A meeting report by the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Wellcome Trust explores the important role of geographical clusters in the UK and the challenges and opportunities for future development.
On 3 March 2015, the Academy of Medical Sciences, in partnership with the Wellcome Trust, held an event on geographical clusters as part of the Academy’s FORUM programme. Its aim was to explore how the UK’s various clusters of life science activity can work together effectively to drive medical research and innovation, and to discuss current challenges and opportunities.
The ‘Geographical clusters’ workshop was the first meeting of its kind to draw together such a broad range of UK cluster leaders. The meeting provided a platform to facilitate communication and collaboration between the regional initiatives as well as an opportunity to better understand the current landscape for these clusters and enable future development.
This report explores the potential for a combined UK offering built upon the individual strengths of the geographical clusters. It also identifies the opportunities and challenges faced by the clusters, including the important role that the clusters can play within their local area, nationally and internationally, as well as the importance of the heterogeneity and wide-ranging expertise of each of the cluster groupings.
A copy of the report can be downloaded from the right hand side of this page.
The Academy is currently scoping a follow-up event, scheduled for spring 2016, to further explore the role of the clusters and some of the key themes that emerged during discussions.
This meeting was part of the Academy of Medical Sciences’ programme of FORUM events. Our FORUM was established in 2003 to recognise the role of industry in medical research, and to catalyse connections across industry and academia. Since then, a range of FORUM activities and events have brought together researchers, research funders and research users from across academia, industry, government, and the charity, healthcare and regulatory sectors.
For more information about FORUM and future events, please visit the FORUM homepage.
FORUM: Geographical clusters