MSP makes great strides Stateside

MANCHESTER Science Partnerships, the UK’s largest science and technology park operator, gained numerous significant leads during a three city US trade mission.

MSP’s managing director Tom Renn and head of innovation and partnerships Anne Dornan were part of a 12-strong Health Innovation Manchester delegation organised by the city region’s inward investment agency MIDAS, which visited Minneapolis, Chicago and Boston.

The Manchester delegation visited the world’s largest medical technology conference, AdvaMed in Minneapolis before moving on to Chicago and then Boston, where they attended a series of meetings and receptions organised by the Department for International Trade (previously known as UK Trade & Investment).

Renn said the US trip had come at an important time for Manchester and the UK in the aftermath of the Brexit vote.

He explained: “The trip to AdvaMed in Minneapolis and then to Chicago and Boston was incredibly useful on a number of levels, and gave us an excellent opportunity both to highlight Manchester’s assets in life sciences and to communicate to the world that we are open for business.

“We had a busy schedule and being part of the Health Innovation Manchester delegation brought together by MIDAS was really effective and help us forge better connections with existing contacts and also establish new relationships too. Interestingly I think Manchester was the only city there – the other exhibitors were countries – which helped generate interest and set a tone for our ambition for Manchester.

“On the first day at AdvaMed  we  met with three chief executives of global billion dollar revenue businesses – top level access like this is rare and hard fought in Manchester, which demonstrates the power of heading beyond the UK to build relationships.”

MSP, which announced in July that it would be investing £60m to expand Citylabs its biomedical centre of excellence in Manchester over two phases between 2017 and 2020, showcased the developments during the trip, including at a reception at the British Consul General’s residence in Chicago.

As a result, Renn had meetings with potential customer for Citylabs 2.0.

He said: “I now have a number of leads to follow up, including with one senior executive I met in Boston who was really impressed to learn about Manchester’s strengths in life sciences in terms of availability of physical assets and skilled people at a significantly lower cost than locations like Cambridge, Oxford and London.”

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