£42m fund to boost life sciences
A £42m life sciences investment fund will launch next year to support companies in Manchester and Cheshire.
The idea was first mooted at the handover of AstraZeneca’s research base at Alderley Park to Manchester Science Partnerships (MSP) in the summer.
Since then capital has been pulled together from various sources, with £5m coming from MSP, £5m from Cheshire East Council, £5m from AstraZeneca, £7m from various private sector sources and £20m from the Manchester and Cheshire local enterprise partnerships (LEPS) through the Growth Fund settlement they received earlier this year.
Although not exclusively focused on the Alderley Park campus, the fund will be instrumental in encouraging new start-ups and spin-outs following AstraZeneca’s departure to Cambridge by 2016.
Council Leader Michael Jones said: “Cheshire East is re-establishing itself at the forefront of bioscience technology. The loss of jobs at Alderley Park due to the relocation of some of AstraZeneca’s operations was a serious blow but we are rapidly re-building and the further news from the Chancellor of a £200m advanced materials institute in Manchester will further enhance the reputation of Cheshire and Greater Manchester in the world of scientific research and discovery.”
The authority said an independent report has estimated that the fund could assist 60 life science businesses over the next 15 years which in turn could create around 370 skilled scientific jobs.
