioIgnite event series, which focuses on the achievements of the life sciences industry in the Northwest and unites industry and academia.
Hosted at Sci-Tech Daresbury, the agenda kicked off with an opportunity to tour the lab facilities before the conference began, followed by sessions on skills development; funding and investment; AI, digital and data in healthcare; early-stage innovation and scaling in industrial biotech into 2026 and beyond.
The conference benefitted from the insights of three keynote speakers: Executive Director for Place and Global of Innovate UK, Dean Cook; Northern Powerhouse Partnership CEO, Henri Murison; and Linda Randall, Associate VP of Biologics Development, Manufacturing and Control at Pharmaron.
The first keynote, “Accelerating the UK’s clusters of highest potential”, examined the key methods of maximising the benefits of accelerators employed by Innovate UK, including Launchpads, with targeted support to SME clusters; a Strength in Places fund, to grow regional hotspots of research and innovation strengths; Innovation Accelerators, which invest in city regions with mature innovation ecosystems; and action plans, designed to strengthen partnership, innovation support and engagement.
The focus of the presentation was on the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund (LIPF), a new £500 million UK Research & Innovation-led programme which empowers innovation leadership through local partnerships between civic institutions, business and universities, which will run from 2026-2031 and with the aim of delivering impact to drive economic growth.
Henri Murison’s keynote presentation on the topic of how the North can position itself for growth raised some apt points around the global talent fund and concerns over exclusion of northern universities, with connectivity being important and the need for it to improve to help retain talent. As an example of why northern talent is so vital to the wider economy, it was noted that Greater Manchester has seen the biggest increase in productivity of any UK region or mayoralty over past two decades.
Crucially, the talk provided a compelling statistic: Targeted public and private R&D investment into the North’s most promising sectors and clusters would unlock £206 billion in additional economic output over the next decade.
The final presentation by Linda Randall, “Sparking Growth Through Collaboration”, discussed how collaboration enriches the business, as a service provider and trusted partner, to support Pharmaron’s innovation strategy and for their talent pipeline.
Partnerships are also key to the company’s innovation strategy by ensuring customers’ needs are fully supported via new services and advancing current services; retaining a competitive edge and regulatory position by evaluating and introducing new technologies; improving speed and compliance through the introduction of digital systems to support workflows; and horizon scanning to predict future trends and develop and action a strategy for new modalities.
The keynote concluded with some insightful takeaways on the importance of collaboration: It is powerful to solve today’s challenges and to be ready for the future; and embedding a collaborative culture truly delivers more than sum of its parts and accelerates breakthroughs and progress.
Bionow CEO, Geoff Davison, commented: “We are excited to launch another brand-new conference series, which highlights the successes of the life sciences sector in the Northwest and with discussions around where the industry is going and how we can build on the momentum we have achieved so far. It’s great to see so many exciting developments and we look forward to celebrating further milestones at the next event.”
BioIgnite 2025 is supported by Sci-Tech Daresbury, STFC and Alphalyse.