Page 44 - Regional Employment & Skills Plan

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3.3.7 Life Sciences
Please see Sectors at a Glance for full illustration.
The Life Science sector is a small but increasingly significant sector within South West and Mid Wales and is an important growth area. In 2014 the RLSP launched an in depth study into the life science sector in South West and Mid Wales entitled ‘Life Science, Skills for Life’. This analysis identified a number of conclusions and recommendations to promote the development of the life science sector in particular the importance of developing an indigenous skills pathway for developing life science sector in the region.
The sector covers Medical Devices, Medical Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals through to Synthetic and Industrial Biotechnology. It also includes Medical Technology businesses, with raging activities including research, testing, manufacture and the provision of specialist services.
The role of developing coherent skills strategies and pathways has been highlighted as critical to the continued success of the sector due to the high reliance on individual knowledge.
The pharmaceuticals and bioscience industries have shown commitment to developing and delivering training pathways across all skills levels. In particular, there has always been a strong sector emphasis on recruiting highly able graduates and postgraduates, and training them to deliver intensive research and development programmes usually in collaboration with academia. As the sector landscape changes the delivery of higher level skilled employees remains a challenge.’92
Drivers of Change/Demand
A significant driver of demand within the life science is the Welsh Government’s strategy for science which places a significant emphasis on the development of research and innovation capacity with the science sector, there are also a number of additional external demand drivers which include:
• An aging population is driving demand for healthcare solutions
• Industrial biotechnology
• Enhanced computer modelling and ‘big data’ solutions
• Regulatory requirements
• New manufacturing techniques
• ‘tailored’ healthcare for chronic conditions
• Wearable technology
92 Biovision Cogent 2010
Regional Employment & Skills Plan South West & Mid Wales Aspirational Economy